Exeter, New Hampshire
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| Exeter, New Hampshire | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
| State | New Hampshire | ||
| County | Rockingham County | ||
| Incorporated | 1638 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Board of Selectmen | Paul Binette, Chairman Robert Eastman Joe Pace William Campbell Lionel Ingram |
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| Area | |||
| - Town | 20.0 sq mi (51.8 km²) | ||
| - Land | 19.6 sq mi (50.9 km²) | ||
| - Water | 0.4 sq mi (1.0 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 33 ft (10 m) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| - Town | 14,058 | ||
| - Density | 715.9/sq mi (276.4/km²) | ||
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | ||
| Website: town.exeter.nh.us | |||
Exeter is a town located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, USA. Along with neighboring Brentwood, Exeter is the county seat of Rockingham County. The town's population was 14,058 at the 2000 census. Home to the Phillips Exeter Academy, a private university-preparatory school, Exeter is situated where the Exeter River feeds the tidal Squamscott River.
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[edit] History
The area was once the domain of the Squamscott Indians, a sub-tribe of the Pennacook nation, which fished at the falls. On April 3, 1638, the Reverend John Wheelwright and others purchased the land from Wehanownowit, the sagamore. Wheelwright had been exiled by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a puritan theocracy, for sharing the dissident religious views of his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson. The minister took with him about 175 individuals to found the town he named after Exeter in Devon, England.
One of the four original townships in the province, Exeter originally included Newmarket, Newfields, Brentwood, Epping and Fremont. Thirty-five freemen of Exeter signed on July 4, 1639 the Exeter Combination, a document written by Reverend Wheelwright to establish their own government. The settlers hunted, planted and fished. Others tended cattle and swine, or made shakes and barrel staves. In 1647, Edward Gilman, Jr. established the first sawmill. Although he was lost at sea in 1653, his family would become prominent in town as lumbermen, shipbuilders, merchants and statesmen. Thomas Wilson established the first grist mill on the eastern side of the island in the lower falls. This mill was established within the first season of settling in Exeter, and his son Humphrey assumed control of the mill in 1643, when Thomas passed away.[1]
Exeter suffered its last Indian raid in August of 1723, and by 1725 the tribes had left the area. In 1774, the rebellious Provincial Congress began to meet in the Exeter Town House after Colonial Governor John Wentworth banned it from the colonial capitol at Portsmouth. In July of 1775, the Provincial Congress had the provincial records seized from royal officials in Portsmouth and brought to Exeter as well. And so Exeter became New Hampshire's Revolutionary War capital, an honor it held for fourteen years until Concord assumed the role.
In 1827, the Exeter Manufacturing Company was established beside the river, using water power to produce cotton textiles. Other businesses would manufacture shoes, saddles, harnesses, lumber, boxes, bricks, carriages and bicycles. In 1836, the last schooner was launched at Exeter. In 1840, the Boston & Maine Railroad entered the town.
According to former governor Hugh Gregg, the United States Republican Party was born in Exeter on October 12, 1853 at the Squamscott Hotel, but nothing came of the secret meeting of Amos Tuck with other abolitionists that day, and the party was not organized in the state until 1856. Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president, visited Exeter in 1859. His son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was attending Phillips Exeter Academy, the college preparatory school founded in 1781 by Dr. John Phillips. The town was also once home to the defunct Robinson Female Seminary, established in 1826 as the Exeter Female Academy. Its landmark Second Empire schoolhouse, completed in 1869, burned in 1961.
Exeter has a considerable inventory of structures by prominent architects. Arthur Gilman designed the Old Town Hall of 1855. The Old Public Library of 1894, which now is home to the Exeter Historical Society, was designed by the Boston firm of Rotch & Tilden. Ralph Adams Cram, who trained with Rotch & Tilden, designed both Phillips Church, built in 1897, and Tuck High School, built in 1911. His firm of Cram & Ferguson designed the entire Phillips Exeter Academy campus between 1908 and 1950. More recent is the noted Academy Library, built in 1971 to the design of Louis I. Kahn. Daniel Chester French, sculptor and Exeter native, created the town's war memorial in 1922. He is best known for his statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, which was designed by Henry Bacon, who also designed in 1916 the Swasey Pavilion at Exeter's town square.
Other features of the town include the Swasey Parkway, which replaced wharves and warehouses along the Squamscott River, and the Ioka Theatre of 1915 on Water Street. The latter was built by Edward Mayer, an Exeter judge and resident. Although frequently referred to as the nephew of Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer, genealogical research does not connect the two families.[citation needed] Edward Mayer's opening feature was The Birth of a Nation, by D. W. Griffith. The theatre's curious name was proposed in a contest by a young woman with an enthusiasm for Scouting. Ioka was a Native American word meaning playground.
 Town Offices in c. 1912 |
 Squamscott Falls in 1907 |
 Phillips Exeter in 1910 |
 Linden Street in c. 1909 |
[edit] Notable inhabitants
- Charles H. Bell, governor
- Dan Brown, author: The Da Vinci Code
- Lewis Cass, politician
- Chris Carpenter, major league baseball pitcher, 2005 All-Star, 2005 NL Cy Young Award
- Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn, statesman & soldier
- Darby Field, first European to climb Mount Washington in 1642.
- Nathaniel Folsom, merchant, general & statesman
- Daniel Chester French, sculptor
- John Taylor Gilman, statesman & governor
- Nicholas Gilman, Jr., signer of U.S. Constitution
- John Irving, author: The World According to Garp
- John Knowles, author: A Separate Peace
- Gilman Marston, politician & general
- Dr. John Phillips, founder of Phillips Exeter Academy
- Enoch Poor, shipbuilder, merchant & general
- Tristram Shaw, United States Representative from New Hampshire
- Amos Tuck, lawyer & politician
- Edward Tuck, banker & philanthropist
- Reverend John Wheelwright, founder of Exeter
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 51.8 km² (20.0 mi²). 50.9 km² (19.6 mi²) of it is land and 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²) of it is water, comprising 1.85% of the town. Exeter is drained by the Exeter River, which feeds the Squamscott River.The highest point in Exeter is 250 feet (76 meters) above sea level on Great Hill at the town's southwest corner.
[edit] Demographics
For additional demographic information on the central populated area of Exeter, which is a census-designated place, see the article Exeter (CDP), New Hampshire. It provides details that are included in the aggregate numbers reported here.
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 14,058 people, 5,898 households, and 3,715 families residing in the town. The population density was 276.4/km² (715.9/mi²). There were 6,107 housing units at an average density of 120.1/km² (311.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.18% White, 0.42% African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.94% Asian, 0.29% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.87% of the population.
There were 5,898 households out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the town the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $49,618, and the median income for a family was $63,088. Males had a median income of $45,091 versus $30,435 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,105. About 2.9% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] References
- ^ Bell, Charles H., "History of the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire." Heritage Books 1979. Pages 317-18.
[edit] Sites of interest
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Exeter, NH Official Website
- SAU16 Exeter Area School District
- The Exeter Public Library
- Phillips Exeter Academy
- Squamscott Commmunity Commons
- New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
