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    Main Street, New Hampshire
    Main Street, New Hampshire
    Main Street, New Hampshire
    Ebook156 pages2 hours

    Main Street, New Hampshire

    By Bruce D. Heald

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    The roots of many cherished American traditions may be found on the main streets of New Hampshire towns. Often the heart of a town's social, political, and economic life, main streets offer a sense of identity, dignity, and serenity. Through images, Main Street New Hampshire reflects the romance and nostalgia of the past and showcases the sights and memorials of several important New Hampshire places, including Concord, Keene, Nashua, Rochester, Laconia, Exeter, Newmarket, and others. These images, many dating from as early as 1860, reflect the activity, architecture, transportation, and recreation at the heart of each community.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 1, 2003
    ISBN9781439629000
    Main Street, New Hampshire
    Author

    Bruce D. Heald

    Dr. Bruce D. Heald is an adjunct American history professor, Plymouth State University; Babes-Bylyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania associate professor; West Point lecturer; M.S. Mount Washington senior purser; author of over forty books and many New England history articles; fellow, International Biographical Association and World Literary Academy in Cambridge, UK; American Biographical Institute 1993 Gold Medal of Honor for literary achievement recipient; and New Hampshire General Court representative. Career journalist and farmer Steve Taylor retired after serving for twenty-five years as commissioner with the department of agriculture. He was founding executive director of the New Hampshire Humanities Council and a founding board member and board chair of Leadership New Hampshire from 1993 to 1998. Steve currently serves on several nonprofit boards and is a lecturer on New Hampshire agricultural history for the Humanities Council. He has served as town and school district moderator since 1980.

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      Book preview

      Main Street, New Hampshire - Bruce D. Heald

      Hampshire.

      INTRODUCTION

      When you think of New Hampshire, you will likely picture a quaint village with a Main Street and a town common in the center. Ionic porticoes, elms, bandstands, honor rolls, white steeples, tavern signs, small-paned windows, and green turf may come to mind. For those of us who grew up in New Hampshire, Main Street was the center of our social, political, and economic life.

      Driving through New Hampshire, one can see that Main Streets vary in size. Seen are Main Streets boasting town squares, lined with white, well-kept old homes, and guarded by the sleepless sentinel of tall, white Colonial church spires seen through the elms. The sense of earlier times comes to us. We remember the roll of the drums and the bustling babble of men in homespun guard carrying their firearms. We remember the times for relaxation and robust pleasures, for the free flow of rum, for wrestling and marching, and for boasting and fighting. Main Street was the place of meetings, speeches, cheers, the rumble of war, and the tramping of determined feet upon the sod. It was the place of band concerts and gala crowds beneath the lights of a starry sky. Main Street was the hub of activity. It was where we assembled at the country store, barber shop, soda shop, train station, town hall, and library.

      Main Street, New Hampshire, brings to mind Memorial Day ceremonies, the planting of a symbolic tree, a volley of gunfire commanding our attention to battles past, a fading bugler’s call, and the day of our independence. The village still lies beneath its arching elms, a changeless avenue in a time of change. Sunlight and shade shine upon the village green. Spring birds are in the trees, and young lovers stroll upon the quiet paths where their parents strolled before them. The church clock strikes, and the sound echoes, then dies among the hills. The church spire stands as before, touching the clouds in the sky.

      The roots of so many Americans are found in these peaceful village Main Streets that bring to us not only a sense of dignity, serenity, and quiet beauty, but also of homecoming. Main Street, New Hampshire, is not a place but rather an experience, a feeling, an emotion. It was a central place to shop, gossip, and socialize. It was the soul of American life, a place where customs grew and took root.

      To the casual observer, Main Street’s role as the center of village activity has become obsolete. Some attribute this to the convenience of the automobile and the new development and popularity of the shopping malls. Whatever the reason, there is a revival in the making for Main Streets in many New Hampshire communities. From the 1980s to the present, a popular reincarnation and revitalization project has grown throughout New Hampshire.

      The National Trust for Historic Preservation has developed a pilot Main Street program nationally, and for the past 15 years, the National Main Street Center has worked in more than 1,350 communities throughout the country. The New Hampshire Main Street community approach states: This revitalization approach advocates a return to community self-reliance, empowerment, and the rebuilding of commercial districts based on its traditional assets: unique architecture, personal service, local ownership, and a sense of community. The Main Street approach to downtown revitalization requires the effort of the entire community. The merchants, property owners, local government officials, and civil leaders must agree to support common goals for revitalization and join together in a partnership. The promotion of the downtown as a single unified commercial area—in the same way that a major shopping mall is promoted—will help attract customers and strengthen Main Street’s role as a visible business center.

      From 1997 to the present, the New Hampshire Main Street program has made significant investments, and New Hampshire Main Street communities are making a strong comeback. As the New Hampshire Main Street program has stated, Downtown revitalization efforts set the tone for new investment in downtown.

      The purposes of this volume are to reflect upon the romance of our state’s past and to relive the memories of our Main Streets. More than 200 images have been assembled in this book, including Main Streets of Concord, Keene, Nashua, Rochester, Laconia, and most of the smaller villages throughout the state. Main Street is a place where we feel the pulsing heart of something time cannot change.

      —Bruce D. Heald, Ph.D.

      One

      ALEXANDRIA TO CONCORD

      Seen here is Main Street in Alexandria in the late 1800s. The simplicity of the business district reflects the rural lifestyle of the mid-19th century. Like other towns in this section of the state, Alexandria was a part of the Masonian grant of New Chester. The acres of valuable land in the intervale of the Fowler River attracted settlers as early as 1769, although the town was not incorporated until 1782.

      This 1910 view shows Main Street and the bridge in Alstead. Looking across the bridge to the Universalist church on the hill, we see the small village divided by Cold River. Alstead was granted a charter in 1772. Alstead is one of the towns that wavered its allegiance between New Hampshire and Vermont. In April 1781, the

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