Stats about the 40 communities of the Monadnock Region
Map
Monadnock Region Zip Code Map
Elevation
Monadnock Region Elevation Chart CLICK FOR LARGER VIEW
Population
Monadnock Region Population Pie – 2010 Census
History of towns in the Monadnock Region
1733 |
 Old Covered Bridge West Swanzey NH Swanzey – first granted as Lower Ashuelot |
1735 |
 The Square Keene NH Keene – granted as Upper Ashuelot |
| 1735 |
 Main Street New Ipswich NH New Ipswich – granted |
| 1735 |
 Union Church East Westmoreland NH Westmoreland – first granted as Number Two |
| 1735 |
 Lake Warren East Alstead NH Alstead chartered as 1 of 9 forts to protect southwestern NH from Indian attack |
| 1735 |
 Pine Grove Springs Hotel Spofford Lake Chesterfield NH Chesterfield Granted |
| 1735 |
 Contoocook Mills Hillsborough NH Hillsborough first granted as Number Seven |
| 1735 |
 Four Corners Richmond NH Richmond – first chartered – named Sylvester-Canada |
| 1735 |
 Wilton Woolen Company Wilton NH Wilton – part of township chartered as Salem-Canada |
1736 |
 The Square Rindge NH Rindge – granted |
| 1736 |
 Main Street East Jaffrey NH Jaffrey – granted by Massachusetts General Court as Rowley-Canada |
| 1736 |
 Factories & Freight Yards Keene NH Keene – settled after 1736 |
| 1736 | Lyndeborough – sawmill established, known as Salem-Canada |
| 1736 | Walpole first granted |
1737 |
Peterborough granted |
1738 |
Sharon – first settled in 1738 as part of Peterborough slip, an area which until 1768 included Temple – called Sliptown |
| 1738 | New Ipswich settlement began |
1739 |
Hillsborough renamed as Hillsborough |
| 1739 | Mason first known as Number One |
1741 |
Antrim settled |
| 1741 | Hillsborough settled |
1742 |
Fort Hinsdale established |
1748 |
Hillsborough granted, named for Sir Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough |
1749 |
Dublin granted as Monadnock No.3 |
| 1749 | Peterborough settled |
| 1749 | Wilton regranted as Number Two |
| 1749 | Rindge – regranted as Monadnock No. 1 |
| 1749 | Jaffrey – rechartered as Monadnock No. 2 |
| 1749 | Mason – town’s charter granted |
1752 |
Alstead granted as Newtown |
| 1752 | Chesterfield Incorporated |
| 1752 | Gilsum granted as Boyle |
| 1752 | Westmoreland regranted |
| 1752 | Marlborough – first granted as Monadnock No. 5 |
| 1752 | Richmond – incorporated |
| 1752 | Stoddard- first granted to both Colonel Stoddard and others at Monadnock No. 7, know locally as Limerick until 1774 |
1753 |
Gilsum rechartered |
| 1753 | Greenfield first settled as Lyndeborough Addition. |
| 1753 | Hinsdale chartered, named for Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale |
| 1753 | Marlow – first granted in 1753 as Addison |
| 1753 | Swanzey – regranted |
| 1753 | Winchester – incorporated |
1754 |
Fitzwilliam first granted as Monadnock No. 4 |
1756 |
Nelson – granted as Monadnock No. 6 |
| 1756 | Walpole incorporated – name was Bellowstown |
1757 |
Richmond – settled |
1758 |
Jaffrey settled |
1760 |
Peterborough incorporated |
1761 |
Marlow – regranted as Marlow |
| 1761 | Walpole – town was renamed Walpole |
1762 |
Troy first settled |
| 1762 | Wilton – incorporated |
| 1762 | Westmoreland – Park Hill Meetinghouse built |
| 1762 | New Ipswich – incorporated as Ipswich |
1763 |
Alstead incorporated as “Alstead”, named for Johann Heinrich Alsted – compiler of early encyclopedia popular at Harvard |
1764 |
Alstead settled |
| 1764 | Hancock – first settled |
| 1764 | Gilsum first settled |
1765 |
Deering first settled |
1766 |
New Ipswich – incorporated again as New Ipswich |
1767 |
Nelson first settled |
| 1767 | Jaffrey regranted |
1768 |
Mason – named in honor of New Hampshire’s founder John Mason |
| 1768 | Rindge – incorporated |
| 1768 | Temple – incorporated, named after lt governor John Temple |
| 1768 | Windsor – Incorporated |
1769 |
Keene – became county seat of Cheshire County |
