Manchester, New Hampshire

Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County in south central New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it is the largest city in both New Hampshire and northern New England (an area which includes Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine), with a total population of 107,006 as of the 2000 census. Manchester is the center of the Manchester, NH, New England City and Town Metropolitan Area (NECTA MA). Incorporated as a city in 1846, Manchester is nicknamed the Queen City.

Manchester maintains a high quality of life. In 1998, it was named the Number One Small City in the East by Money magazine. The Mall of New Hampshire, on the southern edge of the city, is the main retail center in the area.

History

For thousands of years, the Amoskeag Falls, along the Merrimack River in Manchester, has been New Hampshire's most important gathering place. Paleo-Indians were the area's first inhabitants, arriving about 12,000 years ago after the glaciers receded from the last ice age. The main community of native people who lived near Amoskeag Falls were the Penacooks.

The word "Amoskeag" is derived from the Penacook word "Namoskeag" which means "the great fishing place”. The word "Merrimack" means "place of strong current" or "a long and continued place of water for fishing." Nomadic people who visited the Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack River for thousands of years to fish for the salmon, shad, alewives, sturgeon, and eels that swam up the Merrimack River from the Atlantic Ocean.

During archeological excavations on both sides of the Merrimack River near Amoskeag Falls, significant prehistoric artifacts have been found.

The first white man to visit the site of Amoskeag Falls was the explorer Samuel de Champlain on June 17, 1605, after being told of the place by several native people he had met the day before at Odiorne Point in Rye, New Hampshire. Thomas Morton provided the first authentic information regarding the native people of the Merrimack in his published work New England Canaan, printed in 1637, which was based on his 1628 trip to the Merrimack River.

The first white settler in the Manchester area was John Goffe in 1722 who acquired land on the north bank of the Cohas Brook at its junction with the Merrimack River. Several years later John Goffe built a dam across Cohas Brook and constructed and operated a sawmill.

Early settlers farmed the fields on the sides of the Merrimack and fished the river as the native people had done in the past. In 1775, at the time of the Revolutionary War, there were approximately 41 men between the ages of 16–50 living in Manchester, and 36 of these men were fit to bear arms. Many of the men served under Manchester native General John Stark at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1776.

A group of business men started the manufacturing of fabric from cotton at Amoskeag Falls, and in January 1810, a fabric manufacturing company was incorporated and called the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool Manufacturing Company. Stores, shops, and boarding houses were built near the mills and Manchester soon began to flourish. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was chartered in June 1831 with capital of $1,600,000.

The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company laid out the site for the town, consisting of the main street running parallel to the river called Elm Street. Immigrants from all over New England and Quebec moved to Manchester to work at the Mills.

At its peak in the early twentieth century, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was the largest textile producer in the world with 30 mills in operation, 17,000 workers, and 8 million feet of floor space. The Amoskeag Mills made the greatest profits in its history during World War I.

Amoskeag continued to add mills and spindles to reduce the cost of making fabric only to discover that the textile industry throughout the world had too much productive capacity for the market, and the New England mills were the ones to lose out. After World War I, industrial demobilization followed, and the Amoskeag Mills, along with most other New England textile corporations, experienced a general decline. Southern competition, antiquated machinery, inefficiency, and high labor costs were also factors in the decline.

By the 1920s, a period of prosperity in the United States, the workers in the Amoskeag Mills were already rehearsing for the great depression. Other prolonged strikes by the UTW in 1922, 1933, and 1934 were targeted against the Amoskeag Mills to respond to wage reductions and increased production quotas on workers. Smaller strikes occurred until the mills eventually shut down.

In recent decades, the Amoskeag Mills no longer house massive manufacturing operations, but the have experienced a cultural renewal. Buildings in Manchester's Amoskeag Millyard District now house technology companies, artist colonies, restaurants, breweries, and museums. Today, Manchester provides some of the best cultural activities in New England.

Geography

Manchester is located at 42°59'11" North, 71°27'6" West (42.986284, -71.451560)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 90.4 km² (34.9 mi²). 85.5 km² (33.0 mi²) of it is land and 4.9 km² (1.9 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 5.44% water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there are 107,006 people, 44,247 households, and 26,105 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,251.6/km² (3,241.4/mi²). There are 45,892 housing units at an average density of 536.8/km² (1,390.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 91.75% White (this includes a large Bosnian population), 2.10% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 2.32% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.76% from other races, and 1.73% from two or more races. 4.62% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Manchester is national refugee relocation center.

There are 44,247 households out of which 29.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% are married couples living together, 11.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% are non-families. 31.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.36 and the average family size is 3.00.

In the city the population is spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 93.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $40,774, and the median income for a family is $50,039. Males have a median income of $34,287 versus $26,584 for females. The per capita income for the city is $21,244. 10.6% of the population and 7.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 14.6% of those under the age of 18 and 11.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Cultural and Educational institutions

Cultural landmarks include the Palace Theater, home to the New Hampshire Symphony and the Opera League of New Hampshire, the Currier Museum of Art, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum, the Massabesic Audubon Center, the Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center, and the SEE Science Center

Area insitutions of higher education, together enrolling more than 8,000 students, include:

• University of New Hampshire at Manchester
• Southern New Hampshire University
• New Hampshire Community Technical College
• Hesser College
• Saint Anselm College
• Springfield College School of Human Services
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services
• Chester College of New England
• Franklin Pierce College

Sports

Manchester is home to three professional sports teams:

• Manchester Wolves (Arena Football)
• New Hampshire Fisher Cats (minor league baseball)
• Manchester Monarchs (American Hockey League)

Transportation

The city is served by Manchester Airport, a fast-growing airport that has Southwest Airlines as its main service provider.

Interstates 93 and 293 and US Highway 3 connect the area to Concord and the White Mountains to the north and Nashua and Boston to the south. NH 101 is a freeway-grade expressway that connects Manchester to the southeastern part of the state and Maine via Interstate 95.

Mass transportation is provided by the Manchester Transit Authority, which runs several bus routes throughout the city and surrounding areas.

Interesting Facts

• The city is a refugee resettlement center. More than 10% of the city's population is now foreign-born.
• The city is the hometown of fictional President Jed Bartlett and his family on the American television series, The West Wing.
• Manchester is a sister city of Nashville, Tennessee, with which it is directly linked by air.
• Manchester is nick-named "ManchVegas" by many locals.
• The unofficial city newspaper is named The Hippo.

Historical populations

Sources: New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning and U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division

External links

• Official Manchester website

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Mapquest or Google
  • Topographic map from Topozone
  • Aerial photograph from Terraserver or Google