Nashua, New Hampshire
Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester. It is one of two county seats of New Hampshire's most populous county, Hillsborough; the other being Manchester.
Built around the now-departed textile industry, in recent decades Nashua's economy has shifted to the financial and professional services, high tech, and defense industries as part of the economic recovery that started in the 1980s in the Greater Boston region. Major private employers in the city include Nashua Corporation, BAE Systems, and Teradyne. The city also hosts two major regional medical centers, Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital. The South Nashua commercial district is a major regional shopping destination, lying directly on the Massachusetts border and taking advantage of New Hampshire's lack of sales tax. It is anchored by the Pheasant Lane Mall and numerous smaller shopping centers.
It is one of several U.S. cities nicknamed Gate City, which references a reputation for being a travel gateway—in this case between the Boston region and New Hampshire. A number of civic groups and institutions have adopted the title.
History
The area was part of a tract of land in Massachusetts called "Dunstable", named after Edward Tyng of Dunstable in England. 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. In 1732, Dunstable was split along the Merrimack River, with the town of Nottingham West 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. 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.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. In 1823, the Nashua Manufacturing Company was incorporated. The company eventually had four mills and employed approximately 1,000 people. The following year, the Jackson Manufacturing Company was incorporated.
In 1836, the New Hampshire half of Dunstable was renamed "Nashua", after the Nashua River; the Dunstable name lives on across the Massachusetts border. The Nashua River was named by the Nashaway people, and in the Penacook language it means "beautiful stream with a pebbly bottom", with an alternative meaning of "land between two rivers". In 1842, the town split into two towns. Eleven years later, they joined back together under the name "Nashua", and were re-incorporated as a city. During the split, the northern area, known today as "French Hill", called itself "Nashville", while the southern part kept the name Nashua.
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.
Like the rival Amoskeag Manufacturing Company upriver in Manchester, 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.
In 1922, it was affected by the 1922 New England Textile Strike, shutting down the mills in the city over an attempted wage cut and hours increase. The textile business started moving to the South during the Great Depression, with the last mill near Nashua closing in 1949.
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. 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. The arrival of Digital Equipment Corp., now part of Hewlett-Packard, in the 1970s made the city part of the Boston-area high-tech corridor.
Geography
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, of which are land and are water, comprising 2.84% of the city. 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 above sea level.
Climate
Nashua has a four-season humid continental climate, which has transitioned to the hot summer subtype,, as of the 1991 to 2020 normals, with short spring and autumn transitions, long humid and warm to hot summers, and cold winters full of snow. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July. On average, there are 9.4 days of + highs and 8.7 days of sub- lows. Precipitation is well-spread throughout the year, though winter is the driest. Snowfall, the heaviest of which typically comes from nor'easters, averages around per season, but can vary widely from year to year. Nashua recorded the New Hampshire state record high temperature of during the deadly 1911 heat wave.Demographics
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2000 | Pop 2010 | % 2000 | % 2010 | ||
| White alone | 74,907 | 68,309 | 64,225 | 86.49% | 78.98% | 70.30% |
| Black or African American alone | 1,571 | 1,954 | 2,383 | 1.81% | 2.26% | 2.61% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone | 220 | 167 | 130 | 0.25% | 0.19% | 0.14% |
| Asian alone | 3,339 | 5,600 | 7,112 | 3.86% | 6.47% | 7.79% |
| Pacific Islander alone | 26 | 18 | 29 | 0.03% | 0.02% | 0.03% |
| Some Other Race alone | 247 | 452 | 817 | 0.29% | 0.52% | 0.89% |
| Mixed Race or Multi-Racial | 907 | 1,484 | 3,939 | 1.05% | 1.72% | 4.31% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 5,388 | 8,510 | 12,687 | 6.22% | 9.84% | 13.89% |
| Total | 86,605 | 86,494 | 91,322 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was. There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of. 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.
Economy
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. Amherst Street 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, computer firm Dell, 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".