Despite Franklin Delano Roosevelt winning another term as president, Peterborough and the state stayed solidly Republican in the 1940 election, but as the Nov. 7 Peterborough Transcript reports, Sharon made its own news during the election.

For the first time since incorporation in 1791, Sharon recorded a 100% voter turnout, and when the results were tallied at 12:12 a.m., it became the first in the nation to cast its vote.

“To the town’s oldest resident, Charles Nelson Wilson, 83, went the honor of casting the first ballot in an open ballot box more than a half-century old. The tall, wiry octogenarian marched into a voting booth at 12:01 o’clock, stood under a framed, picture of Abraham Lincoln, and marked his ballot with a cross for the straight Republican ticket.