Everything about Manchester New Hampshire totally explained
Manchester is the largest city in the
U.S. state of
New Hampshire and the largest city of northern
New England, an area composed of
Vermont,
New Hampshire and
Maine. It is in
Hillsborough County on the banks of the
Merrimack River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 107,219, and in 2005 the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning estimated the population to be nearly 110,000. Manchester is the center of the Manchester, NH,
New England City and Town Metropolitan Area (NECTA MA), with a population in 2000 of 176,663, and is near the northern end of the
BosWash megalopolis.
History
Pennacook Indians called the area Amoskeag, meaning "good fishing place" -- a reference to the
Amoskeag Falls in the Merrimack River. In 1722,
John Goffe settled on land beside Cohas Brook, where several years later he built a
dam and
sawmill. The community was called Old Harry's Town. In 1735, the
Province of Massachusetts Bay granted it as Tyngstown to settlers from
Massachusetts. A decade following the separation of New Hampshire from Massachusetts, Governor
Benning Wentworth in 1751 chartered the town as
Derryfield.
In 1807, Samuel Blodget opened a
canal and
lock system to allow vessels passage around the falls. He envisioned here a great industrial center, "the Manchester of America," like the
Industrial Revolution's
Manchester in
England, the first industrialized city in the world. Sure enough, in 1809, Benjamin Prichard and others built a
cotton spinning mill operated by
water power on the western bank of the Merrimack. Following Blodgett's suggestion, Derryfield was renamed Manchester in 1810, the year the mill was incorporated as the Amoskeag Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing Company. It would be purchased in 1825 by
entrepreneurs from Massachusetts, expanded to 3 mills in 1826, and then incorporated in 1831 as the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.
On the eastern bank, Amoskeag
engineers and
architects planned a model
company town, founded in 1838 with Elm Street as its main thoroughfare. Incorporated as a city in 1846, Manchester would become home to the largest cotton mill in the world -- Mill No. 11, stretching 900 feet long by 103 feet wide, and containing 4000
looms. Other products made in the community included
shoes,
cigars and
paper. The Amoskeag
foundry made
rifles,
sewing machines, textile
machinery,
fire engines, and
locomotives in a division called the
Amoskeag Locomotive Works (later, the
Manchester Locomotive Works). The rapid growth of the mills demanded a large influx of workers, resulting in a flood of immigrants, particularly
French Canadians. Many current residents descend from these workers. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company went out of business in 1935, although its red brick mills have been renovated for other uses. Indeed, the
mill town's 19th century affluence left behind some of the finest
Victorian commercial, municipal and residential
architecture in the state.
Manchester is nicknamed the Queen City. More recent nicknames for the city are
ManchVegas, Funchester, ManchHattan, and simply "Manch". In 1998, Manchester was named the "Number One Small City in the East" by
Money magazine. The
Mall of New Hampshire, on Manchester's southern fringe, is the city's main retail center.
Image:Bridge St., West from Maple St., Manchester, NH.jpg|Bridge Street in 1909
Image:Soldiers' Monument, Manchester, NH.jpg|War Monument c. 1905
Image:Granite Street, West Manchester, NH.jpg|Granite Street c. 1900
Image:Old Fire Station, Manchester, NH.jpg|Old Fire Station in 1907
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water, comprising 5.44% of the city. Manchester is drained by the Merrimack River, the
Piscataquog River and
Cohas Brook.
Massabesic Lake is on the eastern border. The highest point in Manchester is its extreme northwest corner, where the elevation reaches above
sea level.
Government
Board of Mayor and Aldermen
2008-2009 |
- Mayor: Frank Guinta (R)
- Ward 1: Mark Roy (D)
- Ward 2: Ted Gatsas (R)
- Ward 3: Peter M. Sullivan (D)
- Ward 4: Jim Roy (D)
- Ward 5: Ed Osborne (D)
- Ward 6: Real Pinard (I)
- Ward 7: William P. Shea (D)
- Ward 8: Betsi DeVries (D)
- Ward 9: Michael Garrity (R)
- Ward 10: George Smith (D)
- Ward 11: Russell Ouellette (D)
- Ward 12: Kelleigh Domaingue (D)
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The mayor also serves as the chair of the school committee. Like the board of aldermen, the school board is comprised of twelve members elected by ward and two at-large members.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 107,219 people, 44,247 households, and 26,105 families residing in the city. The
population density was 3,241.4 people per square mile (1,251.6/km²). There were 45,892 housing units at an average density of 1,390.2/sq mi (536.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.75% White, 2.32%
Asian, 2.10%
African American, 0.30%
Native American, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.76% from other races, and 1.73% from two or more races, 4.62% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race. Manchester is a national refugee relocation center.
The largest ancestry groups within the city's population are:
French (34.5%),
Irish (18.1%),
English (10.0%),
German (6.3%), and
Italian (6.2%).
There were 44,247 households out of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were
married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $40,774, and the median income for a family was $50,039. Males had a median income of $34,287 versus $26,584 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $21,244. 10.6% of the population and 7.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 14.6% are under the age of 18 and 11.7% are 65 or older.
Media
The city is served by four newspapers:
New Hampshire Union Leader (daily), the
Manchester Express (a weekly newspaper published by Hippo Press),
The Hippo (weekly) and the
Manchester Mirror (a weekly produced by the New Hampshire Union Leader).
In addition to several commercial
AM and
FM radio stations, Manchester is also served by local
cable television and one commercial television station:
MCAM TV-23
, Manchester Community Access Media, a public-access television facility. View programs online at MCAM Producer's Page
Manchester Community Television, providing government access (channel 22) and education access (channel 16) channels. MCTV also airs shows created by video students in Video Production at Manchester School of Technology.
