A Narrative of Keene, New Hampshire

A Narrative of Keene, New Hampshire
1732-1967
by David R. Proper
PART
I: 1732-1748
An untamed wilderness, virgin forests, treacherous streams, impenetrable underbrush, and unexplored swampland covered nearly
all western New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the early 18th century. His Majesty's then loyal subjects hugged the barren New England coast where they had carved out settlements a century before.
Few braved the dangers further inland until Indian hostilities somewhat abated with the end of King Philip's War. It was not an entirely
unknown territory, however. Mt. Monadnock was a recognized landmark and navigational aid to ships approaching the New England
coast, and as early as 1704 and 1706 parties, scouting reported Indian
activities, had traveled to its base. Part of this wilderness fell within
the 1622 royal grant to Captain John Mason. It passed under Massachusetts control in 1641, but remained vast frontierland to which little serious attention was paid before expansion from Massachusetts
began to write its history.
The greater part of western New Hampshire and the Connecticut River Valley was populated only by wild animals and roving
bands of Indians. The region was the subject of a boundary dispute
between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts Bay,
a contest which was not resolved until 1740. Notwithstanding the dangers and uncertain conditions, Massachusetts approved settlements
in the disputed territory, and in this regard Governor Jonathan Belcher
recommended "to take a proper care for settling the ungranted lands"
in a speech to the Massachusetts legislature on June 1, 1732. In answer to this hint the legislature voted on June 20 to open seven townships, including two on the Ashuelot River above Northfield, Mass.,
each tract to be six miles square. The four new townships finally
authorized under an act of July 3, 1732, became Lebanon, Maine;
1
Athol, Mass.; Swanzey and Keene, N. H. The vote was consented to
and approved by the royal governor on April 20, 1733, and surveys
were authorized. Independent grants at about the same time opened
the townships of Winchester, Chesterfield, and Rindge. Hinsdale had
been given a grant somewhat earlier, and, as a part of Northfield, was
already the site of a fort..
The first station of the surveying team, which traveled into the
wilderness to map out the township, has by tradition become known
as the "Statia," off the end of Silent Way on the Swanzey line, and
was marked by a granite stone in 1902.
A plan was drawn up by Nathaniel Dwight and his party in the
fall of 1733. Though not exactly what the authorities had requested,
the surveyors considered it the most suitable plan for building in the
low-lying area. There was to be a series of 54 small house lots of eight
acres each, lying 27 on either side of a principal road or street. Other
common lands were laid out upon the plain on the Swanzey line. Persons interested in becoming settlers were notified to meet at Concord,
Mass., on June 26, 1734, where upon posting a bond of five pounds
and agreeing to certain conditions of settlement (the actual occupancy
of the tract, erection of a meetinghouse, and clearing of the land)
they were permitted to draw lots for property in the new township.
No charter was ever granted by Massachusetts, and the 63 original
2
grantees became sole owners of the land, their title to the territory
resting in the acts passed by the Massachusetts legislature in opening
the area to settlement on July 3, 1732, and April 20, 1733.
A meeting of the proprietors was held at Ephraim Jones's tavern in Concord on June 27, 1734, at which the organization of Upper
Ashuelot, as the town soon became known, was made under Captain
Samuel Sady, who was chosen moderator. The proprietors adjourned
to meet again at their new home in the wilderness on September 18.
Six of their number, Captain Samuel Sady, Jeremiah Hall, Elisha
Root, Nathaniel Rockwood, Josiah Fisher, and William Puffer, with
Daniel Hoar Jr. representing his father, and Seth Heaton representing Isaac Heaton, came to the new town the following fall to hold
the adjourned meeting and open the settlement. None of them had
previously visited the place, and they were guided by Deacon Ebenezer Alexander of Northfield. The party arrived late in the evening
of September 18. To fulfill the time requirement made the previous
June, they opened a general meeting of the proprietors as soon as
they had passed the line into the town and then immediately adjourned to the next day. Blackened roots of a stump at the "Statia,"
where tradition said the party built their campfire, were still to be
seen in the 1880's.
There were no roads opened through the forests and few trails.
The route followed during most of the early history of Keene was an
old Indian trail and the "Bay Path" from Boston to Springfield
through Concord, Worcester, Brookfield, Belchertown, Hadley, Hatfield, Deerfield, Northfield, and Hinsdale. The last 20 miles of the way
were marked simply by blazed trees. Travel, except on horseback or
on foot, was impossible, and for some 50 years no wagon lighter than
an ox cart could pass through the wilderness.
Upper Ashuelot was the extreme northern point of the frontier
in the Connecticut River Valley; the nearest neighboring community
was Northfield 20 miles away. New Hampshire settlements to the east
were almost beyond communication, nor did New Hampshire authorities acknowledge their western neighbors for many years. The
river was a vital link to Canada, and along it traveled friend and foe
alike, regulated to some extent by a series of forts established by
Massachusetts to protect her western frontier. Forts or blockhouses
erected partly at the expense of the province afforded what protection
the settlers could expect, but the line of fortifications was weak and
the troops in the area few in number. Those who chose to make Upper Ashuelot their home did so in full knowledge of the great risks
3
involved. Indian raids were not uncommon, the nearest and worst
having taken place at Bloody Brook, South Deerfield, in 1675, where
colonial forces were massacred, and at Deerfield itself in 1704, when
47 of the town's inhabitants were killed and 112 taken into captivity.
The refuge nearest the township was Fort Dummer, established
in 1724 near Brattleboro. Built of logs, as were all the pioneer buildings, the fort measured about 120 x 120 feet with strong bastions or
blockhouses at the corners and was surrounded by a stockade. It
was attacked by Indians soon after its completion, but became a trading and missionary post in more peaceful times.
When permanent settlement was finally made at Upper Ashuelot in 1736, the region had experienced a period of some 10 years of
peace. Roving bands of Indians were commonplace, threading their
way in single file over trails they alone could recognize. The Schaghticoke tribe which once inhabited the area had long since moved to
the Hudson River, and the Squawkheags who followed them in the
region had been nearly destroyed by the Mohawks in brutal Indian
warfare before 1670. The dreaded King Philip assembled his forces in
the region during earlier Indian wars but few Indians had remained
afterwards, although some of the former Indian residents knew the
territory and were able to lead hunting and war parties through the
forests and swamps.
Among the first considerations of the settlers who assembled in
Upper Ashuelot in the fall of 1735 were roads to neighboring townships, the establishment of a sawmill (erected by John Corbet and
Jesse Root on Beaver Brook in July 1736) and a gristmill, as well as
plans for their proposed meetinghouse. At least one log house was
erected in the summer of 1736, that of Nathan Blake near the corner
of what was later called Main and Winchester Streets, where proprietors' meetings were held. At one of these meetings, on September
30, 1736, the settlers passed a resolution which has had a lasting
effect on Keene: "Forasmuch as the Town Street is judged to be too
narrow Conveniantly to accomidate the Propriators," it was voted to
double its width to eight rods, each lot on the west side giving up
space at the front and making it up at the rear. By this move the
unusual width of Main Street was established from its lower end near
No. 441 to the railroad crossing, the original center of settlement, and
a lasting character was given to Keene.
