Editing Goffstown, New Hampshire (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Piscataquog River & Goffstown, NH.jpg|thumb|left|Main Street in 1887]]
[[Image:Uncanoonuc Hotel, Goffstown, NH.jpg|thumb|left|The Uncanoonuc Hotel in 1910]]
Prior to the arrival of English colonists, the area had seasonally been inhabited for thousands of years by succeeding cultures of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]]s; its waterways had numerous fish, and the area had game.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield">{{Citation | last1 = Coolidge | first1 = Austin Jacobs | last2 = Mansfield | first2 = John Brainard | title = A History and Description of New England, General and Local | place = Boston | publisher = A.J. Coolidge | year = 1859 | pages = 502–504 | hdl = 2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t2988td9k?urlappend=%3Bseq=566 | url = https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t2988td9k?urlappend=%3Bseq=566 }}</ref>

The town was first granted as "Narragansett No. 4" in 1734 by New Hampshire and Massachusetts [[British North America|colonial]] Governor [[Jonathan Belcher]] as a [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] township (the area then being disputed between the two provinces). It was one of seven townships intended for soldiers (or their heirs) who had fought in the "Narragansett War" of 1675, also known as [[King Philip's War]]. In 1735, however, some grantees "found it so poor and barren as to be altogether incapable of making settlements," and were instead granted a tract in [[Greenwich, Massachusetts]].

The community was called "Piscataquog Village" and "Shovestown" before being regranted by Masonian proprietor Governor [[Benning Wentworth]] in 1748 to new settlers. These included Rev. Thomas Parker of [[Dracut, Massachusetts|Dracut]] and Colonel [[John Goffe]], for whom the town was named. He was for several years a resident of neighboring [[Bedford, New Hampshire|Bedford]], and he was the first judge of probate in the county of Hillsborough. Goffstown was incorporated June 16, 1761.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" /> A large part of the town was originally covered with valuable timber. Lumbering and fishing were the main occupations of the early settlers.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" /> The village of [[Grasmere, New Hampshire|Grasmere]] was named for [[Grasmere (village)|Grasmere, England]], home of the poets [[William Wordsworth]] and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

A [[Congregational church]] was organized about October 30, 1771, and the town made annual small appropriations for preaching. The majority of residents were Congregationalists; residents in the south part were of [[Ulster Scots people|Scots-Irish]] descent and were [[Presbyterian]].<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" /> A meeting-house was erected in 1768; but it was not completed for several years. The first minister was Joseph Currier, appointed in 1771; he was dismissed August 29, 1774, for [[temperance (virtue)|intemperance]], according to the town records. In 1781, the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians organized separately; the former called Rev. Cornelius Waters, who became their pastor, and continued till 1795. The next minister was [[David L. Morril]], who began March 3, 1802. He was supported by both congregations under the name of the Congregational Presbyterian church. Morril was elected as a representative of the town to the [[New Hampshire General Court|state house]], as a [[U.S. senator]] for the state, and in 1824, as [[governor of New Hampshire|governor of the state]], serving until 1827.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" />

The [[Piscataquog River]], which bisects the main village of Goffstown and was spanned by a covered bridge, provided [[water power]] for industry. In 1817, Goffstown had 20 [[sawmill]]s, seven grain mills, two textile mills, two [[carding]] machines, and a [[cotton]] factory. Its textile industry was an example of the economic ties between New England and the [[American South]], which was dependent on [[Slavery in the United States|slave]] labor for production of its lucrative cotton commodity crop.

The town was described in 1859 by the following:<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" />

{{blockquote|''The surface is comparatively level, the only elevations of note being two in the southwest part, called by the natives ''[[Uncanoonuc Mountains|Uncanoonuck]].'' There are considerable tracts of valuable interval[e], as well as extensive plains, which are generally productive. Piscataquog river is the principal stream, which furnishes quite a number of valuable mill privileges. It passes through in a central direction. Large quantities of lumber were formerly floated down this stream to the [[Merrimack River|Merrimack]], and the forests at one time supplied a large number of masts for the [[Royal Navy|English navy]]. The New Hampshire Central Railroad passes through Goffstown. Then; are three villages&nbsp;— Goffstown, [[Grasmere, New Hampshire|Goffstown Centre]], and Parker's Mills; three church edifices&nbsp;— Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist; sixteen school districts; and two post-offices&nbsp;— Goffstown and Goffstown Centre: also, four stores, four saw-mills, two grist-mills, and one sash and blind factory. Population, 2,270; valuation, $599,615.''|A History and Description of New England, General and Local}}

In 1816, the Religious Union society was organized. A new meetinghouse was erected in the [[Goffstown (CDP), New Hampshire|west village]]. Meetings were held two thirds of the time in the new house, and one third in the old house at the center.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" />
[[Image:Uncanoonuc Incline Railway.jpg|thumb|left|Incline Railway {{circa|1914}}]]

In 1818 and 1819 residents were deeply interested in the preaching of Rev. Abel Manning, as part of the [[Second Great Awakening]]. 65 persons joined the church that year. Other ministers were Benjamin H. Pitman (1820 to 1825), Henry Wood (1826 to 1831), and Isaac Willey (1837 to 1853). A [[Baptist]] church was formed in 1820.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" />

The town annexed islands on the [[Amoskeag Falls]] in the [[Merrimack River]] in 1825 and part of [[New Boston, New Hampshire|New Boston]] in 1836.<ref name="jacobs-mansfield" />

In the early part of 1841, a woman, simply remembered as Miss Parker, commenced preaching here, and shortly more than half the voters in town came into her support. She professed no connection with any church. A town historian notes that "Near the close of her labors she advised her converts to form a Methodist Church."<ref>George Plummer Hadley. ''History of the Town of Goffstown''. Concord NH: Rumford Press, 1922.  pg. 407</ref>

The [[Uncanoonuc Mountains]] in Goffstown once featured the Uncanoonuc Incline Railway, founded in 1903. It first carried tourists in 1907 to the summit of the south peak, on which was built that year the Uncanoonuc Hotel. The {{frac|5|1|2}}-story building provided 37–38 guest rooms, and a dining room that accommodated 120. It also offered outstanding views of the surrounding valley, including [[Manchester, New Hampshire|Manchester]], connected by electric [[tram|trolley]] to the [[railway]]'s base station. The hotel burned in 1923, and the train was later used to transport [[alpine skiing|skiers]] to the top. The railway peaked during the 1930s and 1940s, but was essentially abandoned by the 1950s. The summit of the south peak is now the site of numerous television and radio towers.

Grasmere Village straddles the Piscataquog River in the eastern region of Goffstown. The Hillsborough County Railroad Station was located at Grasmere on the southern side of the river. Rail-borne freight for Grasmere and other surrounding locales was delivered to this station during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Another rail station in Goffstown was located to the west closer to the town center, and a third was Parker's Station to the west of the town center.<ref>{{citation
  | title = New Hampshire Register, Farmer's Almanac, and Business Directory for 1898
  | publisher = Walton Register Company
  | year = 1897
  | location = [[Burlington, Vermont]]
  | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=8u4WAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA109 105], [https://books.google.com/books?id=8u4WAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA112 108]
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8u4WAAAAIAAJ}}</ref>

The railroad line which passed through Goffstown was built by the New Hampshire Central Railroad and was later acquired by the [[Boston and Maine Corporation|Boston & Maine Railroad]] in 1895, who operated it as their North Weare Branch. {{convert|16.4|mi}} of track between Goffstown and [[Henniker, New Hampshire|Henniker Junction]] were abandoned in 1937 due in part to damage from the floods of 1936, declining passenger counts and few freight customers. The remaining {{convert|8.1|mi}} from Goffstown to Manchester remained in service for freight as the Goffstown Branch. Notable customers on the branch included Homgas at Grasmere, New Hampshire Doors Co. at Factory Street, and Merrimack Farmers Exchange and Kendall-Hadley Lumber in the village. In 1976 the town's landmark railroad [[covered bridge]] burned due to arson, ending service to the center of town and forcing the remaining freight trains to stop on the eastern side of the Piscataquog River. The customers marooned by the fire either had their shipments trucked in from Manchester's railroad yard, or unloaded at New Hampshire Doors and then trucked the short remaining distance. No replacement structure was ever erected in place of the covered bridge. The last two rail customers in Goffstown were Kendall-Hadley Lumber and New Hampshire Doors Co; the former elected to truck its shipments from Manchester's railroad yard, while the latter shut down completely in 1980. The final freight train, led by Boston & Maine [[EMD GP7]] 1557, traveled to Goffstown on September 20, 1980, and the line was officially abandoned in February 1981, with the rails being removed in the following years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bmrrhs.org/abandonment-notices|title=Abandonment Notices}}</ref> In the dawning years of the 21st century, town and local organizations cooperated in a [[rails-to-trails]] effort, converting the railbeds into bicycling and walking trails.
[[File:New Hampshire State Prison for Women 2008.jpg|thumb|right|Goffstown was the home of the [[New Hampshire State Prison for Women]] until 2018.]]
On a ridge currently overlooking the Piscataquog River from the south above the midpoint between Glen Lake and Namaske Lake, adjacent to [[New Hampshire Route 114]], originally stood the Poor Farm. In 1849 Noyes Poor sold the property to the county and it became the Hillsborough County Farm, a home for the indigent, ill, and infirm. The farm was sold into private hands in 1867 but re-acquired by the county in 1893 and again served as a residence for disadvantaged citizens of the county until 1924. A cemetery with numbered headstones is presently maintained by the county on these grounds but the tables relating the markings to the recorded names of the residents who died at the Farm appear to have been lost.<ref>{{cite news
 | last = Bouchard
 | first = Jay
 | title = Town's rail trail brings exposure to mysterious county cemetery
 | newspaper = [[New Hampshire Sunday News]]
 | location = [[Manchester, New Hampshire|Manchester, NH]]
 | date = October 28, 2016
 | url = http://www.unionleader.com/Towns-rail-trail-brings-exposure-to-mysterious-county-cemetery
 | access-date = June 7, 2018
 | archive-date = June 12, 2018
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142335/http://www.unionleader.com/Towns-rail-trail-brings-exposure-to-mysterious-county-cemetery
 | url-status = dead
 }}</ref>

The County Farm grounds were converted to the [[New Hampshire State Prison for Women]], located until 2018 at 317 Mast Road. The facility's most famous resident was the convicted murderer [[Pamela Smart]], who was incarcerated at the Prison for Women from March 22, 1991, to March 11, 1993, when she was transferred to [[Bedford Hills Correctional Facility]] in [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford, New York]].