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Merrimack, New Hampshire
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== History == {{More citations needed|section|date=July 2020}} [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|The first known settlers]] of the area appeared sometime after the [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]]. ''Merrimack'' is a Native American term meaning [[sturgeon]], a type of fish. The [[Pennacook]] people named the [[Merrimack River]] after this fish because of the vast population that once existed there. The Pennacooks spelled it ''Monnomoke'' or ''Merramake''. "When the town was incorporated, it took the name of the river and spelled it Merrymac," according to the Merrimack Historical Society.<ref>Merrimack Historical Society. ''History of Merrimack, New Hampshire''. Merrimack Historical Society Inc, U.S.A. 1976. p. 9</ref> The first mention of the territory containing the current town of Merrimack among written records was the petition of [[Passaconaway]] to the [[General Court of Massachusetts]] for a grant of land to include a part of this region. This was in 1662. In the autumn of that year, the court acceded to the request, and the aged [[sachem]] and his associates were granted a strip of country a mile and a half wide on both banks of the Merrimack at this section of the river. Although the boundaries of this grant are not specifically known today, it is probable that the chieftain held at least a portion of the current town of Merrimack. European settlers first came to the area in the late 17th century when the area was still in dispute between the [[Province of New Hampshire]] and [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]. The town of Merrimack was originally part of the 1673 [[Dunstable, Massachusetts|Dunstable]] grant. On June 25, 1734, Massachusetts granted the town organization as "Naticook", which was made up of [[Litchfield, New Hampshire|Litchfield]] and part of Merrimack. In 1746 the [[northern boundary of Massachusetts|boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire]] was revised, and the land which was originally part of Massachusetts became part of [[New Hampshire]]. When it went back into New Hampshire, the province disincorporated the towns of Dunstable, Naticook, and Nottingham and formed it into one giant territory again, roughly the size of the old Dunstable Grant from the 1670s.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.merrimackhistory.org/history.html |title= A Brief History Of Merrimack New Hampshire}}</ref> On April 2, 1746, Governor [[Benning Wentworth]] signed a charter establishing that the land from [[Pennichuck Brook]] to the [[Souhegan River]] became the Town of Merrymac. At that time fewer than 50 families lived here. [[Pawtucket tribe|Pawtucket]], [[Nashaway]] and Pennacook people camped along the banks of the Merrimack and Souhegan rivers. The Pennacooks were greatest in numbers, and their chief, Passaconaway, was the ruler of all the tribes in the Merrimack Valley. On June 5, 1750, the town's charter was ratified, giving the town an additional {{convert|3|mi|0}} to the north. The new portion called "Souhegan East" was made up of the land north of the Souhegan River. [[Matthew Thornton]], a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], lived and was buried in Merrimack. The [[Signer's House and Matthew Thornton Cemetery]] are still located in the town. The original meetinghouse was built at the exact center of town. There were two cemeteries. Turkey Hill on Meetinghouse Road is the first mentioned in the town records, but Thornton Cemetery on [[U.S. Route 3|Route 3]] has the oldest gravestone. The nineteenth century saw much growth in Merrimack. The meetinghouse was too small and too far from what had become the center of town. The church and government became separate and two new churches were built in more convenient locations, one in South Merrimack and one on Baboosic Lake Road. A new town hall was built to replace the meetinghouse.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.merrimacknh.gov/about-merrimack/pages/merrimack-history |title=Merrimack History}}</ref> The [[Boston and Maine Railroad]] laid tracks through the town in the 19th century, with several stations operating until the mid-20th century, when the advent of the automobile transformed Merrimack from a largely agricultural community to a [[bedroom community]] of [[Boston]] and nearby cities in New Hampshire. Since 1970 the town has been the home of an [[Anheuser-Busch]] [[brewery]], their easternmost, and one of their smallest plants in the United States. It is home to a brewery tour and one of the five stables for the [[Budweiser Clydesdales]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.factorytour.com/tours/anheuser-busch-merrimack.cfm |title=Anheuser-Busch Factory Tour in Merrimack, NH |work=factorytour.com |access-date=July 5, 2010}}</ref> The Merrimack School Board attracted national attention in 1995 when it passed a "prohibition of alternative lifestyle instruction" act, which resulted in the removal of a work by [[William Shakespeare]] from the school curriculum.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1996/02/28/23gay.h15.html| title=Gay Students' Request Spurs Board to Cut Clubs| author=Mark Walsh| newspaper=[[Education Week]]| date=February 28, 1996| access-date=April 7, 2009}}</ref> The board members who supported the act were voted out in the subsequent board election.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfchroniclemarketplace.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1996/05/15/NEWS15677.dtl&hw=provoked&sn=174&sc=666 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121006072035/http://www.sfchroniclemarketplace.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1996/05/15/NEWS15677.dtl&hw=provoked&sn=174&sc=666 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 6, 2012 |title=New England town rejects religious right; Gays, creationism were hot issues in widely watched school election |newspaper=[[The San Francisco Examiner]] |author=Rod Paul |date=May 15, 1996 |access-date=April 7, 2009 }}</ref> <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Thornton Sign.JPG|thumb|right|200px|[[New Hampshire Historical Markers|Historical marker]] near Thornton's grave on [[Daniel Webster Highway]]]] -->
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