Boscawen, New Hampshire

Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement Boscawen is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,998 at the 2020 census.<ref name="Census 2020"/>

History

The native Pennacook people called the area Contoocook, meaning "place of the river near pines". In March 1697, Hannah Duston and her nurse, Mary Neff, were captured by Abenaki Indians and taken to a temporary village on an island at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack rivers, at the site of what is now Boscawen. In late April, Duston and two other captives killed ten of the Abenaki family members holding them hostage, including six children, and escaped by canoe to Haverhill, Massachusetts.<ref>Dain Trafton, "Hannah Duston - Heroine and Witness: William Andrews' Monumental Statue of Hannah Duston." Address delivered at the Deerfield-Wellesley Symposium, 14 March, 2015. Boscawen Historical Society website, accessed March 5, 2019.</ref>

On June 6, 1733, Governor Jonathan Belcher granted the land to John Coffin and 90 others, most from Newbury, Massachusetts. Settled in 1734, the community soon had a meetinghouse, sawmill, gristmill and ferry across the Merrimack River. A garrison offered protection, but raiding parties during the French and Indian Wars left some dead or carried into captivity.<ref name=Coolidge>Template:Cite book</ref>

On April 22, 1760, Contoocook Plantation was incorporated as a town by Governor Benning Wentworth, who named it for Edward Boscawen, the British admiral who distinguished himself at the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg. With a generally level surface, the town provided good farmland, and became noted for its apple, pear and cherry orchards. Bounded by the Merrimack and Contoocook rivers, it had abundant sources of water power for mills.

Industries soon included a cotton mill, a woolen factory, nine sawmills, a gristmill, a saw manufacturer and machine shop, and a chair and match factory. A mill town village developed at Fisherville (now Penacook), which straddled the river border with Concord.<ref name="Coolidge"/> In 1846, the Northern Railroad was built through Boscawen, opening the following winter.<ref>Charles Carleton Coffin, The History of Boscawen and Webster from 1733 to 1878; Concord, New Hampshire 1878</ref>

Sometime around 1846, the town's postmaster became one of about a dozen in the country to issue provisional postage stamps before the official issue came out in 1847. The stamps were an adaptation of a postmark, simply reading PAID / 5 / CENTS, typeset in blue on a yellowish paper. These are extremely rare; in 2003, the estimated price at auction was US$225,000.<ref>Boscawen provisional postage stamps Template:Webarchive</ref>

The 1915 Boscawen Public Library was designed by noted Boston architect Guy Lowell.

File:Boscawen Municipal Facility.jpg

The former Penacook Academy on North Main Street, listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, now serves as the Boscawen Municipal Facility.

• Street view Template:Circa
  Street view Template:Circa
• B. & M. Station in 1908
  B. & M. Station in 1908
• The Penacook House
  The Penacook House

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert are land and Template:Convert are water, comprising 2.50% of the town.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2021"/> The highest point in Boscawen is an unnamed summit at Raleigh Farm near the town's northern border, where the elevation reaches approximately Template:Convert above sea level. The town is drained by the Merrimack River, which forms the town's eastern border, and by the Contoocook River, a tributary.

The town is served by U.S. Route 3 and U.S. Route 4.

Adjacent municipalities

• Franklin (north)
• Northfield (northeast)
• Canterbury (east)
• Concord (south)
• Webster (west)
• Salisbury (northwest)

Demographics

According to the 2019–2023 American Community Survey five-year estimates, Boscawen had 4,002 residents, 1,356 households, and approximately 854 families.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The population density was Template:Cvt. There were 1,389 housing units at an average density of Template:Cvt.

The racial makeup of the town was approximately 96.75% White, 0.55% African American, 1.05% Asian, 0.00% Native American, and 1.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were about 1.10% of the population.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Of the 1,356 households, roughly 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.0% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. About 24.0% of all households consisted of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60, and the average family size was about 3.00.

In terms of age distribution, 18.0% of residents were under the age of 18, 7.0% were from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 23.0% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.4 years. For every 100 females, there were about 96 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were about 94 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $80,724, and the median income for a family was $99,408.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Elektrisola Incorporated is the largest source of employment for Boscawen-area residents.

Sites of interest

• Hannah Duston Memorial State Historic Site
• NH State Veterans Cemetery

Notable people

• Claire D. Clarke (died 2022), New Hampshire state representative<ref>Our Campaigns.com-Claire Clarke</ref>
• Moody Currier (1806–1898), 40th governor of New Hampshire<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• John Adams Dix (1798–1879), New York City Postmaster, 24th governor of New York, Major General in the US Civil War<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Marion Dix Sullivan (1802–1860), songwriter, composer<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Moses G. Farmer (1820–1893), electrical engineer, inventor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• William P. Fessenden (1806–1869), US senator, Secretary of the Treasury<ref>Template:CongBio</ref>
• Charles Gordon Greene (1804–1886), journalist<ref name=Greene>Template:Cite Appletons'</ref>
• Nathaniel Greene (1797–1877), journalist<ref name=Greene/>
• Lucia Ames Mead (1856–1936), author<ref>Sandra Opdycke, "Lucia True Ames Mead" in American National Biography Online (2000).</ref>
• Lyndon A. Smith (1854–1918), politician, Minnesota attorney general<ref name="mnhs">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Bradford N. Stevens (1813–1885), US congressman<ref>Template:CongBio</ref>
• Daniel Webster (1782–1852), US congressman, senator, Secretary of State; unsuccessful presidential candidate<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

External links

• Template:Official website
• Boscawen Public Library
• New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile