Concord’s Main Street Has Hundreds Of Years Of History To Explore

CONCORD, NH — While Concord officially turned 250 back in 2015, the first settlement in the area dates back to 1659.

At the time, the city was called Penacook Plantation, granted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Penacook is based on the Native word, Pannukog, or crooked place or bend in a river (which can be seen along the "mighty" Merrimack).

In the 1730s, the city was incorporated as Rumford. After a legal dispute between Bow and Rumford, the city changed its name to Concord in 1765.

The city’s downtown and surrounding areas are rich in history.

From the Pierce Manse, the former home of the only president to come from New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce, the 14th, and the Kimball Jenkins Estate in the city’s tiny historic district on North Main Street to the Capitol Center for the Arts and former Concord Theatre, converted into the Bank of New Hampshire Stage, there are nooks and crannies of history.

The Statehouse, as an example, built in 1818 from granite quarried from the northern part of the city, is the oldest continuously used Statehouse in the nation. Phenix Hall, built in the mid-1850s on North Main Street, hosted a rousing speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1860 while he was running for president.

After millions of dollars were spent revamping the downtown, officials began floating Downtown Concord as "New Hampshire's Main Street."

A Walking Tour of Concord, a brochure can be purchased for $2 at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, 49 S. Main St.

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