| |||
| City nickname: Gate City | |||
| Founded | 1853 | ||
| County | Hillsborough County | ||
| Mayor | Bernard A. Streeter (Rep) | ||
| Area - Total - Water |
87.5 km² (31.8 mi²) 2.5 km² (0.9 mi²) 2.98% | ||
| Population - City (2000) |
86,605 | ||
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5 | ||
| Latitude Longitude |
42°45'4" N 71°28'51" W | ||
| www.gonashua.com | |||
Nashua is a city located in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. As of the 2000 census, Nashua had a total population of 86,605, making it the second largest city in the state after Manchester.
Built around the now-departed textile industry, in recent decades it has been swept up in southern New Hampshire's economic expansion as part of the Boston, Massachusetts, region. Nashua was twice named "Best Place To Live In America" in annual surveys by Money (magazine). It is the only city to get the No. 1 ranking two times—in 1987 and 1997.
History
Like many New England cities, Nashua grew because of textile mills using water power. The city was originally part of the Dunstable grant in Massachusetts and lies approximately in the center of the original 1673 grant. When the state line was redrawn in 1741, the town of Dunstable, Massachusetts, was divided in two. Dunstable, New Hampshire, was incorporated from the northern part of the town.
By 1836, Nashua Corporation had built three cotton mills and was producing 9.3 million yards of cotton cloth annually on 710 looms, and the town of Dunstable was renamed "Nashua." The legislature declared that it was now named for the Nashua River. Six railroad lines crossed the city with 56 trains entering and departing daily before the Civil War.
What is now Nashua broke in two for a while, following a tax dispute between the town of Nashville north of the Nashua River, where most of the wealthier people lived, and town of Nashua south of the river. The two joined together and chartered the city in 1853.
The textile business started moving to the South during the Great Depression, with the last mill closing in 1949. Sanders Associates, a newly created defense firm that is now part of BAE Systems, moved into one of the closed mills and launched the city's rebirth. The arrival of Digital Equipment Corp. (now part of Hewlett-Packard) nearby in Merrimack in the 1970s made the city part of the Boston-area high-tech corridor.
Geography
Nashua is located at 42°45′4″N 71°28′51″W / 42.75111°N 71.48083°W (42.751038, -71.480817)Template:GR. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 87.5 km² (31.8 mi²). 80.0 km² (30.9 mi²) of it is land and 2.5 km² (0.9 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.98% water.
The city is bordered on the east by the Merrimack River, across which lies the town of Hudson, New Hampshire. To the north is Merrimack, New Hampshire, west is Hollis, New Hampshire, and south is Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. The city is roughly bisected by the Nashua River.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 86,605 people, 34,614 households, and 22,083 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,082.5/km² (2,803.5/mi²). There are 35,387 housing units at an average density of 442.3/km² (1,145.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 89.25% White, 2.01% African American, 0.32% Native American, 3.88% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.05% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. 6.22% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 34,614 households out of which 31.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.3% are married couples living together, 10.4% have a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% are non-families. 28.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.46 and the average family size is 3.05.
In the city the population is spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $51,969, and the median income for a family is $61,102. Males have a median income of $43,893 versus $29,171 for females. The per capita income for the city is $25,209. 6.8% of the population and 5.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 8.7% of those under the age of 18 and 6.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Politics
| Nashua Aldermen | |
|---|---|
| Name | Classification |
| Brian McCarthy | At-Large |
| James Tollner | At-Large |
| Steven Bolton | At-Large |
| David Deane | At-Large |
| Paula Johnson | At-Large |
| David Rootovich | At-Large |
| Kathryn Vitale | Ward 1 |
| Richard LaRose | Ward 2 |
| Kevin Gage | Ward 3 |
| Marc Plamondon | Ward 4 |
| David Lozeau | Ward 5 |
| Robert Dion | Ward 6 |
| Lori Cardin | Ward 7 |
| Dave MacLaughlin | Ward 8 |
| Robert Shaw Jr. | Ward 9 |
The city's government is headed by Mayor Bernie Streeter and the fifteen Aldermen, six at-large Aldermen elected by the entire city every four years, and nine ward Aldermen, one for each ward in the city.
