Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. BRATTLEBORO â Brattleboroâs first meeting house was located off present day Orchard Street and was built around 1768. The area is now known as Meeting House Hill. There is a cemetery there and a marker establishing where the first meeting house was built. While Meeting House Hill was the geographic center of Brattleboro, it did not turn out to be a convenient location to establish the main meeting house for the town. In March 1781, a town meeting was held at the meeting house and Brattleboro citizens voted to join the newly formed Vermont Republic. Vermont had written a constitution and declared its independence in 1777 but Brattleboro was one of the southeastern towns that initially remained loyal to New York.