'Wayland A to Z': 'S' is for 'Separate Towns'. After the first meetinghouse was built on the west side of the river in 1723, houses sprang up around it and new roads appeared. The population of Sudbury’s west side continued to grow over the years and by 1771 it exceeded the east side’s population by an appreciable amount. That year, a proposal was made at Town Meeting "to see if the town will enlarge or rebuild the West Meeting House." It was an unusual proposal given the circumstances of the time. Only a year before, the Boston Massacre had set the stage for war and Sudbury had braced itself to support the Continental cause. (William Baldwin who lived near the Old Town Bridge was the only alleged Tory in town.) Talk of war probably brought more inhabitants out to meetings and caused crowding in the west side meetinghouse.