No settler had passed a winter in the new township until Nathan
Blake, Seth Heaton, and William Smeed made preparations to do so
in 1736. Grass was gathered to feed the oxen and horses they had
4
brought with them that summer. The men spent the early part of the
winter drawing logs to the sawmill on Beaver Brook, but by early
February their supplies were exhausted, and Heaton was sent to
Northfield for meal. None of the few families at Winchester were able
to assist their neighbors, and before Heaton could return a snow
storm blocked his way into the forest. Nevertheless, he prepared to
begin his journey despite warnings "that he might as well expect to
die in Northfield and rise again in Upper Ashuelot, as-ride thither on
horseback." Blake and Smeed, hearing nothing from their messenger,
were forced to abandon the town and travel back to Massachusetts on
snowshoes. Anxious for his oxen, Blake returned early the following
spring to find his stock overjoyed to meet their master again.
A good number of settlers traveled to Upper Ashuelot in the
spring of 1737 bringing their families, so that perhaps 40 proprietors
were on their lands with cattle, horses, and other domestic animals,
as well as some household goods that could be brought on horseback
or in rude "horse-barrows" made by attaching poles to either side of
the saddle, the butt ends dragging on the ground. Among the first
meetings held on the site assigned the meetinghouse was one to call a
minister, one of the conditions of their settlement. Plans for their
meetinghouse, 40 feet long, 20 feet stud, and 35 feet wide, finished
"decently, as becomes such a house" were also considered. Jacob
Bacon accepted their call to the church, which was organized with
5
coffins, were Joseph G ree n ( abou t 1740 ) and Aaron C hapin,
of En field, Conn., who move d to Up per As huelot aro und th is
ro ad to the sawm ill on Beaver Brook was laid out in 1738, a
an early ro ad to Lower Ashuelot ( Swan zey ) was opened, as
one west to Ash Swam p, as West Keene was then known.
other ear ly roads were the present Baker and Beaver Streets
On January 7, 1740, it was voted by the proprietors "
such gra nt or gran ts of lan d to such person or persons as th
think deserve the same, for hazarding their lives and estates b
here to br ing forward the settling of the place." T h wilde rne
had beco me an established community.
The settlers had not previously taken muc h action in pr
thems elves from the Indians, although a fort was bu ilt in
M ain Street ( app ro ximatel y op posite the E lliot Community
where a marker sta nds) and addition al fort ification s wer e au
in 1737 and 1740. T he fort measured abo ut 90 feet squa re
built of hewn logs. It co ntained barracks and loop holes for
the enemy and two watch towers, on e on the southeast an d t
on the western side. The stro nghold was encl osed by pickets
In 1738 there occ ur red the highest water known to th
6
ship, Andrews' flood, called after John Andrews, a settler who had
arrived a short time earlier. Andrews had sent Ephraim Dorman and
Joseph Ellis with a team of eight oxen and a horse to bring his furniture from Boxford, Mass. When they passed through Swanzey it
rained hard and they did not reach the station until night. As it
grew darker the rain continued and the water covered the meadows.
The men, fearful of being drowned, unyoked the oxen, chained the
cart to a tree, and hastened on to the settlement a mile distant. After
daylight came, a boat was sent off to search for the cattle and furniture. As the boat passed Bullard's Island a cry for help was heard.
This was from Mark Ferry, somewhat of an eccentric, who had left
the noise and bustle of town life for the more isolated surroundings of
a riverside cave. The water had forced him to seek refuge on a stump,
where he sat with a calf in his arms. One of the boatmen called that
they would be back after attending to the oxen. They found the cart
afloat, and hearing the sound of bells, were guided to several little
hillocks where the cattle were located, some with only their heads
above water. After guiding the oxen to high land the boatmen, hearing cries for help in the vicinity of Swanzey, proceeded to Crissen's
house, where they carried an entire family to safety. On their way
home they took Ferry and his calf into the boat. Hermit Ferry was
again rescued by his neighbors after the Indian raid of April 23, 1746;
this time he was found sitting peacefully up in a tree.
In 1740 came the royal decree from London regarding the long
disputed New Hampshire-Massachusetts boundary and the establishment of New Hampshire as an independent province, with Benning
Wentworth as governor. Although the exact location of the line continued in question for many years, the fact that Upper Ashuelot was
New Hampshire territory and not part of the Bay Colony came as a
shock to the Massachusetts-born citizens of the new town. The disgruntled inhabitants, like those of several other towns in the contested
area, addressed a humble petition to the King asking that their town
be included within the borders of Massachusetts, but to no avail. The
Massachusetts legislature authorized the opening of an area in Berkshire County known as "Ashuelot Equivalent" to compensate some of
her citizens who had lost property in the boundary decision. This was
incorporated as the town of Dalton in 1784.
Upper Ashuelot need not have feared a new authority, as it was
several years before New Hampshire paid any attention, official or
otherwise, to the Connecticut River settlements under its jurisdiction,
and the village was for some time virtually a miniature republic inde7
fort, plus a small fo rce sent to the front ier. Also a utho riza tio
given for additional Connecticut R iver forts, num ber ed one
and located from Che ster field to Cha rlestown .
The first hostile activity ne ar Upper Ashuelot was an attac
the settl ement at Lower A shuelot ( Swa nzey) and o ne at Pu tn
T he horro rs o f wa r struck close to home o n Jul y 10, 1745
Deacon Jo sia h Fi sher, wh ile d ri ving his cow to pasture, was kill
scalped by a n In dia n. The traged y occ urr ed a sho rt distan ce fr
sett leme nt o n the ro ad to A sh Swamp. A marker co mme mo ra
event which to ok pla ce nea r the co rne r of what is no w L am s
F ederal Str eets .
E xcept for a few raid s in neigh borin g areas, all was quiet
per Ash uelo t for so me time, altho ugh the ca lm only inc reas
dread of the inhabi ta nts. A party of soldie rs p assing thro ugh t
earl y 1746 fired a vo lley as a signa l, fright en ing all, wh o th en h
for the protection of th e fo rt. For seve ra l days extra gua rd
posted , a nd suspicion of Ind ia n war parties was wid espr ead.
Early in the morning of Apri l 23 , 1746, Ephraim D orm
the fort in search of his cow. H e went northward along the e
8
what was then a dense swamp, and looking by chance into the underbrush, he saw several Indians evidently lying in wait to attack
when the men might leave the fort for the fields. Dorman immediately
gave the alarm, crying "Indians, Indians" as he ran. Two savages
lying in hiding between him and the fort rose up and aimed rifles at
him, but neither hit him. Throwing away their guns, the two advanced
toward Dorman. He knocked one down and wrestled with the other,
tearing off the Indian's blanket. The savage slipped from his grasp,
and Dorman ran toward the fort, which he reached in safety.
When the alarm was given most of the inhabitants were still inside, though several had left the stockade to care for their cattle. Word
was given by Captain Simms to assist those outside in reaching safety.
All within hearing ran for the fort as the cries of the Indians split the
morning air. Working in her barn, Mrs. Daniel McKenney heard the
alarm and hurried toward the fort as fast as her age and corpulence
would permit. Within a few rods of the gate she was overtaken and
stabbed in the back by an Indian. She continued walking at the same
steady pace; almost within reach of safety, she fell dead. John Bullard
ran from his barn down the street but received a shot in the back as
he reached the fort. He was carried in and died a few hours later.
Mrs. Isaac Clark ran from her barn when an Indian appeared,
evidently intent upon making her his prisoner. The colonial dame
gathered her skirts up about her waist and raced the Indian for the
fort. Encouraged by the cheers of her friends, she outran her pursuer
to safety. Nathan Blake at his homestead was determined to save his
cattle, and waited a few precious moments to throw open the barn
door for their escape. Presuming his retreat cut off, Blake went out a
back way, intending to place himself in ambush at the only place
where the river could be crossed. He had gone but a few steps, however, when he was hailed by a party of Indians who were concealed
between him and the street. Seeing several guns aimed at him, he was
forced to give himself up. With his arms bound he was led away, a
captive.