| 1769 | Surry – chartered, named for Charles Howard, Earl of Surrey |
1771 |
Dublin incorporated, named for Dublin, Ireland |
1772 |
Francestown incorporated, named for Frances Deering Wentworth |
| 1772 | Hillsborough incorporated |
1773 |
Jaffrey incorporated and named for George Jaffrey |
| 1773 | Fitzwilliam incorporated, named for William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam |
1774 |
Deering incorporated |
| 1774 | Harrisville – sawmill and gristmill built here when it was known as Twitchell’s Mills |
| 1774 | Nelson – incorporated |
| 1774 | Stoddard – incorporated |
1775 |
Jaffrey – Town Meetinghouse built |
1776 |
Marlborough – incorporated, originally known as Oxford then New Marlborough |
1777 |
Antrim incorporated |
1778 |
Antrim gets its name, named for Country Antrim in Ireland |
1779 |
Hancock – Hancock set off from Peterborough and incorporated, named in honor of John Hancock |
| 1779 | Westmoreland – Park Hill Meetinghouse moved to present location by oxen |
1780 |
Temple – Temple Glassworks founded |
1781 |
Alstead joins Vermont |
1782 |
Alstead returns to NH authority |
| 1782 | first grist mill built in Bennington |
1785 |
Walpole – first bridge across Connecticut River built |
1786 |
Mason – local cottage Pickity Place built |
1787 |
Sullivan incorporated, formed from parts of Gilsum, Keene, Nelson, and Stoddard |
1788 |
Presbyterian church established in Antrim by Scots-Irish settlers |
1789 |
New Ipswich – New Ipswich Academy chartered (later named Appleton Academy) |
1791 |
Greenfield becomes a town of its own |
| 1791 | Sharon – incorporated and name changed to Sharon |
1792 |
Stoddard – town’s first schoolhouses built |
1793 |
NH’s first paper mill in Alstead on Cold River |
1794 |
Milford – separated from neighboring Amherst – Milford name comes from fact is grew around a mill built on a ford |
1801 |
New Ipswich – first woolen mill in state established here |
1804 |
Hillsborough – Franklin Pierce born(14th President of U.S.) Pierce Homestead built |
| 1804 | New Ipswich – first cotton mill in state established here |
| 1804 | Peterborough – Lafayette Artillery Company founded. Oldest continuously active state militia unit. |
1810 |
first cotton mill built in Bennington |
| 1810 | first cotton factory established |
1812 |
Roxbury – incorporated from portions of Nelson, Marlborough, and Keene |
1814 |
Nelson – name changed to Nelson |
| 1814 | Troy – town hall completed, originally village meetinghouse |
1815 |
Marlborough – land set off to create town of Troy |
| 1815 | Troy – incorporated from parts of Marlborough, Fitzwilliam, Swanzey, and Richmond |
1822 |
Stoddard – first post office built |
1826 |
Greenville – Columbian Manufacturing Company established to make textiles |
| 1826 | Westmoreland – Park Hill Meetinghouse renovated |
1831 |
Walpole – Walpole Academy built |
1832 |
Swanzey – West Swanzey Covered Bridge built |
1833 |
Lyndeborough – Lafayette Artillery Company makes its home here |
| 1833 | Peterborough – Peterborough Town Library founded 4/9/1833 by Unitarian minister Abiel Abbot. oldest free library supported by taxation in United States |
1835 |
factory with paper-making machinery established in Bennington (at or near site of current Monadnock Paper Mill) |
1836 |
Lyndeborough – Congregational Church built |
1840 |
Jaffrey – several summer hotels built at base of Mount Monadnock |
| 1840 | Stoddard – glass manufacturing starts |
1842 |
town of Bennington incorporated |
1845 |
Jaffrey – Ralph Waldo Emerson writes the poem, Monadnoc |
1846 |
Lyndeborough – Town Hall built |
1848 |
railroad enters Fitzwilliam |
| 1848 | Keene – railroad arrived |
1850 |
Winchester – Ashuelot Raiload comes to Winchester |
1854 |
Peterborough – Peterboro Basket Company opens |
1858 |
Bennington has cutlery manufacturer, a gristmill, 2 paper mills, and a sawmill. |
1859 |
Deering has two sawmills, one gristmill, and one clothing factory |
| 1859 | Gilsum has a bobbin factory, chair factory, and a tannery |
| 1859 | Marlow – town has seven sawmills, a gristmill, a carriage shop, a tin shop, and two tanneries. |
| 1859 | Rindge – has three gristmills, thirteen sawmills, thirteen shingle mills, six stave mills, two planing mills, and several clapboard mills |
| 1859 | Peterborough – has five cotton factories, a woolen mill, two paper mills, an iron foundry, a machine shop, a carriage factory, a basket manufacturer, a maker of trusses and supporters, a boot and shoe factory, seven sawmills, and three gristmills |
1860 |
origins of library in Bennington |
1863 |
Stone Arch Bridge completed in Gilsum |
1864 |
manufacture of apple-paring machines begins in Antrim |
1865 |
Troy – Troy Mills sold by founder Thomas Goodall after nearly 100 years of operation |
1867 |
Sullivan – first town in NH to dedicate Civil War Monument |
1869 |
Keene – Second Empire mansion built by Henry Colony – currently Keene Public Library |
1870 |
Harrisville separates from Dublin |
| 1870 | Harrisville township formed from parts of Marlborough, Dublin, Hancock, Nelson, and Roxbury |
1872 |
Greenville incorporated |
| 1872 | Mason – Greenville set off from Mason |
1873 |
Stoddard – glass manufacturing ceases |
1874 |
Keene – incorporated as a city |
1875 |
Hinsdale – George A. Long builds self-propelled steam vehicle, the Long Steam tricycle, got on of nation’s earliest automobile patents |
1878 |
Harrisville – Manchester & Keene Railroad opened |
| 1878 | Hillsborough – Boston and Maine Railroad supplies rail service |
1880 |
Alstead paper mill destroyed by fire |
| 1880 | Bennington Town Library established |
1889 |
Lyndeborough – Citizens’ Hall opens |
1906 |
G.E.P. Dodge Library built in Bennington -becomes town library |
1907 |
Peterborough – MacDowell Art Colony created |
1910 |
Shedd-Porter Memorial Library completed in Alstead |
1925 |
Pierce homestead restored |
1933 |
Peterborough – Peterborough Players have first performance |
1942 |
Hillsborough – rail service north to Henniker ceases |
1950 |
Jaffrey – setting for biography by Elizabeth Yates entitled, Amos Fortune Free Man |
1953 |
Greenfield – Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center begins operation |
1958 |
Roxbury – construction of Otter Brook Lake completed by Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding in the Ashuelot and Connecticut River Valleys |
1959 |
Hinsdale – Hinsdale Greyhound Park started |
1961 |
Pierce homestead designated National Historic Landmark |
1962 |
Nathaniel Hawthorne College opens in Antrim |
1967 |
Peterborough – The Well private school founded |
1968 |
New Ipswich – Appleton Academy closes |
1969 |
New Ipswich – construction of Mascenic Regional High School completed |
1970 |
Harrisville – Cheshire Mills ceases operation |
1970 |
Peterborough – Contoocook Valley Regional High School built |
1973 |
Peterborough – first Brookstone store opens |
1979 |
Hillsborough – rails torn up in town |
1982 |
Marlow – PC Connection founded here in a former woodworking mill |
1988 |
Nathaniel Hawthorne College closes in Antrim |
1989 |
last year cutlery manufactured in Antrim |
1989 |
Gilsum’s Stone Arch Bridge added to National Register |
1989 |
Peterborough – South Meadow School founded |
1998 |
Winchester – holds first annual Pickle Festival in September |
2001 |
Troy – Troy Mills declares bankruptcy |
2002 |
Troy – Troy Mills ceases operations |
2004 |
Greenfield – Crotched Mountain unveils first wheelchair-accessible treehouse in NH |
2005 |
In October, parts of Alstead devastated by severe flood, 4 inhabitants killed |
2008 |
Hinsdale – Hinsdale Greyhound Park closes |
| 2008 | Troy – Troy Mills undergoign renovation to become retirement community |