Like other municipalities in New Hampshire, elections for city offices are technically nonpartisan. However, state and federal election results in the city were overwhelmingly in favor of the Democrats during the 2004 Election[1], with the Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry winning in all 9 wards of Nashua [2], Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate John Lynch winning in 6 of the 9 wards [3] while the two candidates were neck and neck in their races elsewhere in the state. Currently, 21 of 28 of the cities' State Representatives and the cities' two State Senators currently come from the Democratic Party.
Commerce
The city may be best known today as a shopping mecca to residents of Massachusetts who come north of the state border to take advantage of the lack of a sales tax in New Hampshire, particularly at the 1,000,000 square foot Pheasant Lane Mall just over the Tyngsboro/Nashua border.
The Mall is the anchor for the "South Nashua" commercial area, which spans from TJ Maxx Plaza in Tyngsboro to Exit 3 on the Daniel Webster Highway. The rest of the city's commercial zoning is focused primarily along the Main Street area and the Broad Street/Amherst Street corridor.
There is a use tax that Massachusetts charges its residents to pay for items purchased in New Hampshire that are subject to taxation in Massachusetts, but it is unknown if anyone actually pays.
Education
In 2004, Nashua's high school, one of the largest in New Hampshire, split off into a new high school known as Nashua North High School. North is located on Broad Street, just across the Nashua River from the old or "South" high school off Exit 5.
Nashua is also home to Daniel Webster College, one of the few places in the northeast which hosts an undergraduate program in aviation, which is largely because of its location next to Nashua's airstrip, Boire Field.
Colleges
High Schools
- Nashua North (The "new" high school, opened in 2002)
- Nashua South (The "old" high school, originally opened in 1976, rebuilt and reopened in 2004)
- Bishop Guertin (A private, coeducational Catholic high school)
Middle Schools
- Elm Street
- Fairgrounds
- Pennichuck
- The Academy for Learning and Technology
Elementary Schools
- Amherst Street
- Birch Hill
- Bicentennial
- Broad Street
- Charlotte Avenue
- Dr. Crisp
- Fairgrounds
- Infant Jesus
- Ledge Street
- Main Dunstable
- Mount Pleasant
- New Searles
- Saint Christopher
- Sunset Heights
Media
The city has a daily newspaper, the Telegraph of Nashua, which is printed in neighboring Hudson. Nashua also has two weekly newspapers, The Broadcaster and The Hippo, as well as a regional radio station, WSNH 900 AM (ESPN Radio). Another radio station, WSMN 1590 AM ("the Tiger"), went dark in January 2005. Longtime FM station WHOB 106.3 FM moved to Hooksett, New Hampshire, after changing owners in 2004.
Sports
As of 2005, Nashua's only professional sports team is an unaffiliated minor league baseball team: The Nashua Pride, which has played at Holman Stadium since 1998. Before the Pride, Holman has also hosted the independent Nashua Hawks, the AA Nashua Pirates (the first professional stop for Barry Bonds) and the A Nashua Dodgers (the first racially integrated professional baseball team in the modern age of Baseball.)
For years, the Nashua High School Panthers were often contenders for state championships in nearly every sport they participated in because of the large talent pool they had to draw from compared to neighboring schools, but this advantage was decreased somewhat when Nashua High split into a new North school ("The Titans") and the original South school. Both schools compete in the Class L division of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association as well as its counterpart in Boys' Football, "Division 1". The North/South split became the premier High School rivalry in the city, supplanting the old rivalry between the public High School and the private Bishop Guertin Academy, which normally competes in Class L, but is in "Division 2" for Football.
In Collegiate Sports, Nashua is home to the Daniel Webster College Eagles[4], who compete within the Great Northeast Athletic Conference or "GNAC", and Rivier College Raiders, who also compete in the GNAC as well.
The city also has an active running club known as the Gate City Striders.
Transportation
An extension from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail Lowell Line to Nashua is being proposed. Meanwhile, in March 2005, Nashua lost its only scheduled commuter bus service to Boston. However, Greyhound still runs a limited number of buses between the two cities through Vermont Transit.
U.S. Highway 3 and the Everett Turnpike run through the city. Nashua Municipal Airport (Boire Field), a general aviation facility, is located in the city's northwest corner. Public transportation is provided by the Nashua Transit System.
See also
External links
- Daniel Webster College Website
- Rivier College Website
- City of Nashua Official Web Site
- Nashua Regional Planning Commission
- Ionel's Nashua regional links
- Lowell Line Extension
- Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter
- Harbor Homes Inc.