The number in the war party was presumed to have been about
100, and as they approached the fort from all sides, they fired at those
within. The reports of gunfire were heard at the fort in Swanzey, and
messengers were sent to Winchester and southward with news of the
attack. Colonel John Stoddard at Northfield reported the action to
Connecticut's Governor Roger Wolcott on April 24, 1746: "Yester
Evening I had an account that Upper Ashuelot was beset by the Enemy, Capt. Field writes me that the People at lower Ashuelot heard
9
T hey shot J ohn Bullard, who in a few hou rs expired, and ki
aged woman, the wife of Daniel Mc Kenney, an d N athan Blak
of our inhabitants, being out, is not since heard of, who we s
to be taken or killed. T hey killed several of ou r creatures, an
six of our ho uses and on e barn in which (for want of room in th
there was con siderable of treasure and pr ovisions; and we be
few, and our enemy so numerous, and so far dist ant from an
the tim e app ears exceedingly gloomy and depressing."
R aids took place at other settlements, at H opkinton, wher
were taken captive, at Fort Num ber 4 (Charlestown), and a
toocook , as well as at Hi nsdale and W inchester. T wo were tak
tive at Swanzey and carri ed to Canada, but like Blake, the
retu rned to their homes.
T he activity of the Indians brought some coloni al troops i
area but d id little to allay the fears of the settlers. Pro tection
difficult and farm ing im possible in the face of Indian raids, the
passed a second unhappy winter, and decided they had little
but to aba ndo n their village, which was done in A pril 1747. T h
J acob Bac on was rele ased from his pastorate and, with most
10
others, returned to Massachusetts. They took what goods they were
able to carry with them. Upper Ashuelot was placed at the mercy of
the Indians, who soon burned 27 of its 31 houses, the fort, and the
partly-finished meetinghouse. Also abandoned were the settlements
at Swanzey, Winchester, and Hinsdale, which were also put to the torch
and the livestock of the settlers slaughtered. Several men joined the
force at Fort Dummer to remain in the area and combat the Indians
as best they could, while the women and children traveled back to
Massachusetts.
"The worthy Mr. Bacon," who after his return to the Bay Colony
became minister at Plymouth, retained an interest in Upper Ashuelot, and upon hearing a few years later that the settlement had been
reopened, wrote to New Hampshire officials seeking to establish his
claim in the township as its first settled minister and the second in
what was to become Cheshire County.
"Although I am now at Plymouth," he addressed himself to
Mesech Weare in February 1753, "yet was once settled in the western
frontier, at a place called Upper Ashuelot, where I was from October
1737, to April 1747, wading through all the difficulties which commonly attend an infant plantation, even from the very first; together
with the additional difficulties of an Indian war, and of being cut off
from the protection of our mother government, and so finally denied
the protection of any; by which means, being reduced to a small number, were all (tho' with great reluctance) obliged to quit our habitations, to come off and leave what we had done and laid out for so
many years, and which indeed to me, with many others, it was all
except a few clothes, and what could be carried upon an horse." Rev.
Bacon had lost to the Indians' torch "all my buildings, which were
burnt by the enemy, as a dwelling-house, though finished but in part,
yet materials provided for the rest were consumed with it, and a barn
of 42 and 30 feet, well finished." He begged for his due by way of pay
and support as the settlement's first minister although even while living in the town "some of the proprietors and claimers to an interest in
that township, took advantage of our weak and broken state, and
refused to be, or pay their proportionable part toward my support,
and that for many years, some more and some less, and which I never
did or could obtain." His complaint to Portsmouth in 1742 was answered by a proclamation from the governor calling upon the people
to comply with their obligations toward their pastor, but which evidently was not wholly successful.
Nathan Blake's captivity was somewhat typical of that dreaded
11
pioneer fate not uncommon in colonial times. When Blake was being
conducted by his captors out of the settlement the Indian in charge
of him stooped to drink at a spring located near the present West
Surry Road, a short distance from what later became the Ellis homestead. His hands not then being bound, for a moment Blake considered beating out his captor's brains with a rock which lay nearby, and
he prayed for direction. His next thought was that he would always
regret killing even an enemy in that situation, and he refrained.
After reaching Canada, Blake, with another prisoner, was made
to run the gauntlet at Montreal. His companion was beaten unmercifully, but Blake exhibited such patience and fortitude that he won a
measure of respect from the Indians. Because of his athletic abilities,
he was frequently put to trials in which he was successful against every
antagonist.
Blake was sent to Quebec and from there to an Indian village
several miles to the north, where he gained such acceptance that upon
the death of one of their chiefs he was dressed in Indian costume and
offered the chief's authority and privileges, as well as his widow. However, the tribe soon split into factions, his friends and his enemies;
many became envious of his success. A celebrated runner was brought
from a distant village to humble Blake, or so his jealous enemies hoped.
Upon being advised by a visiting Frenchman to permit the Indian to
win or risk being killed on the spot, Blake allowed the savage to overtake and pass him in the last lap of the contest.
Despite his security and position among the Indians, Blake could
not forget his wife and friends in Upper Ashuelot, and after considerable discussion it was agreed that, if he would build the Indians a
house such as the English had, he would be permitted to return to
Quebec, where he felt he had a better chance of obtaining his freedom. With such crude tools as the Indians supplied, the house was
constructed and soon Blake was off for Quebec, where he gave himself up to French officials. Not long afterwards, however, his Indian
wife appeared and demanded that he return to the village and life
among the Indians. Blake declared to her that if forced to such a
course he was determined on the way back to overturn the canoe and
drown her, whereupon he was left alone.
The French commander gave Blake his choice of passing the
winter as a laborer on a farm near the city or being confined in jail.
His choice of the latter alternative proved to be a wise one, as he was
provided with food and a comfortable room.
Meanwhile in October 1747 Captain Alexander of Northfield,
12
who had earlier acted as guide for the first band of settlers to Upper
Ashuelot, shot and wounded a young French officer discovered by his
scouting party. Left for dead, the officer managed to make his way to
Northfield, where it was discovered that he was the son of a wealthy
Canadian. He was treated with courtesy and kindness, and negotiations for an exchange of prisoners were begun. It was decided that
Nathan Blake would be one of those freed in return for the Frenchman. Mrs. Blake, not trusting the diplomacy of the affair, provided
funds to purchase her husband's freedom. A party under John Hawks
journeyed through deep snow and wild forests to Montreal, where
Blake and another colonist were released in April 1748. Before leaving Canada for New England the British party was richly entertained
in the home of the wealthy French family whose relative was part of
the price for Blake's freedom.
The trip toward New Hampshire was a hasty one, lest a chance
encounter with an Indian band might undo all the work of the negotiations. Nathan Blake returned safely to his family, and to Upper
Ashuelot in 1749, where he began life again in the community he had
helped to establish. He lived to the age of 99, and was buried in the
Washington Street Cemetery, mourned by many, among them Mary,
his second wife, "a fascinating widow" whom he had married when
he was 94 years of age.
A force of over 60 soldiers was assigned to the two abandoned
Ashuelot townships. Indians and French continued to menace the
Connecticut River Valley, and Massachusetts and New Hampshire
found it necessary to send additional soldiers to protect the frontier,
but the task was not an easy one in so vast a wilderness.
