YMCA of Greater Nashua's Latest Hall of Fame Honorees

Eight Years ago we created a YMCA of Greater Nashua Hall of Fame to recognize individuals and families that have left a significant impression on the Y or the community in the past 134 years.

At our 2020 Annual Meeting, Mike LaChance inducted our newest members: Charles H. Nutt and his sister Mary Park Nutt, whose gift to the Y helped build the first YMCA in Nashua located at 23 Temple Street.

Charles H. Nutt was born May 3, 1817, in Tyngsborough, MA to Samuel and Hannah. His sister Mary Park Nutt was born three years later in the same town. The family moved to Amherst NH where their parents operated a “widely known” (at the time), Nutt’s Tavern in 1827.

As a young man Charles went into business early while still in school, finding employment with at a country store in Amherst. He went to the Amherst schools and then attended Pinkerton Academy in Derry where he completed his formal education. He came to Nashua in 1833 and went to work for Isaac Spalding who operated a general merchandise store. Mr. Spalding sold out in 1837 and Mr. Nutt, having earned some money, branched out on his own, opening a merchant tailoring establishment. The venture was a success, but it had limitations. Being ambitious, Mr. Nutt sold out in 1846 and bought the stock and equipment of the successor of the hardware portion of the general store. For the next 14 years he continued the business at its old stand at the corner of Main and Factory Streets. In 1860, he purchased the property at the southeast corner of Main and Park Streets, and built the block which still bears his name but which is where Enterprise Bank is located. He ran his hardware store from that location until 1889, three years before his death, when he sold out due to failing health.

Charles Nutt was very community-minded and in the years before Nashua became a city he served as the town clerk in 1846, 1847 and 1848. His dread of notoriety and public life was such that he could not be persuaded to run for any other official political position. Through the years he served as a founding director of the Pennichuck State Bank, the First National Bank, the Souhegan National Bank of Milford, a trustee of the City Guaranty Savings Bank and the New Hampshire Banking Company. He also served as a director of the Nashua Light, Heat and Power Company and the Pennichuck Water Company. He was a Republican in politics and a Unitarian in religion.

Charles married Elizabeth Anderson in Dec 1842 and they had four children.

He had the interests of the people at heart. It is very evident, from his will, that for several years previous to his death he had been placing considerable thought into various methods and ways of disposing of a considerable portion of his large estate at his death, so as that it would accrue to the benefit of the city in which he had earned his fortune, and whose people occupied so large a place in his affections. His planning finally culminated in the determination to establish a hospital fund that was worthy alike of his business foresight. This gift would benefit all classes of people especially for that large class of unfortunates, who, through accident and disease, are too often left to the charity of the world. This money would be available to erect the Nutt wing to the current SNHMC hospital. Although the wing has been replaced there is still a sign inside the Prospect Street entrance recognizing Charles Nutt.

Charles H Nutt passed on August 7, 1892 and is buried in the Universalist Church Cemetery in Nashua.

On February 2, 1893 the N.H. state legislature convened and approved an act to incorporate the Nutt Hospital of Nashua.

Mary Park Nutt may not have lived the same community engaged life as that of her brother, but she was close to her family. She never married or had children of her own and lived with her sister and niece for many years in Amherst. She lived the latter part of her life in Nashua and served as a housekeeper. Charles had supported Mary and left a great sum of money to her when he died. She died on March 3, 1893, at age 72 at her home on East Pearl Street in Nashua. She is buried in the family plot in Meadow View Cemetery in Amherst.

Mary lived to see the approval of the Nutt Hospital by the State of NH. On February 2, 1893. The next day she had her will completed and passed one month later.

The Nashua YMCA was organized in 1887 and was renting space at 69 Main Street in 1893. In the first six years since its beginning the Y was already being recognized for its work with young men in the city and was securing support for a facility of its own. Although the Y was not serving women in 1893, Mary was well aware of the value of the organization and wished to honor her brother’s desire to benefit the community.

In her will Mary directed the executors of her estate to sell her property and items. Some of the proceeds were left to her niece, her sister, the Nashua Protestant House for Aged Women, the Congregational Society of Amherst, the Town of Amherst for a high school, First Church in Nashua for church bells and the vast majority to the Nashua YMCA.

Her will stated that the Y would receive two gifts. The first gift was to be split with 2/5 being used to purchase a lot in Nashua and 3/5 of the money to build a YMCA. She indicated that the building would cost more than $30K and the Y association would need to raise additional dollars to have an “attractive” facility and be able to handle the growth of the organization. She asked that the executors of her estate join with the Y officers to select the site and work together on the building design. She asked that the gymnasium / auditorium be named in memoriam honoring her brother Charles and have a plaque honoring him in the building.

The bronze plaque at the lobby of the 1912 YMCA Building on the corner of Temple and Spring Street reads:

“In memory of the late Charles H. Nutt, of this city, his faithful sister, Miss Mary P. Nutt, dedicated at her decease in 1893 so munificent a bequest to the purchase of a site and erections of buildings for the use of this association, that it became possible to purchase this site in 1899, and, with the generous help of hundreds of friends of the association to erect the Gymnasium in 1902 and in 1912 and 1913 to erect the Main Edifice.”

The second gift would be any remaining funds from her estate following the construction of the Y building. These funds would be used to go into a trust to support the ongoing work of the Y. This gift created the YMCA’s endowment that we still have today.