An Industrious State New Hampshire

From Haystacks to Smokestacks A Young State

Even though the new state of New Hampshire was a land of small farms, residents depended upon commerce and exchange to supply goods they could not produce for themselves.

Domestic industry increased, and with the increase came the need for better roads to connect villages with each other and with major commercial centers.

Gradually, local industry was supplemented by cottage industries, or “outwork,” which involved a family’s taking work into its home on contract from agents in cities like Boston. The agents supplied raw materials and collected the finished products.

The Hampstead area became well known for its production of braided palm leaf hats, like that above. Also, many farms had “ten-footers,” ten-foot square buildings set aside for the making of shoes using leather supplied by the agents.

In the early 1800s, technological developments made it possible to harness the power of water… and factories developed along every river in the southern half of the state.

Early Manufacturing Centers  Textile Mills  Claremont  Dover  Exeter  Hillsboro  Hooksett  Jaffrey  Keene   Manchester   Nashua   Newmarket   New Ipswich   Peterborough   Somersworth

Early Manufacturing Centers Glass Factories  Keene  Lyndeboro  Stoddard  Suncook  Temple

Early Manufacturing Centers Shoe Factories  Dover  Farmington  Rochester  Weare

Early Manufacturing Centers Pulp & Paper Mills  Alstead  Berlin  Claremont

Early Manufacturing Centers Granite Quarries  Concord  Conway  Hooksett  Manchester   Milford   Nashua   Plymouth   Swanzey

In 1827, the Cocheco Manufacturing Company in Dover became one of the first producers of printed cottons in New England.

A section of the small farming village of Derryfield became Manchester, the largest industrialized city in the world. It surpassed even the English city for which it was named.

The Amoskeag Company of Manchester was so large that it controlled most of its own production operations, including making the machines that ran the mills and even locomotives for the trains to transport their goods.

By 1912, the Amoskeag Mills produced enough cloth each day to stretch from Concord to New York City and back—about 500 miles!

By 1874, the state supported 762 lumber mills. The mills produced the raw materials for boxes, bobbins, butter churns and even vehicles and refrigerators.

In addition to producing textiles and timber products, New Hampshire continued to manufacture other products, such as shoes and bricks and glassware.

And certainly we worked with stone. Remember, our nickname is … “The Granite State” (Granite quarried in Concord was used to build the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.!)

The history of industry and commerce in New Hampshire is marked by change… What is the nature of industry and commerce today? How is our state changing?… What do you think our future will be like? What will your community look like in twenty years?

© Christopher MacLeod for the New Hampshire Historical Society