13
PART II: 1749-1774
Hostilities between France and Great Britain ceased in 1748,
but it was some time before news of this reached America and even
longer before the frontier was safe from raids. A company of soldiers
continued service in the Keene area, billeted half the time at Northfield and half at Upper Ashuelot, after some of the proprietors had
returned to the settlement in the spring and summer of 1749. Several
cabins were rebuilt that winter, and life was resumed along the frontier
with more settlers coming to establish neighboring townships.
Application for incorporation as a town was made to the governor of New Hampshire early in 1750, with Captain Jeremiah Hall
and Benjamin Guild as agents for the proprietors. Governor Benning
Wentworth was petitioned again in 1 75 1 for a charter of incorporation, but it was not until April 11, 1753, that New Hampshire answered the 'petitions and delivered a charter for the township to
Ephraim Dorman and others. In granting the New Hampshire charter Governor Wentworth reserved the right to name the settlement;
he also claimed a tract of land for himself and collected fees for his
services, as well as those of his assistants. The name Keene was chosen
out of gratitude to and admiration for Sir Benjamin Keene who, when
British minister to Spain, had used his influence, though unsuccessfully, to help Wentworth obtain payment for timber delivered at Cadiz.
The new territory of Keene was slightly enlarged over the former
Massachusetts grant.
Among the provisions of the charter granted by King George II
by the "advice of our Trusty & wellbeloved Benning Wentworth" to
"Sundry of our Loveing Subjects" was permission to open a weekly
market when the settlement numbered 50 families, and authorization
to hold town meetings and elect officers. The pioneers were required
to cultivate at least five acres within five years and to continue the
clearing and improvement of the place, but the Crown reserved the
pine trees for royal navy masts on penalty of loss of the grant. A
rental fee of one ear of Indian corn for 10 years and after that one
shilling for every 100 acres was levied on the settlers. The governor
reserved 500 acres, one-sixth of the town, for himself and also set
aside land for support of a minister and the English church as glebe
land.
The first town meeting was held May 2, 1753, in the rebuilt
14
fort. Official posts were filled and community government organized
under Ephraim Dorman, Michael Metcalf, and William Smeed, se­
lectmen. David Nims was named first town clerk, as well as treasurer.
His portrait, painted by Jeremiah Stiles Jr., probably Keene's first
painter, is the only known picture of a Keene pioneer settler. Hog
reif [hogreeve-whose duty it was to impound stray hogs], fence
viewers, field drivers, and surveyors of highways were also selected
from among the incorporators. Payment to those who had been in-
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strumental in obtaining the charter was authorized, and steps were
taken to survey and establish property lines. The first perambulation
of the town boundaries was made in 1760, and at regular intervals
thereafter.
A temporary meetinghouse of slabs, with a dirt floor, was hastily
erected near the site of the present Saint Bernard's Roman Catholic
Church. A minister was sought in cooperation with the town of Swan­
15
zey. Rev. Ezra Carpenter was chosen by the town and was ordained
on October 4, 1753. The sermon was delivered by Rev. Ebenezer
Gay, who had journeyed from Massachusetts to help install his friend
at Keene. The sermon, Jesus Christ The Wise Master-Builder, was
published at Boston that same year. When Rev. Carpenter brought
his household to Keene it included probably the first Negro slave in
the region. Rev. Carpenter served as minister of both towns for seven
years, each town paying half his salary, and saw military service as
chaplain to New Hampshire troops at Crown Point in 1757.
The rebuilt town was located where the first settlement had been
planted on lower Main Street. That section eastward of Central Square
was in part a bog, the same in which the Indians had hidden a few
years before. Near the present railroad crossing on Main Street was
a depression where the Town Brook ran and over which a causeway
was constructed. The floor of this bridge was several feet below the
present street level, and the depression was so deep that a man could
stand erect under the causeway. During high water this section was
flooded and abounded in fish, especially horn pout. A pond surrounded by alders, down Main Street near Davis Street, was frequented by
wild ducks. A small rise, known as Meetinghouse Hill, was located on
the street near this spot, and it was to this area that the early meetinghouse was moved before the Indian attack and where the second
meetinghouse was constructed.
In the spring the road was a sea of mud, due to the brooks and
ponds, and all travel was difficult. Changes were effected by deepening and clearing out the brook and Ashuelot River channels, and by
filling in the land to improve the condition of the street. In later years
the Town Brook was completely piped underground, emptying into
Beaver Brook after running under the buildings on the east side of
Central Square and Main Street.
In 1754 a new meetinghouse to serve as a court house and town
hall was commenced a little east of the present Soldiers' Monument.
It faced south on a height of land that sloped down to the causeway,
the street rising again to the other hill. It was not completed until 1760,
and became the first building in the vicinity of Central Square.
To the east, where City Hall is now located, were clay pits owned
by the town and rented annually for brickmaking. A new road to the
sawmill, later Washington Street, was opened in 1761, and West
Street (called "Piety Lane") was begun in 1773. To the west of the
present Square was meadow land.
Peace was short-lived between England and France, but at the
16
outbreak of hostilities in 1754 the New Hampshire settlements were
more firmly established and better able to meet the threat of war than
in earlier years. More strict regulations concerning the organization
and conduct of the militia, including a company formed in Keene,
made defense easier and more sure, New Hampshire and Massachusetts forces manned positions in the Connecticut River Valley, including Keene, with the assistance of the local military units. Fort
Number 4 at Charlestown was attacked in August 1757, and fear
quickly spread through the entire region. News of raids caused Keene
people to post guards and push rebuilding of their fort. Soon the stockade enclosed a number of small buildings in which the settlers could
find safety in case of attack.
Additional raids on unprotected cabins and farms along the Connecticut River drove many who had settled beyond easy reach of a
fort to towns which were better protected. Several families who had
gone to what is now Surry turned to the fort in Keene. An attack was
made at the fort on June 30, 1755, but the enemy forces were beaten
off.
Artist's version of Keene, circa 1770
Ebenezer Day, who had settled on the Surry line, being told of
approaching Indians, returned in haste to his home and, saddling his
horse, warned his wife of their need to reach the fort at once. The
father, with his four-year-old daughter in his arms, placed his wife
17
behind him on the horse. She clung to her husband with one hand and
with the other grasped a meal sack into which their year-old baby
had been hastily dumped for greater convenience in transportation.
The fort was reached in safety, but after alighting from the horse they
opened the sack, which had dangled beside the animal the entire
journey, and found the baby with her head downward. Fortunately
no ill consequences resulted from the four-mile ride in that upsidedown position, and the little girl grew up to marry Nathan Blake Jr.
and become the mother of eight children.
Westmoreland people, discovering the signs of Indians at about
this time, fired a signal heard in Keene. A body of men was sent out
but found no sign of the enemy. However, Indians were in the area,
and the following day captured Benjamin Twitchell at Ash Swamp.
Taken to Canada, Twitchell met Josiah Foster and his family, who
had been captured at Winchester. The Fosters were ransomed, as was
Twitchell, but the Keene man died of illness before he could return
to New Hampshire.
A month or two later a party of Indians was discovered at Swanzey, and Keene again sent out a force to aid her neighbor. Indians were
seen in Keene several times but did not attack again. News of General
Braddock's defeat at Fort Duquesne and delay in the Crown Point
expedition, coupled with raids and scalpings along the Connecticut
River, greatly discouraged the settlers, and hindered their farm work.
At Walpole the heroic defense of his house and family by John Kilburn against a force of almost 200 Indians in August 1755 increased
the fears of all in the area. Keene, however, which in the earlier hostilities had been at the edge of the wilderness, was by now protected
by other settlements and escaped a major attack.
The settlers suffered from want of food and clothing during the
trying years of war, yet maintained themselves in the besieged frontier
towns. All farm work had to be carried on under guard; attendance
at church, social calls, and all common tasks were under the supervision of armed protection.
Keene furnished a share of the 5,000 men who served in the
armies from the Province of New Hampshire during these colonial
hostilities. This was at a time when New Hampshire's population was
only 40,000. Quebec was taken by British forces in September 1759;
and the village of St. Francis, from which so many Indian war parties
had been let loose on New Hampshire settlements, was reduced to
ashes soon afterwards. Under a more vigorous war policy on the part
of the English, Canada was finally brought under her control in 1760.
18
Troops returned home, prisoners were released, and the fear of Indian
attack faded. After some 15 years of terror the New Hampshire pioneers were at peace, their townships safe, and once again they could
turn their attention to farms and homes. Grim years of war had taught
settlers the arts of defense, and the military training afforded them
was soon to serve well in the conflict already brewing with the mother
country.
Several returning settlers had replaced their crude log cabins at
Keene with more substantial homes. The oldest is Seth Heaton's house
on Marlboro Street, No. 500, begun in 1750. David Nims's house,
formerly on Washington Street, was moved in later years to No. 29
Page Street. Ephraim Dorman's house, on the street later named
Baker, near Thomas Baker's tannery, was another early one in town
and was built at the resettlement of Keene or shortly thereafter.
Among domestic projects considered in the period following the
French and Indian War were the erection of saw and gristmills, completion of the meetinghouse, and authorization for roads and bridges.
The Rev. Clement Sumner accepted a call to the Keene pulpit and
was ordained on June 11, 1761, over a reorganized church of 14 male
members. The pastor's salary was paid in wheat, beef, pork, corn,
firewood, and other supplies at stated prices. Unlike his predecessors
who were Harvard men, Rev. Sumner was a graduate of Yale. He
served until 1772, when he was dismissed, though he continued to live
in Keene. The church membership was about 75 at this time.
The old Westmoreland Road, later called the Hurricane Road,
was laid out in 1760. In September 1761 the town voted to build a
house for sick soldiers. A second cemetery, which may have been in
use earlier, was authorized at Ash Swamp in 1762.
The first merchant in town was Ichabod Fisher, who would journey to his native Wrentham, Mass., on horseback once a year to replenish his stock of calico, ribbons, pins, needles, and other such basic
necessities of housekeeping. His store stood on the older road to Ash
Swamp, known as "Poverty Lane," near the corner of what is now
School Street. Captain Isaac Wyman opened his tavern in 1762 in
the elegant house he built for that purpose on Main Street, now No.
339. It was at Captain Wyman's tavern that Dartmouth College was
launched with the first meeting of the trustees on October 22, 1770,
under the college's founder and first president, Rev. Eleazar Wheelock.
The site was chosen as the most convenient meeting place for the
board members, whose homes were scattered from Connecticut to
northern New Hampshire. Thomas Frink had formerly operated a
19
tavern just below the location chosen by Wyman. Frink's was possibly the first public house in Keene. Josiah Richardson, Ziba Hall, and
Sarah Harrington also ran early taverns in the village. The Richardson Tavern on West Street, erected about 1773, stood until 1893,
when it was removed for the construction of a YMCA building.
The first notice in the town meeting records of a school in Keene
appears in 1764, although lots assigned for this purpose had been
among the original conditions of the Massachusetts grant. Six pounds
sterling was the first recorded appropriation for education in Keene,
and Priscilla Ellis was the first known teacher. Her salary was three
pounds thirteen shillings and one penny. In 1768 the town voted 10
pounds for the school, but classes do not appear to have been kept
continuously. Four school districts were established in 1770 and others
in 1771, showing the rapid growth and development of the town whose
1773 appropriation for education was 40 pounds. A bequest of onehalf of his estate to the town from Amos Foster who died in 1761
was the first gift to the community, and in 1766 a legacy from Captain
Nathaniel Fairbanks was allotted for educational purposes.
In the Meetinghouse, pew space was assigned according to the
taxes paid by each proprietor. If the individual failed to build his
pew within six months his space was given to the next highest taxpayer. A pew was provided by the town for the minister's family, the
gallery and pulpit were completed, and the house fitted for use. Town
meetings were held at the Meetinghouse, although often adjourned to
one or another of the taverns.
The Rev. Jeremy Belknap, who passed through Keene on a journey from Dartmouth College in August 1774, was invited to preach
in the local church. "The congregation pretty large and very attentive," the minister recorded in his journal. "Two prisoners in chains
attended meeting; they are here under confinement for murder," he
further noted. Rev. Belknap was the guest of Nathan Blake during his
brief visit to Keene.
In 1766 the town had appointed Benjamin Hall as its agent to
see about naming Keene as the shire town of a county division then
being considered at Portsmouth, and in 1767 Josiah Willard was
chosen as lobbyist. The distance being so great, and travel difficult,
proposals to create smaller administrative divisions within the province
culminated in the creation of five counties in 1769, among them Cheshire County, named for the British shire, and then including the territory which is now Sullivan County. Keene and Charlestown became
shire towns jointly of the new division.
20
The first regular Keene census was compiled by order of New
Hampshire authorities in October 1767, and showed a population of
430. Upon that figure and the valuation of local property, taxes were
assigned from Portsmouth. Captain Josiah Willard's election as representative to the New Hampshire General Court in May 1768 was the
first Keene participation in the legislative assembly of the province,
15 years after the granting of the New Hampshire charter to Keene.
In 1773 the town's population was 645.
Although county divisions were established in 1769 with a sheriff
and solicitor, the act did not go into effect until royal consent was
secured in 1771. "His Majesty's Superior Court of Judicature" was
held for the first time in Keene in September 1771. The Inferior Court
of Common Pleas was first held in October, followed by the "Court
of General Sessions of the Peace." The latter body with certain legislative functions was abolished in 1794. At Keene, sessions of court
were held in the Meetinghouse, with the temporary removal of some
of its fixtures. Terms also sat at Charlestown. A recorder of deeds and
real estate was appointed, and county affairs launched although the
offices were not all located in Keene itself for some years.
Typical of the pioneers who settled in Keene were Henry Ellis
and his wife Melatiah, who came on horseback through the wilderness from Mendon, Mass., about 1770. They located on a partiallycleared tract in Ash Swamp with neighbors no closer than a mile away.
Ellis trapped a bear on his farm soon after his arrival, and Mrs. Ellis
sold her satin wedding slippers to purchase apple trees for an orchard.
She was an energetic woman; she planned the home built by her husband, and in one room she kept spinning wheels and a loom where
the women of the family manufactured woolen and linen cloth, table
covers, and towels of various patterns. In more than one instance
Mrs. Ellis wove the material for a Keene girl's wedding dress. When
Farmer Ellis had the misfortune to break the metal point of his
plough in the hard virgin soil, his wife saddled a horse and journeyed
to Massachusetts for a new one, no small undertaking for a woman
to travel the forest trails. Typical of the period, the Ellises raised a
large family, some of whom moved to other settlements, while others
remained in Keene. Years later when Mrs. Ellis returned to visit the
first Keene homestead which she had helped her husband carve out
of the wilderness, she stopped in the dooryard and, leaning on her
cane, observed, "Many anxious hours I've spent upon this spot caring
for my children while my husband was away to the wars," but there
was no word of complaint or regret.
21
New Hampshire people, like those of other colonies, came to
resent the special taxes and other unwelcome administrative decisions
from London, especially as their communities grew and prospered
and British authorities sought more financial aid in the form of taxes
on sugar, molasses, legal papers, and finally tea, Schooled by experience in the French and Indian wars, colonial military companies
had been maintained since at the expense of the citizen soldiers themselves. In Keene there was a unit of 117 officers and men, with an
alarm list of the older and not fully able-bodied men numbering 45.
Colonel Josiah Willard of Winchester commanded the military regiments of the province in the region, with Benjamin Bellows of Walpole as lieutenant colonel and Josiah Willard Jr. of Keene and Breed
Batcheller of Packersfield (now Nelson) as majors.
Keene, with her neighbors, was determined to resist the newlyimposed taxes, especially the hated one on tea, although no such
drastic demonstration was staged as that by the people of Boston in
December 1773 at the "Boston Tea Party," when a cargo of tea was
dumped into the harbor. However, tea which arrived at Portsmouth
in June 1774 could not be unloaded for fear of the people's reaction
and had to be shipped on to Halifax. Committees of Correspondence
or Committees of Safety were authorized by the New Hampshire Assembly in 1773 to protect local interests and keep in touch with the
other colonies. The result of these actions was a general congress held
in Philadelphia in 1774 to consider the condition of public affairs and
recommend measures upon which all could act in concert.
John Wentworth, who had succeeded his uncle Benning Wentworth as royal governor, labored to prevent appointment of Committees of Correspondence in New Hampshire and dissolved the Assembly when it refused to be subject to his will. The delegates met by
their own authority despite threats from the governor, and called on
all towns to send delegates to a convention at Exeter to select representatives to the Continental Congress. Lieutenant Benjamin Hall
was Keene's representative to the Assembly, but he was a Loyalist, and
Keene does not appear to have been represented at this First Provincial Congress.
Colonists were requested to cooperate in boycotting goods imported from the mother country, and the local committees in each
town watched the conduct of all persons and businesses in their areas.
Keene voters in September 1774 chose to await word from the Continental Congress sitting at Philadelphia before joining in such actions. However cautious they may have seemed in open opposition
22
to the Crown, the voters did authorize at this time a stock of ammunition and powder for the local militia.
Fearful of increasing colonial resistance, London issued orders
prohibiting the exportation of gunpowder and military stores to America. Portsmouth patriots captured vital supplies at Fort William and
Mary late in 1774, adding to the fears of Loyalists and royal officials.
On the whole, Keene citizens were patriots and applauded the actions
of their bolder countrymen; however, several community leaders were
inclined to the Loyalist cause and used their influence to temper rebellious enthusiasm in Keene. Elijah Williams, the town's first lawyer,
who had been appointed a "Justice of the Peace" by Governor Wentworth, instituted a suit against a Keene citizen in the King's name, but
was compelled by a show of force from a large number of people,
many of them from surrounding towns, to drop the action. The town
voted in January 1775 to cooperate with the recommendations of the
Continental Congress, and chose a local Committee of Inspection
headed by Captain Isaac Wyman. He was also chosen to represent
the town at Exeter for the selection of delegates to the next Continental Congress, and represented Keene at the Portsmouth General
Assembly as well.
A convention of delegates from the various Cheshire County
towns was held at Keene in late December 1774 to prepare recommendations to the Boards of Selectmen urging patriotic action.
23
PART III: 1775-1783
The opening battles of the American Revolutionary War took
place shortly after dawn on April 19, 1775, on Lexington Green and
at Concord's North Bridge. Tidings of the bloodshed sped quickly
throughout the countryside, and so swiftly did the news travel that
messengers reached New Ipswich, N. H., 60 miles away, the same
afternoon.
It was 90 miles from the scene of the conflict to Keene, and
there were no roads beyond New Ipswich; only a trail through the
woods traced by blazed trees. Nevertheless, a rider pressed on and
brought the electrifying news to Keene, either late that same night or
early the next morning. Abner Sanger, a diarist in Keene at this
period, noted: "The Regulars fight & do mischief at Concord &c."
By April 20 the news was known in Keene, and Captain Ephraim
Dorman, then commander of the local militia, was the first to be informed. Too old for active military service, he consulted with Captain
Isaac Wyman, a more experienced soldier. Messengers were sent to
every part of town, notifying the inhabitants to meet on the "Green"
that afternoon.
"Now is News of the Fight with Regulars in Concord Lexcinton
[sic] . . . and also of People being Killed. Keene Town is in an
Uproar. They warn a Musture," Sanger wrote on April 20. The following day he recorded, "The Town of Keene Mustures in General.
A Number List to go off to fight Regulars [and] all that List retire
home to make rady to march on ye Morrow."
Captain Wyman assembled Keene's citizen soldiers on the Common in front of the Meetinghouse the afternoon of April 21. He was
chosen to head the company, and selected with him as its leaders
were Thomas Baker, Jeremiah Stiles, and John Houghton. Experienced by earlier military campaigns, Wyman told the 29 who volunteered for the march to prepare arms and equipment and get several
days' provisions, as, he said "All the roads will be full of men and
you can procure nothing on the way." In the evening Captain Wyman
with. Captain Dorman, Lieutenant Stiles, and other leading patriots
met in his tavern to plan for the journey.
At sunrise on April 22 the Keene men, together with some from
Gilsum, met before the tavern, drew supplies, and began their march
to Concord about nine o'clock. Their route was down Main Street to
24
the Boston Road (Baker Street). In the afternoon Captain Bellows
and a group from Walpole arrived in Keene. "Keene has shown a
noble spirit," was Bellows' reply to the news that Wyman's men were
already on their way, and he hastened to follow.
"Wet misty & Rany all Day," wrote Sanger. "We through Mud
& Mire travil to Winchendon." There the group spent a warm and
rainy night, and the occasional thunder sounded like distant gunfire
to some. On Sunday morning, April 23, the company started out in
rain which continued until mid-afternoon, when Lunenburg was
reached. The Walpole men caught up with their Keene neighbors the
following day and joined them on the rainy march toward Groton and
Littleton. The weather cleared to fair and warm as the men entered
Acton and pressed on to Concord, arriving there in the afternoon of
April 24. After serving as guard for some cannon the Cheshire County
soldiers marched to Cambridge with the ordnance. "We are Honoured
on the Caimbridge Common with a Number of Drumers Druming
with their Drums," Sanger wrote of that hot afternoon of April 25.
At Cambridge the Keene militia joined in exercises and reviews, and
Sanger ventured with others as far as a Charlestown hill, where they
had "a fair view of Boston &c; of the Regulers Tents & of the men of
War in Charlestown Ferry." They heard church bells ringing in Boston but whether for joy or sorrow they did not know.
Intense excitement prevailed throughout the entire Keene region.
Soon nearly every town had men marching toward Boston, and by
April 23 nearly 2,000 New Hampshire men were assembled at Cambridge. Military law of the period required that every man equip himself with musket, bayonet, knapsack, cartridge box, one pound of
powder, 20 bullets, and 12 flints for his rifle. Each town was to keep
on hand 200 pounds of lead, a barrel of powder, and 300 flints for
every 60 men, besides a quantity of stores for those unable to supply
themselves. Even old men and those unfit to do full service were required to keep the same supply of arms and ammunition. With the
general feeling of apprehension and anxiety which had been building
for some time, it is not difficult to explain how so great a body of
armed men responded so quickly to news of fighting. However, the
region's military leaders, the Josiah Willards, father and son, were
Tories, as were Lieutenant Benjamin Hall, Dr. Josiah Pomeroy, Elijah
Williams, Breed Batcheller, and other leaders of civic and political
affairs.
At a meeting of New Hampshire officers in Medford on April 26
Isaac Wyman was named lieutenant colonel of the First New Hamp25
shire Regiment, under command of John Stark. Several Keene men
enlisted in the regular service and saw action in the conflicts that followed in the Boston campaign. Others, including the diarist Sanger
who were farmers anxious for their fields and the spring planting, returned home about the first of May. Lieutenant Colonel James Reed,
of Fitzwilliam and later of Keene, raised a regiment in the home area
to join the New Hampshire forces around Boston. This unit saw active
service at Bunker Hill on June 17, where New Hampshire soldiers, including about 40 from Keene, played an important role.
Excitement ran high in Keene at a meeting on April 27. Lieutenant Timothy Ellis was chosen to represent the town at a hastilycalled Exeter convention, where a special committee was set up to
procure arms, supplies, and enlistments for the American army. Timothy Ellis also represented Keene later in 1775 at the convention which
met to set up a civil government in the province, since administrative
machinery to continue the war, borrow money to pay soldiers, and
conduct governmental affairs required that authority be quickly organized. No courts were held from 1774 to 1778, and communities
generally administered justice themselves with reference to former
practice, if not dominion. In Keene's spirited town meeting of December 1775 the voters declined to take drastic action against those who
sold the hated tea, but named a committee of three to maintain order,
suppress idleness, swearing and disorderly conduct, and enforce a boycott on the obnoxious oriental leaf. A census of the town in October
1775 showed 756 living in the community, of whom 31 men were
serving in the army. The local military stores included 72 firearms and
92 pounds of powder.
The colony's new government established early in 1776 sent to
each town an "Association Test" as a type of loyalty oath to be signed
by all males 21 years of age and over. Those refusing to declare their
acceptance of the American cause and the new administration were
ordered disarmed. In Keene 133 men signed the test, 13 refusing. In
all New Hampshire there were only 773, of a population of some 80,000, who refused to sign the Association Test. These were generally
men of wealth and influence whose allegiance to the Crown had aided
them in their prosperity.
The uncertain military campaign and threats of renewed Indian
raids from Canada once again spread fear through New England, especially in the more isolated communities. Colonel Isaac Wyman was
selected to head a regiment enlisted to provide protection for the colony's frontier settlements. With other New Hampshire forces, Colonel
26
Wyman's men marched toward Crown Point in the summer of 1776,
but the progress of the force was hindered by an outbreak of smallpox
which caused several deaths among the troops.
Sickness was a threat not only to the American army; it also
visited the home fronts, and an epidemic of smallpox swept through
Keene as well as other places. Inoculation against the disease was
known, but, as practiced by inexperienced physicians, was frequently
as dangerous as the disease itself. A petition for aid was addressed to
the state legislature by Keene citizens in November 1776, and a complaint was lodged against some of the hospitals that were hastily established during the sickness and which seemed only to serve as its
breeding places. A "pest house" was set up near the south end of
Beech Hill, where the name "Pox Pasture" long perpetuated its sinister associations. Dr. Josiah Pomeroy, the Tory, was the attending
physician, and he and others who acted as doctors in Keene at this
period (Dr. Obadiah Blake, Dr. Thomas Frink, and Dr. Gideon Tiffany) seemed powerless in the face of the epidemic.
News of the Declaration of Independence had been received with
rejoicing throughout New Hampshire some weeks after its adoption
in Philadelphia. Citizens of Keene assembled on the Green near the
Meetinghouse where a liberty pole was raised. A piece of Spanish silver
was offered to anyone who might be brave enough to climb the pole
and nail up the flag. A nine-year-old boy was the first to volunteer.
He climbed like a monkey up to the place where the pole was so
slender that it bent under even his slight weight; the flag was attached,
and Keene's celebration carried on in an especially festive mood.
A war economy was soon felt in the town, where all efforts were
bent toward the conduct of the war and the support of the army in
the field. Food and clothing were gathered by state order to be sent
to the front, and Keene was one of the depots of supply. Paper currency issued during the emergency, not backed by sufficient capital,
failed to gain the confidence of the people, and depreciated in value.
Prices rose. The legislature was unable to check the inflationary spiral.
Goods became scarce and life more difficult during the severe winters
of the war years. Efforts to foster Keene industry were initiated, including one to manufacture firearms and another to produce wire in Keene,
but they lacked the money, raw materials, and trained artisans
needed for such enterprises. The hardships at home made army enlistments difficult, in spite of possible invasion from Canada by General Burgoyne's forces. Bounties were offered to soldiers in everything from money to a new suit of clothes, and Keene served as a
27
recruiting station. "Keene Street" (as Main Street was then called)
resounded with the tramping feet of patriots and the rub-a-dub of the
recruiter's drum. Though a draft was finally authorized by the state,
Keene men had continued voluntarily to join companies called into
action whenever an immediate need presented itself. Such a militia
unit marched toward Ticonderoga from this area in May 1777 and
was discharged when the danger seemed past, only to be called out
again in June, when the unit marched to Bennington and saw action
under the command of General John Stark in August. Keene, located
on the principal military road to Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga,
was frequently visited by troops on their marches to and from the
frontier during the period of war operations in the north.
Amid the fear of invasion, an attack upon Royalton, Vt., in 1780
by British and Indians and increased activity on the part of local
Tories prompted authorities to move against the dissenting element.
Fines were imposed on some of the Tory party, while other members
were committed to the rough log jail erected in 1772 near the pillory
and whipping post (corner of the present Emerald Street). The most
notorious Tories, including Dr. Pomeroy, fled to the protection of the
British and to Canada. In 1778 the property of some of the most
noted Tories was confiscated by the state, their estates being settled
as if the owners were dead. Breed Batcheller of Packersfield, Dr.
Josiah Pomeroy, Elijah Williams, Thomas Cutler (or Cutter), Eleazer
Sanger, and Robert Gilmore of Keene suffered this fate. Dr. Pomeroy's elegant home was later granted to Revolutionary hero General
James Reed.
Despite the problems at home and at the war front, the spirit of
the people was good and rose at news of the victory at Bennington
in August 1777. A call was extended to the Rev. Aaron Hall of
Connecticut in December 1777. He was ordained on February 18,
1778, and served the Keene church for almost 40 years. The local
pulpit had been vacant for almost six years and had been supplied by
visiting clergy and candidates.
Courts were reestablished under authority of the State of New
Hampshire in 1778, and with the passing of the threat of invasion
from Canada and the shifting of the field of military operation to
the south, community life in Keene began to function once again. A
canal (at the later site of the Faulkner and Colony Mills) had been
dug in 1775, providing a new industrial location nearer the village.
Popular resentment against Tories flared up again once or twice,
inspired in part by the hardships and privations of the war. It was
28
believed that the Loyalists were secretly supplying the British, a
rumor that aroused extremists to move against Keene Tories. A band
led by Captain Elisha Mack of Gilsum descended on Keene to punish
the supposed offenders in May 1779. Entering the village at sunrise,
the mob went from house to house seizing Tories, searching cellars
for provisions, and greatly alarming the town. The militia was notified
and assembled on the Green facing Captain Mack who had his men
drawn up near the present railroad tracks. Colonel Alexander demanded to know if the invader intended to carry out the object of his
illegal assembly. "I do," replied Mack, "at the hazard of my life."