WMUR-TV, the local ABC television affiliate
WZMY-TV, a MyNetworkTV affiliated (formerly independent) television station located in nearby Derry.
Manchester is part of the Boston television market, although it has two major stations of its own.
Education
Manchester School District.
High schools
Manchester School District has four public high schools:
Manchester High School West (West High School)
Manchester High School Central (Central High School)
Manchester Memorial High School (Memorial High School)
Manchester School of Technology (MST)
Manchester is served by three private high schools:
Trinity High School, a private, Roman Catholic high school
The Derryfield School, a private school serving sixth through twelfth grades
Holy Family Academy, a small Roman Catholic private school serving seventh through twelfth grades
Middle schools
Manchester School District has four public middle schools:
Hillside Middle School
Henry J. McLaughlin Middle School
Middle School at Parkside
Southside Middle School
There is one Roman Catholic middle school:
St. Joseph Regional Junior High School
Elementary schools
Manchester School District has fourteen elementary schools:
Bakersville Elementary School
Beech Street School
Gossler Park School
Green Acres Elementary School
Hallsville Elementary School
Highland-Goffe's Falls Elementary School
Jewett Street School
McDonough Elementary School
Northwest Elementary School
Parker-Varney School
Smyth Road School
Webster School
Weston School
Henry Wilson School
Post-secondary schools
Area institutions of higher education, together enrolling more than 8,000 students, include:
Hesser College - Manchester
Manchester Community College
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences -Manchester, NH Secondary Campus
New Hampshire Institute of Art (formerly called The Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences)
North Eastern Institute of Whole Health (External Link)
Saint Anselm College (mostly located within the adjacent town of Goffstown)
Southern New Hampshire University (mostly located within the adjacent town of Hooksett)
Springfield College School of Human Services (External Link)
University of New Hampshire at Manchester
Culture
Cultural landmarks include the historic Palace Theatre, the Currier Museum of Art, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Franco-American Center, the Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum, the Massabesic Audubon Center, the Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center, the Lawrence L. Lee Scouting Museum and Max I. Silber Library, and the SEE Science Center. Valley Cemetery, since 1841 the resting place of numerous prominent citizens, is an early example of a garden style burial ground.
The Verizon Wireless Arena is a civic center that hosts a variety of events, from sports such as hockey and arena football to concerts and fairs. It opened in November, 2001. (External Link) The John F. Kennedy Memorial Coliseum is another, smaller venue located in Manchester. It was completed in 1963, and serves as home ice for Manchester Central and Memorial High School hockey teams, and is home of the Southern New Hampshire Skating Club. (External Link)
Sports
Transportation
The city is served by Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, one of the fastest-growing airports in the nation, and fourth largest in New England. It is the secondary airport serving Boston, Massachusetts.
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 four-lane freeway eastbound from Manchester to Hampton, connecting the city with the southeastern part of the state and the seacoast, as well as Maine and Massachusetts' North Shore via Interstate 95. West of Manchester, NH 101 is a two lane highway serving as the main route to Keene and the Monadnock region.
Public transportation is provided by the Manchester Transit Authority, which runs several bus routes throughout the city and surrounding areas.
Concord Trailways runs commuter services to Boston and other parts of the state. Vermont Transit Lines (affiliated with Greyhound Lines) has lines to Montreal.
With the planned expansion of Interstate 93 to eight lanes from Salem to Manchester, space will be reserved in the median for potential future commuter rail service along this corridor.
According to a previous edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, Manchester's main street (Elm Street) was reported as the only main street in the United States with two dead-ends.
Economy
Manchester is northern New England's largest city, and its metropolitan area is the fastest growing in New England. On top of this, Manchester is one of New England's best places for finding a job. Its economy has changed greatly, as Manchester was a textile mill town just about 20 years ago.
Downtown
Manchester has a thriving downtown area, with more restaurants and stores being established all the time.
City Hall Plaza, northern New England's tallest building, is located in downtown Manchester. Other notable downtown buildings include the New Hampshire headquarters of Citizens Bank and Bank of America.
The Verizon Wireless Arena has become the centerpiece of downtown Manchester. It is a 10,000 seat arena for concerts and sporting events. The Verizon is also home to the Manchester Monarchs, the local AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings. The Merchantsauto.com Stadium (formerly Fisher Cats Park) is a baseball park located on the Merrimack River in downtown Manchester and is home to the local AA baseball affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
The Red Arrow, one of the top 10 diners in the United States, is located downtown.
Recent years have seen an influx of downtown residents buying the historic row houses originally built for Amoskeag Mill workers. Rents spiked as a result, but have largely levelled out in recent years.
Shopping
Manchester has two main retail-oriented areas, downtown Manchester and South Willow Street. The Mall of New Hampshire is located on South Willow Street, and has more than 125 stores.
In recent years there has been increasing redevelopment of the historic Amoskeag Millyard, with many retail stores now located there along both Commercial and Bedford Streets. There are a variety of stores and restaurants to visit.
Notable inhabitants
» See List of people from Manchester, New Hampshire for a more complete list.
Joseph Carter Abbott, Union general and a Senator from North Carolina
Mike Flanagan, Major League pitcher and winner of the 1979 Cy Young Award
Rene Gagnon, a US Marine who helped raise the flag over Iwo Jima
William Loeb, publisher of the Manchester Union Leader newspaper, 1946-1981
Dick and Mac McDonald, founders of McDonald's
Grace Metalious, author of Peyton Place
Lee M.E. Morin, astronaut
Charles Revson, businessman, founder of the cosmetics company Revlon
Adam Sandler, comedian
General John Stark, Revolutionary War commander
Sister cities
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany
Hof HaCarmel Region, Israel
Gweru, ZimbabweFurther Information
Get more info on 'Manchester New Hampshire'.
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