Berlin Town Hall is located at 65 South Main Street, Berlin, NY 12022.
Phone: 518‑658‑0812.
Neighborhoods
Beginnings [1]
Berlin was erected in 1806 from Petersburgh, Shodack and Stephentown.
Many Rensselaer County towns were thickly settled, particularly those in the west and the north, when the wilderness of the site of Berlin was first permanently settled by white men. A number of the family of John George Brimmer, pioneer settlers of Petersburgh, subsequently took up their abode in Berlin, and were probably its first permanent settlers. In 1765, Godfrey Brimmer, son of John G., journeyed southward through the valley of the Little Hoosick as far as the site of Berlin Village, formerly called North Berlin. Finding the soil productive and easy to cultivate, and the location highly desirable, he cleared a piece of land and erected a log house and began life anew. Reuben Bonesteel built a home nearby about two or three years later. Soon after, Peter Simmons located about three miles south of him at what would become Berlin Center.
Colonel Caleb Bentley was another early settler, his home being a little more than a mile south of the site of the Village of Berlin. He had three sons, Alexander, Melancthon and Rudolph. About the same time William O. Cropsey settled in the town.
The first tavern in the town was kept by Daniel Hill and was located in the southern part several years before the American Revolution. About 1785 or 1786 another was established by Hezekiah Hull. Jonas Odell was proprietor of the first tavern at the Village of Berlin. In 1781 one established in the north part of the town by James Main. In 1806 the Niles Hotel was erected by Dr. Burton Hammond and the Wadsworth Hotel was opened about 1843 by Sheldon Morris.