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The history of Nashua
Nashua's Main Street district sits beside the river and the industrial history that shaped the Gate City. Independent dining and shopping meet a network of public paths and parks, with Mine Falls offering another way to explore the city.
People who shaped Nashua
These milestones are an introduction, not a complete local history. Follow the linked city and museum sources to explore the people and places behind them.Read the local historical account.
Watch the city’s history
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Our Hometown | Nashua
New Hampshire PBS tells Nashua's story through local families, librarians, historians and civic voices.
Watch on YouTube ↗Famous people born in Nashua
See all 48 famous people
- 1673
The Dunstable township
The colonial township of Dunstable, Massachusetts, encompassed the area that later became Nashua. Its broad territory preceded the modern state line and separate municipalities.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - 1746
A town north of the state line
The northern part of the older township became Dunstable, New Hampshire. Names and municipal boundaries continued to change as the river communities developed.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - Around 1802
Daniel Abbot’s home
Daniel Abbot commissioned a house at today’s Abbott Square. A lawyer, banker and railway leader, he also helped found the Nashua Manufacturing Company; the surviving house later became a museum.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - 1803
The Nashua name
The village known as Indian Head took the name Nashua Village in 1803. It became Nashua Town in 1836, covering land on both sides of the Nashua River until 1842.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - 1823
Nashua Manufacturing Company
The Nashua Manufacturing Company, the city's first textile mill, was founded. Its riverside complex and three-mile power canal made it Nashua's largest industry and employer for most of the following century.
National Register of Historic Places: Nashua Manufacturing Company Historic District ↗ - 1842
Two towns beside one river
A dispute over the location of a town hall divided Nashua and Nashville. Nashua occupied the south side of the river, while Nashville occupied the north.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - 1853
Reunited as the City of Nashua
Nashua and Nashville reunited under city government. The consolidation ended their eleven-year separation and established the municipality known as Nashua today.
Nashua Historical Society ↗ - 1903
The Hunt Memorial Building
Ralph Adams Cram and his partners designed the Gothic-style John M. Hunt Memorial Building, completed in 1903. It housed the Nashua Public Library for 68 years on what residents call Library Hill.
National Register of Historic Places: Hunt Memorial Building ↗ - 1946
The Nashua Dodgers
Negro Leagues veterans Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe joined the Class B Nashua Dodgers, making it the first integrated affiliated baseball team in the country. They led Nashua to a championship that season.
Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire: Holman Stadium marker ↗ - 1969
Mine Falls Park
The city bought the land for Mine Falls Park using city and federal conservation funds. The 325-acre park lies between the Nashua River and the mill canal that workers once dug with shovels and mules.
City of Nashua ↗
See the history for yourself.
Explore the city’s historic streets and linked local history.the Nashua NH Main Street 50.
For deeper research, the Nashua library resources is a starting point for archival material and research help. Historic photographs have their own permissions; we link to the collection instead of treating every old image as free to reuse.
Selected milestones researched October 17, 2026. This is an introduction, not a complete account of local history.