Nashua

The second largest city in the state and the center of a diverse and dynamic region of over 150,000 people, Nashua is endowed with urban amenities as well as retaining the charm of the traditional New England landscape. Nashua’s population has nearly doubled since 1960. The combination of an excellent quality of life and proximity to Boston, the seacoast and the White Mountains makes Nashua an attractive growth center for New England.

The wall of brick mill buildings which line the Nashua River have recently been retrofitted for housing but remain an important reminder of the City’s industrial heritage. The influx of technology related businesses which began in the 1950′s has made Nashua a virtual incubator for high technology companies with a wide range of electronic components and computer products produced here. Over 150 manufacturing firms employ over 26,000 workers within the City.

A second local economic trend involves the tremendous growth of the retail and service industries. A competitive marketplace with endless shopping options and the absence of a sales tax make Nashua a popular shopping destination for consumers within the region and from out-of-state.

The construction boom of the mid ’80′s with it attendant escalation of real estate costs, has leveled. As a result, considerable opportunities exist, especially for the first time home buyer. More than any other community in the region, Nashua offers diversity of housing choices for rental or purchase, ranging from historic properties to new condominiums and subdivisions. Commercial real estate costs are also more realistic than they have been for some time and are likely too continue to entice both small businesses and notional chains to locate here.

Nashua’s north end, including the Nashua Historic District, has been the City’s most affluent residential neighborhood for more than a century. The handsome homes in this area range from the early 19th to the early 20th Century, with a particular emphasis on Victorian architecture. Downtown Nashua has a number of other buildings of historic and architectural interest. At the southern end of the historic district is the Hunt Memorial Building, one of Nashua’s most significant architectural treasures. Serving as the city library until 1971, the brick Gothic building is the only New Hampshire example of the work of renowned architect Ralph Adams Cram.

Nashua’s menu of cultural and recreational offerings defines a quality of life which natives have always cherished and which continues to attract new residents.

Next door to the Center for the Arts is the Nashua Public Library. With New Hampshire’s second largest collection, the library circulates more items than any other library north of Boston.

Annual events which many look forward to include Nashua’s Summerfest and the Fourth of July field day and fireworks at Holman Stadium.

Nashua’s two large parks, Greeley Park and Mine Falls Park, are important cornerstones for community activities where residents find ample room for walking, jogging, cross-country skiing and other favorite outdoor pastimes.

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History

From early days, Nashua has been a city of manifold industries, and its products ranged from screws to high quality woolen blankets. Its industrial diversity was the chief reason for its rapid development.

The first industrial workers came from the farms of New Hampshire, but with the constantly increasing demand for more and more workers the influx of the foreign-born began in earnest. Nashua’s Main Street presented a fair cross-section of the city’s population.

Three newspapers were published – the Nashua Telegraph founded in 1832, a daily, having the largest circulation in the city: La’Impartial, printed in French, established in 1898 and published three times weekly, and the Athena, a Greek weekly, founded in 1933.

Nashua was originally a fur-trading post, known by the Indian name of Watanic. Surveyed as early as 1652, its first settler, a man named Cromwell, came in 1656, and he was followed in 1660 by a group of settlers. In 1673, its twenty-six grantees, among whom was the Artillery Company of Boston, petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts for a town charter, which, when issued officially, named the town Dunstable, for Dunstable, England.

The fertile valleys of the Merrimack, the Souhegan and especially the Nashua rivers, drew adventurous souls to the wilderness to found new plantations. Several deaths from Indian attacks through the long period of the Colonial wars, and the constant threat of complete annihilation prevented the growth of the town to such an extent that in 1680 only thirty families were resident, and by 1701 the number had dropped to twenty-five. Heavy taxes caused much distress and a ruinous depreciation of property values.

Industrial beginnings were slow. A forge was set up in 1667 by Lieutenant Robbins, who settled on long Hill in the southern part of Nashua. A gristmill was built by Daniel Waldo in 1695 at the mouth of Stony Brook, down the Merrimack. In 1724, the Indians became troublesome again, but were driven off by a group of men under John Lovewell, Jr. By the end of the eighteenth century, settlement had increased, and the town had completely emerged from its depression to become a strong farming community.

Means of communication were limited until the first stagecoach (1795), a covered two-horse vehicle, was operated between Amherst and Boston once a week, passing through Dunstable on the Second New Hampshire Turnpike. Transportation by water was made possible by the Middlesex Canal around Pawtucket Falls in 1803 and a connecting canal completed to Nashua in 1826 so that the Merrimack River was opened for navigation. A canal boat, the “Nashua”, was built in 1803 by Robert Fletcher in the Indian Head village.

The early nineteenth century was a time of change and growth in many areas of our nation’s social and economic organization. By the time the Civil War ended, the revolution in industry was requiring some men and women to work 14 to 16 hours a day in a factory. Hand tools were being replaced by power tools or machines, and the development of large-scale industrial production had begun.

In Nashua, the mills were in full swing, employing mostly women because they could be paid lower wages than men, and many young women moved to Nashua to seek employment. After all, even factory work was physically easier than the work required by the family farm. In 70 years time, the Nashua population had increased from 1,000 to 19,000.

The nature of the working class was being defined as well as the work ethic, values and economic needs of the community. It was difficult to learn a skilled trade or become an apprentice in the fields of tailoring or dressmaking if you were a young form girl. Many farm girls who left home to apprentice in tailoring were taught only the simplest aspects of the trade. They were taught to stitch and make undergarments and not allowed to learn how to “cut” tailored jackets, vests, pants and dresses – skills which earned the highest pay. Most such girls worked from sun-up to sun-down making meager wages as shop girls, but some young women did break into the tailoring and dressmaking trade successfully.

Mary Adams left her family farm in Londonderry at the age of 20 and became an apprentice for Patrick Hickey in a Nashua tailor shop. The rise in manufacturing and commerce had increased demand for fine business apparel and with the rise of tariffs on imported clothes, the local tailoring business had become quite profitable.

Another Nashua shop owner was Rebecca Wheeler who began a tailor business with her sister in 1843 and later moved it to a storefront at 38 Factory Street in Nashua. Wheeler advertised as a tailor catering to the female clientele. The same prosperity that increased demand for business suits was making female fashions a profitable trade. Women’s dressware then was very ornate, with leggings, bloomers, undergarments and slips required as accessories even before the dresses, hats, purses and gloves were added to the ensemble.

Businesses like Adam’s and Wheeler’s are examples of the entrepreneurial spirit that helped develop commerce in the city of Nashua and surrounding areas throughout the 19th century. Tailoring and dressmaking were two careers that could be pursued either out of a shop or a home, but determination was certainly required to make a successful business. It was especially difficult for an inexperienced female searching for a trade in that day and age. Still, as the industrial revolution ran its course, many young women found their places on the front lines of the work force.

Incorporated: 1746

Origin: Originally part of a grant to Edward Tyng of Dunstable, England, the 200 square mile area, called Dunstable, included Nashua, Tyngsboro MA, and other border towns. In 1741 the town was cut in half when the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border was established. The northern half kept the name Dunstable. In 1836 the town took the Nashua River? s name, a Nashaway Indian word for ? beautiful river with a pebbly bottom.? Nashua became a manufacturing center, powered by the Middlesex Canal which connected the Merrimack River to Boston. It was incorporated as a city in 1853.

Population, Year of the First Census Taken: 632 residents in 1790

Population Trends: Although Nashua ranked first in numeric population increase over fifty years, the rates of growth were at or below the statewide average. Decennial growth rates ranged from a nine percent increase between 1990-2000 to a 43 percent increase between 1960-1970. Nashua’s population grew by 51,936 residents between the 1950 count of 34,669 and the 2000 count of 86,605. The 2003 Census estimate for Nashua was 87,285 residents, which ranked second among New Hampshire’s incorporated cities and towns.

Population Density, 2003: 2,843.5 persons per square mile of land area, the second highest density. Nashua contains 30.8 square miles of land area and 1.0 square miles of inland water area.

Population 2000: 86,605 1990: 79,662 1980: 67,865 Local Property Tax 2004 (per $1,000): $19.85 Transportation Nearest Interstate/ Tpk.: Everett Tpk. Exits 1 – 8 Distance: Local Access Hospitals Southern NH Medical Center St. Joseph	Utilities: Electric Supplier: PSNH Natural Gas Supplier: Energy North Water Supplier: Pennichuck Curbside Trash Pickup: Yes Cable Television Service: Yes Full Time Police Department: Yes Full Time Fire Department: Yes Emergency Medical Service: Municipal Paid & Private