Seal of Approval: The Story Behind Dorchester s Town Seal dotnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dotnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Peter F. Stevens, Special to the Reporter
June 2, 2021
The Dorchester town seal was designed in 1865.
In April 1865, Dorchester’s Town Meeting gathered to consider an important civic measure - “to procure…a Corporate Seal of the town.” Many modern residents of Dorchester are familiar with that seal, emblazoned with the words “Dorchester 1630” and the Latin motto “Pietate, Literis, Industria,” but some may not realize the depth of thought that the men at that 1865 town meeting put into the proud symbol.
A range of political, historic, and civic considerations compelled Dorchester’s leaders to seek a seal testifying to the town’s unique history and sense of place in Massachusetts. With the Civil War coming to its savage end and with so many Dorchester families having lost fathers, sons, and brothers on the conflict’s far-flung battlefields, local leaders wanted to extol the town’s more than 250 years of contribution and sacrifice, to wit: