Nashua, New Hampshire

The area was part of a 200-square-mile (520 km²) tract of land in Massachusetts called "Dunstable", named after Edward Tyng of Dunstable in England.[6][7] Located at the confluence of the Nashua and Merrimack rivers, Dunstable was first settled about 1654 as a fur trading town. Nashua lies approximately in the center of the original 1673 grant.[6] In 1732, Dunstable was split along the Merrimack River, with the town of Nottingham (now the town of Hudson, New Hampshire) created out of the eastern portion. The previously disputed boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was fixed in 1741 when the governorships of the two provinces were separated.[6] As a result, the township of Dunstable was divided in two. Tyngsborough and some of Dunstable remained in Massachusetts, while Dunstable, New Hampshire, was incorporated in 1746 from the northern section of the town.[6]

Like many 19th century riverfront New England communities, New Hampshire's Dunstable was developed during the Industrial Revolution with textile mills operated from water power.[7] In 1823, the Nashua Manufacturing Company was incorporated.[7] The company eventually had four mills and employed approximately 1,000 people.[7] The following year, the Jackson Manufacturing Company was incorporated.[8]

In 1836, the New Hampshire half of Dunstable was renamed "Nashua", after the Nashua River; the Dunstable name lives on across the Massachusetts border.[9][10] The Nashua River was named by the Nashaway people, and in the Penacook language it means "beautiful stream with a pebbly bottom",[11][12] with an alternative meaning of "land between two rivers".[13][14] In 1842, the town split into two towns.[9] Eleven years later, they joined back together under the name "Nashua", and were re-incorporated as a city.[9] During the split, the northern area, known today as "French Hill", called itself "Nashville", while the southern part kept the name Nashua.[10]

Six railroad lines crossed the mill town, namely the Nashua and Lowell, Worcester and Nashua, Nashua and Acton, Nashua and Wilton, Concord and Nashua, and Rochester railroads.[15]

Like the rival Amoskeag Manufacturing Company upriver in Manchester,[16] the Nashua mills prospered until about World War I, after which a slow decline set in. Water power was replaced with newer forms of energy to run factories, such as coal, and cotton could be manufactured into fabric where it grew, saving transportation costs.[17] The textile business started moving to the South during the Great Depression,[18] with the last mill near Nashua closing in 1949.[19]

But then Sanders Associates, a newly created defense firm that is now part of BAE Systems, moved into one of the closed mills and helped restart the city's economy.[20][21] Sanders Associates also played a key role in the development of the home video game console market. Ralph H. Baer, an employee of Sanders, developed what would become the Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial home video game system.[22] The arrival of Digital Equipment Corp., now part of Hewlett-Packard,[23] in the 1970s made the city part of the Boston-area high-tech corridor.[24][25]

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  An 1883 bird's-eye engraving of Nashua
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  The Nashua Millyard
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  Canal St. Bridge, c. 1908
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  The Willows, c. 1910; the road is now Route 101A near Somerset Plaza
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  Hunt Memorial Library in 2006

Nashua River Dam in 2006

Nashua is in southeastern Hillsborough County. It is bordered to the south by Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 31.7 square miles (82.2 km²), of which 30.8 square miles (79.9 km²) are land and 0.89 square miles (2.3 km²) are water, comprising 2.84% of the city.[26] The eastern boundary of Nashua is formed by the Merrimack River, and the city is drained by the Nashua River and Salmon Brook, tributaries of the Merrimack. The Nashua River roughly bisects the city. Pennichuck Brook forms the city's northern boundary. The highest point in Nashua is Gilboa Hill in the southern part of the city, at 426 feet (130 m) above sea level.[27]

As of the census of 2010,[32] there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile (1,050.2/km²). There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile (464.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.4% White, 2.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 6.5% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.6% from some other race, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.8% of the population.

There were 35,044 households, out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.6% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the city the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 28.0% from 25 to 44, 27.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.

In 2011 the estimated median income for a household in the city was $60,923, and the median income for a family was $76,612. Male full-time workers had a median income of $60,365 versus $43,212 for females. The per capita income for the city was $30,937. About 4.6% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.[33]

Main Street c. 1905

Nashua has three main commercial districts. Centered on Main Street near the geographic center of the city, Downtown Nashua is the oldest of the commercial districts, featuring commercial, entertainment, and dining venues, near historic commercial buildings and homes as well. Recent plans have incorporated the Nashua River into the design of a pedestrian-friendly walkway. The downtown Nashua Riverwalk is a large, public/private venture funded through the use of tax increment financing (TIF). Amherst Street (Route 101A) is in the northwestern part of the city and is a large thoroughfare with commercial centers along both sides. The South Nashua Commercial District, centered on Daniel Webster Highway near the Massachusetts border, is anchored by the Pheasant Lane Mall, attracting many people from Massachusetts taking advantage of the lack of sales tax in New Hampshire.

The city is home to a number of technical firms, including Nashua Corporation, which took its name from the city and river. Nashua Corp. was a leading producer of floppy disks through the early 1990s, making the Nashua name well known in the world of personal computers.

Defense contractor BAE Systems (formerly Sanders Associates), computer firm Dell,[34] and software company Oracle Corporation are the largest representatives of the high-tech industry prominent in the region. The Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center is in Nashua. The three-building campus that once housed a Digital Equipment Corporation software development facility was sold to the John Flatley Company, which has renamed it "Nashua Technology Park".[35]

Nashua has had a series of amateur, semi-professional, and professional baseball teams. The Nashua Silver Knights, part of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League of New England (FCBL), is the city's current team. The Nashua Pride, a Can-Am minor league baseball team, played at Holman Stadium from 1998 through 2008, then changed to the American Defenders of New Hampshire in the 2009 season. The Defenders were evicted from the venue in August 2009, however, because of non-payment of rent, and moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to become the Pittsfield Colonials. Before the Pride, Holman was the home stadium for the independent Nashua Hawks; the AA Nashua Pirates; the AA Nashua Angels; and the A Nashua Dodgers, the first racially integrated professional baseball team in the 20th century.[36]

In collegiate sports, Nashua is home to the Rivier University Raiders, who compete in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps (1997, 1998, 2004, 2007 Drum Corps International Division II Champions and 2019 Open Class Champions) is based in Nashua.

Nashua City Hall

The city's government is headed by a mayor and fifteen aldermen: six at-large aldermen elected three at a time every four years, and nine ward aldermen, one for each ward in the city, elected every two years.

In the New Hampshire General Court, Nashua is represented in the House by Hillsborough County's 20th (Ward 1), 21st (Ward 2), 22nd (Ward 3), 23rd (Ward 4), 24th (Ward 6), 25th (Ward 7) and 26th (Wards 5, 8 and 9) districts and in the Senate by District 12 (Wards 1, 2, and 5, shared with Hollis, Mason, Brookline, Greenville, New Ipswich, and Rindge) and District 13 (Wards 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9).

In the New Hampshire Senate, Nashua is represented by two state senators:

• Republican Kevin Avard (District 12) – Wards 1–2, 5
• Democrat Cindy Rosenwald (District 13) – Wards 3–4, 6-9

In the New Hampshire Executive Council, Nashua is included within the 5th District and is currently represented by Republican Dave Wheeler. Nashua is included within New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district and is currently represented by Democrat Ann McLane Kuster in the U.S. House of Representatives.

At the presidential level, Nashua leans strongly towards Democrats. George H. W. Bush was the last Republican presidential nominee to win Nashua in 1988.

Bishop Guertin High School

In the 2000 U.S Census, 22,700 residents over age three were enrolled in a Nashua educational institution, approximately a fourth of the city.[38]

The local newspaper is The Telegraph, with daily news published online and a weekly printed edition.

Nashua radio stations include oldies station WGHM 900 AM (ESPN affiliate), talk station WSMN 1590 AM, and 106.3 WFNQ, a classic hits station owned by Binnie Media. WEVS 88.3 and 90.3 serve as the stations for New Hampshire Public Radio. The city is part of the Manchester radio market and can also receive almost all Boston-market stations clearly.

One television station is licensed to Nashua. WBTS-CD (channel 15) is owned by NBC Owned Television Stations, and serves as the NBC owned-and-operated station for the Boston market. The station moved from its own transmitter to a channel share with PBS member station WGBX-TV from their Needham, Massachusetts tower in 2018 upon NBC's assumption of ownership, letting it broadcast the "NBC Boston" service (previously carried by a low-power station in Boston and subchannels of other stations) across the entire market. As WYCN-CD, it formerly carried a number of smaller networks, along with local programming and community calendar information of interest to Nashuans, until the sale to NBC.

An episode of MTV's MADE was filmed in 2004 at Nashua High School North.[51]

Russian dressing was created in Nashua by James E. Colburn, likely in the 1910s.[52]

• Mysore, Karnataka, India[53][54]

• Mine Falls Park
• Nashua River Rail Trail
• Greeley Park

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nashua, New Hampshire.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Nashua (New Hampshire).

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Nashua".

• Official website