Editing Dover, New Hampshire (section)

==History==

===Settlement===
[[File:Settlement of Dover, NH 1623.jpg|thumb|left|Settlement of Dover in 1623]]
The first known [[Europe]]an to explore the region was [[Martin Pring]] from [[Bristol]], [[England]], in 1603.

In 1623, brothers William and Edward Hilton settled at Pomeroy Cove on Dover Point, near the confluence of the [[Bellamy River|Bellamy]] and [[Piscataqua River|Piscataqua]] rivers. This first settlement makes Dover the oldest permanent settlement in [[New Hampshire]], and seventh in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Stackpole | first = Everett Schermerhorn | title = History of New Hampshire | publisher = The American Historical Society | year = 1916 | location = New York | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kRn4cDDOKKMC | isbn = 978-1-115-84294-5 }}</ref>

The Hiltons were [[fishmonger]]s sent from [[London]] by the [[Council for New England]]'s Laconia Company to establish a colony and fishery on the Piscataqua. In 1631, however, the colony contained only three houses. William Hilton built a salt works on the property (salt-making was the principal industry in his hometown of [[Northwich]], England). He also served as Deputy to the General Court (the colonial legislature).<ref>Palmer, Ansell W., ed. ''Piscataqua Pioneers: Selected Biographies of Early Settlers in Northern New England,'' pp. 14, 17, 18, 29, 33, 63, 232–233, Piscataqua Pioneers, Portsmouth, NH, 2000. {{ISBN|0-9676579-0-3}}.</ref><ref>Anderson, R. C. ''The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633,'' pp. 951–957, vol. 2, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995.</ref><ref>Scales, J. ''History of Dover, New Hampshire,'' pp. 311–313, facsimile of the 1923 edition, Heritage Books, 1989.</ref> The Hiltons' name survives at Hilton Park on Dover Point (originally known as Hilton Point).

The colony's original townships included [[Durham, New Hampshire|Durham]], [[Madbury, New Hampshire|Madbury]], [[Newington, New Hampshire|Newington]], [[Lee, New Hampshire|Lee]], [[Somersworth, New Hampshire|Somersworth]] and [[Rollinsford, New Hampshire|Rollinsford]].

In 1633, the plantation was bought by a group of English [[Puritans]] who planned to settle in [[New England]], including [[William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele|Viscount Saye and Sele]], [[Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke|Baron Brooke]] and [[John Pym]]. They promoted colonization in America, and so that year Hilton's Point received numerous immigrants, many from [[Bristol]]. They renamed the settlement Bristol. Atop the nearby hill they built a [[meetinghouse]] surrounded by an [[Trench warfare|entrenchment]], with a jail nearby.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/The_History_of_New_Hampshire.html?id=uD8OAAAAIAAJ Jeremy Belknap, ''The History of New Hampshire'', 1812]</ref>

The town was called Dover in 1637 by the new governor, Reverend [[George Burdett (governor)|George Burdett]]. It was possibly named after [[Robert Dover (Cotswold Games)|Robert Dover]], an English lawyer who resisted Puritanism.<ref>{{Harvnb|Haddon|2004|pp=64–65}}</ref> With the 1639 arrival of [[Thomas Larkham]], however, it was renamed after [[Northam, Devon|Northam]] in [[Devon]], where he had been preacher. But Lord Saye and Sele's group lost interest in their settlements, both here and at [[Saybrook, Connecticut]], when their plan to establish a hereditary [[aristocracy]] in the colonies met disfavor in [[New England]]. Consequently, the plantation was sold in 1641 to [[Massachusetts]] and again named Dover.

Because it was an early settlement in Abenaki lands, settlers built fortified [[log house]]s called [[garrison (architecture)|garrisons]], inspiring Dover's nickname "The Garrison City." The population and business center shifted from Dover Point to Cochecho Falls on the [[Cochecho River]], where its drop of {{convert|34|ft}} providing [[water power]] for industry (Cochecho means "the rapid foaming water" in the [[Abenaki]] language).<ref>[http://library.dover.nh.gov/DoverHistory/HISTORYIMAGES/cochecho_or_cocheco.htm Dover Public Library, "Is it Spelled Cochecho or Cocheco?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707000759/http://library.dover.nh.gov/DoverHistory/HISTORYIMAGES/cochecho_or_cocheco.htm |date=2015-07-07 }}</ref> What is now downtown Dover settlers called Cochecho village.

===Cochecho Massacre===
{{main|Raid on Dover}}
On June 28, 1689, Dover suffered a devastating attack by Native Americans. It was revenge for an incident on September 7, 1676, when 400 Native Americans were tricked by Major [[Richard Waldron]] into performing a "[[mock battle]]" near Cochecho Falls. After discharging their weapons, the Native American warriors were captured. Half were sent to Massachusetts for predations committed during [[King Philip's War]], and seven or eight were hanged, and others were sold into [[slavery]]. Local Native Americans deemed innocent were released, but considered the deception a dishonorable breach of hospitality. Thirteen years passed. When colonists thought the episode forgotten, they struck. Fifty-two colonists, a quarter of the population, were either captured or slain.

Incursions against the frontier town would continue for the next half century. During [[Father Rale's War]], in August and September 1723, there were Indian raids on [[Saco, Maine]], and Dover, New Hampshire.<ref>William Williamson, p. 123.</ref> The following year Dover was raided again and [[Elizabeth Hanson (captive of Native Americans)|Elizabeth Hanson]] wrote her [[captivity narrative]].

===Mill era===
[[File:Dover NH August 2016.jpg|thumb|left|[[Cochecho River]] with repurposed mill buildings, from Henry Law Park]]
Located at the head of [[navigation]], Cochecho Falls brought the [[Industrial Revolution]] to 19th-century Dover in a big way. But cotton [[textile manufacturing]] actually began about two miles upstream with the Dover Cotton Factory, which was incorporated in 1812, its mill built in 1815. The business would move to Cochecho Falls when it acquired water privileges occupied since the 17th century by [[sawmill]]s and [[gristmill]]s. In 1823 it was renamed the Dover Manufacturing Company, but was not successful. So in 1827 the [[Cocheco Mills|Cocheco Manufacturing Company]] was founded (the misspelling a clerical error at incorporation),<ref name="Garland, Caroline Harwood 1987, p. 383">Garland, Caroline Harwood, Old Dover, New Hampshire; Castle Books, Edison, NJ 1987, 2002, p. 383.</ref> and the next year, the mill was the site of the first women's strike in the United States. "The Strike of the Mill Girls" took place on December 30, 1828, when about half of the 800 women employed at the mill walked out over lower wages and longer hours that the new owners had implemented.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dover.nh.gov/government/city-operations/library/research-learn/history/strike-of-the-mill-girls/ | title=The Strike of the Mill Girls | publisher=Dover Public Library | access-date=January 27, 2024 }}</ref> Expansive brick mills were constructed downtown, linked to receive [[cotton bale]]s and ship finished cloth when the [[Boston & Maine Railroad|railroad]] arrived in 1842. Incorporated as a city in 1855, Dover for a time became a leading national producer of [[textiles]], the mill complex dominating the riverfront and employing 2,000 workers.<ref>Hindle, Thom; Dover, Images of America; Arcadia Publishing, Portsmouth, NH 1994, p. 69.</ref>

The mills were purchased in 1909 by the Pacific Mills of [[Lawrence, Massachusetts]], which closed the printery in 1913 but continued [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]] and [[weaving]]. The printery buildings were demolished in 1913, their site is now Henry Law Park.

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foner |first=Philip Sheldon |title=History of the labor movement in the United States. 9: The T.U.E.L. to the end of the Gompers era / by Philip S. Foner |last2=Foner |first2=Philip Sheldon |date=1991 |publisher=Intl Publ |year= |isbn=978-0-7178-0674-4 |location=New York |pages=19–31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=E. Tilden |first=Leonard |date=1923 |title=New England Textile Strike |jstor=41828627 |journal=Monthly Labor Review |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=13–36 }}</ref>

During the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]], however, textile mills no longer dependent on New England water power began moving to [[Southern United States|southern states]] in search of cheaper operating conditions, or simply went out of business. Dover's millyard shut in 1937, then was bought at auction in 1941 by the city itself for $54,000. There were no other bids. Now called the Cocheco Falls Millworks, its tenants include technology and government services companies, plus a restaurant, brewery and bar.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dovermills.com/index.htm | title=Cocheco Falls Millworks | publisher=Cocheco Falls Millworks | access-date=August 15, 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120330195132/http://www.dovermills.com/index.htm | archive-date=March 30, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/DoverHistory/mill_history%20new.htm | title=A Yarn to Follow: The Dover Cotton Factory 1812—1821 | publisher=Dover Public Library | access-date=August 15, 2011 | author=Beaudoin, Cathleen | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030223084509/http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/DoverHistory/mill_history%20new.htm | archive-date=February 23, 2003 }}</ref>

Textile manufacturing in Dover wasn't limited to cotton. In 1824, Alfred I. Sawyer established the [[Sawyer Woolen Mills]] beside the Bellamy River. It would expand to include 15 major buildings over {{Convert|8.5|acre}}, and by 1883 was the largest [[woolen]] manufacturer in the state.<ref name="Garland, Caroline Harwood 1987, p. 383"/> In 1889 it was acquired by the [[American Woolen Company]], but closed and was sold off in 1955. The buildings have been repurposed into housing.

=== Modern era ===
With the closing of the mills, the downtown area of Dover sat vacant and lifeless for a long time. With the turn of the century, the city government began to revitalize the area. The Children's Museum of New Hampshire was brought into a disused mill building with a lease of $1 a year. Henry Law Park, a grassy waterfront stretch of land, was given a brand new playground. Small businesses moved into the mills, such as restaurants, toy stores, real estate offices, and barber shops. Old buildings have been refurbished or outright rebuilt to provide new housing. An $87.5&nbsp;million high school was built to handle the influx of new residents retreating from the high housing prices in [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]]. Recently, a plan to develop the waterfront on the other side of the river from the traditional downtown area was approved for $6&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.businessnhmagazine.com/article/doverrsquos-economic-explosion |title=Dover's Economic Explosion |website=www.businessnhmagazine.com |language=en |access-date=December 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/travel/2013/04/02/tank-away-dover/OD0mVna8653bg8mxhbco4O/story.html |title=Dover, N.H., reinvents itself into a destination - The Boston Globe |website=BostonGlobe.com |language=en-US |access-date=December 4, 2019}}</ref> In early May 2021, waypoint signs were sporadically added to help drivers and walkers navigate Dover with the expansions that are underway.

===Antique postcards===
<gallery>
File:The Old Corner, Dover, NH.jpg|The Old Corner {{circa|1892}}
File:Central Square at Dover, NH.jpg|Central Square {{circa|1905|lk=no}}
File:Public Library in Dover, NH.jpg|Public Library {{circa|1907|lk=no}}
File:Guppy House, Dover, NH.jpg|Guppy House {{circa|1910|lk=no}}
File:Brick Schoolhouse, Dover, NH.jpg|Old Brick Schoolhouse {{circa|1910|lk=no}}, once located near Pine Hill Cemetery
File:Falls on the Cochecho, Dover, NH.jpg|[[Cochecho River|Cochecho Falls]] {{circa|1910|lk=no}}
File:Whitcher's Falls, Dover, NH.jpg|Whitcher's Falls {{circa|1910|lk=no}}
File:Pacific Mills, Dover, NH.jpg|Pacific Mills {{circa|1912|lk=no}}
File:PostcardBIRDSEYEVIEWDoverNH1913.jpg|Downtown {{circa|1913|lk=no}}
</gallery>