Andover's Town Seal

On April 30, 2024, Town Meeting voted to adopt a new Town Seal for the Town of Andover. 

The new Town Seal adopted by Town Meeting was developed by the Town Seal Review Committee based on extensive public input, and features Old Town Hall as the focal point with a row of Eastern White Pines in the background. The seal also features ‘1646’ in reference to the year Andover was incorporated, the word ‘Cochichewick,’ the indigenous name for Andover and the surrounding region, and two ‘wisdom curls,’ a symbol featured on the Pennacook Abenaki flag.

Andover's official Town Seal adopted by Town Meeting on April 30, 2024.

Town Seal Review Committee background and seal Development Process

The Town Seal Review Committee was formed in 2021 and charged with studying and reviewing the existing seal, providing background on why the seal is in its current form, researching other town and city seals, obtaining input from the community, and working with a designer to develop draft alternatives should their recommendations include modifying the seal.

In October 2022, following extensive public engagement, the Town Seal Review Committee voted unanimously to move forward with the next phase of their charge and engage the public in developing design options for an alternative town seal for the consideration of Town Meeting. Throughout the following months, the Committee solicited public input on what symbols, icons, or landmarks should be incorporated in the alternative Town Seal design. The Committee contracted with professional graphic design firms to produce design concepts based on this input. 

On February 1, 2024, the Town Seal Review Committee adopted the design concept show below as the preferred alternative to be considered at Annual Town Meeting.

Click here to view a presentation showing the design in greater details. 

The selected design features a rendering of Old Town Hall in the foreground, with a series of pine trees in the background. Additionally, the seal features the year '1646,' referencing the year that Andover was incorporated, the word 'Cochichewick,' the indigenous name for Andover and the surrounding region, and two 'wisdom curls,' a symbol used on the Pennacook Abenaki flag. 

The design represents a hybrid of two previous options considered by the Committee, one depicting a Old Town Hall, and one depicting a pine tree. The two concepts are shown below. The decision to create a hybrid option combining elements for both designs was based on public input received by the Committee.

The Committee will ultimately select one design option to be considered for adoption at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting.

History of Andover's Town Seal 

In 1899 Massachusetts passed a law requiring every city and town to establish an official seal to be placed on official documents.  The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and municipalities across the state with official seals that include imagery of Indigenous Peoples have begun the process of reviewing these seals to determine if the seals still accurately reflect the community as a whole.

Since 1855, the official Andover Town Seal has been modified 4 times. As part of this review process, the Town Seal Review Committee is launched a brief survey which was available to residents and others to take from February 9, 2022 to March 11, 2022.  The survey results will help guide the Committee’s next steps.

A more extensive history of the Town Seal can be found here:

History of the Andover Town Seal