"Then," thundered Colonel Alexander, "you must prepare for eternity, for you shall not be permitted to take vengeance in this irregular
mode on any men, even if they are Tories." Such a resolute speech,
backed by arms, cooled the ardor of many. The militia retired to the
Meetinghouse, and the invaders, having released their prisoners from
confinement in Hall's tavern nearby, marched silently toward Gilsum.
Along the route the women of Keene furnished noisy accompaniment
by beating on pans and kettles until the mob had disappeared from
view. A popular ballad soon made the rounds, beginning with the
lines:
Upon the thirty-first of May,
appeared in Keene, at break of day,
A mob, both bold and stout;
Great Captain Mack of Gilsum town
Had gathered them and brought them
To rout the Tories out.
While life in Keene regained something resembling its normal
balance and the Revolution was drawing to a close, the inflation
caused by the war was such that in 1780 it was voted to appropriate
2,000 pounds for the schools, 5,000 pounds for mending roads, and
to adjust Rev. Hall's salary in consequence of the great depreciation
of the currency. In 1782 in partial payment of his salary, the town
voted a parsonage on West Street (site of the present Keene Public
Library). The roof of the dwelling (erected in 1783) was raised on a
Friday by special order of Rev. Hall, to discourage superstition.
Nearby he cultivated an extensive garden with much care.
John Balch established the first regular mail route in 1781 as
postrider from Portsmouth by way of Haverhill, Concord, Plymouth,
and Charlestown. Daniel Newcomb, a talented lawyer who had come
to Keene in 1778, was active in political affairs and represented the
29
town at a Walpole convention in 1781, at another held in Charlestown, and at the state's Constitutional Convention, where he acted as
chairman of a committee to draft a state constitution in 1791-92.
At the end of hostilities the young country experienced severe
economic trials. There was no power to collect taxes, pay soldiers, or
settle the debts created by years of war. Paper money became worthless and the people found themselves too poor to make roads, build
bridges, or erect dwellings. Citizens of Keene lived largely on what
they could grow themselves and make with their own hands. Professional men were forced to barter their services for foodstuffs to support themselves and their families. Many were imprisoned for debt.
In October 1783 the gaoler, Dan Guild, and unhappy inmates of the
Keene jail petitioned for extension of the limits of their confinement
or jail yard to include a part of the town itself where they might find
employment to pay some of their debts. Discontent and disillusion
crept into many minds because the fruits of freedom had turned bitter.
In western Massachusetts an open rebellion led by Daniel Shays
broke out in 1786.
A petition from Keene in 1782 was addressed to authorities of
the state requesting some means of relief, especially for permission
that livestock, produce, and the like be made legal tender. In addition to the problems of readjusting to a peace-time economy another
difficult question faced Keene and its neighbors.
Increasingly as the area along both sides of the Connecticut
River had become more populated, the status of that rich and desirable domain beyond the river itself became a concern. Even prior to
1741 New Hampshire had assumed it was part of her territory. Royal
Governor Benning Wentworth had gone so far as to grant a town
there named after himself, Bennington, in 1749, as well as to give
grants to more than 100 other similar townships. New York, also
claiming the area, authorized settlement in some of the townships already granted by New Hampshire. The growing unrest and even
violence over the disputed territory had inspired settlers to band together in groups of "Green Mountain Boys" to protect their homes
and rights. These groups acted as patriots during the Revolution,
while the majority of New York claimants leaned to Tory sympathies.
Since Cheshire County lay so close at hand, its towns could not help
being drawn into the dispute. When the people across the river declared themselves an independent republic under the name of "New
Connecticut, alias Vermont," not a few towns to the east were inclined
to join with them, claiming that New Hampshire was too far away to
30
be of any practical service. Actually during this period New Hampshire civil affairs were unsettled. Keene was divided in sentiment but
named delegates to conventions called to discuss the new state.
Vermont's first assembly at Windsor in 1778 saw 16 towns east
of the Connecticut represented, though not Keene, where citizens remembered earlier problems with boundary lines. As a whole they
remained loyal to New Hampshire. Several conventions were held by
delegates from the towns most concerned, and Keene sent representatives to most of them. Much of Cheshire County except Keene, Swanzey, and Winchester seemed to favor union with Vermont. Officials
in the new state claimed jurisdiction over the entire contested region,
including Keene, and even issued warrants for local elections. Isaac
Wyman and Ezra Stiles actually represented the town in the Vermont
legislature. Authorities in Vermont tried to take possession of county
records and affairs, lay taxes, and appoint judges. This inspired a
lively quarrel. The new state's legislative assembly held a session on
New Hampshire soil in 1781 at Charlestown and this caused great
excitement. A New Hampshire regiment on its way to reinforce Washington's army was ordered by the New Hampshire Committee of
Safety to march to Charlestown instead. A serious situation might
have arisen had not word been received that the new state might be
recognized and received into the Federal Union provided it give up
all connections with New Hampshire towns and also return the area
annexed from New York State.
Clashes between officials of Cheshire County and Washington
County, Vt., which covered the same territory continued, however, to
the point of calling out militia by both New Hampshire and Vermont
in order to establish their jurisdiction. A number of supposed New
Hampshire officials were arrested and jailed under Vermont authority.
New Hampshire responded by arresting Vermont men, some of whom
were released by partisans. Colonel Samuel King of Vermont was
rescued in Keene by a mob of his friends as he was being conveyed
to an Exeter jail, and the mob later visited the Chesterfield homes of
those favorable to New Hampshire and maltreated the occupants. As
the situation grew more tense and a force was being drafted to take
up arms, General George Washington responded to a letter from Vermont Governor Chittenden by suggesting that if Vermont claimed
only the land in her own original limits, Congress might acknowledge
her independence. Thus on the motion of Ezra Stiles of Keene, the
Vermont legislature resolved in February 1782 "that this House do
judge the Articles of Union between the New Hampshire towns and
31
Vermont completely dissolved." However, fires of the feud continued
to burn for some time. A mob came to Keene to prevent a sitting of
the Inferior Court in September 1782. Captain Samuel Davis of
Chesterfield entered the court room, approached the clerk, and laying
his hand on the official docket, forbade the court to act. The session
was adjourned, and supporters of both sides quickly assembled on the
Green in front of the Meetinghouse. Outnumbered, the Vermont faction soon melted away and the court reopened in the afternoon.
Later in October as General John Sullivan and his party approached Keene to hold a session of the Superior Court they were informed that the town was full of people determined to prevent the
session, at which were to appear some of the offenders of the September affair. Sullivan halted his party for a consultation. The resourceful
judge then called for his dress uniform of a major general. When,
resplendent in full military attire, he rode into Keene's principal street
on his powerful grey horse no one offered resistance. A number loyal
to New Hampshire rode out to meet him and were his honor guard
to the Meetinghouse through the groups of sullen men. Sullivan, a
man of dignified and commanding stature, seated himself with great
composure, took off his cocked hat, and laid it on the table. Unbuckling his sword, he laid it beside his hat, then suddenly took up
the sword and half drew the blade. The crowd stirred, but Sullivan
replaced the sword and rebuked the unruly for their attempt to interfere with the administration of justice. A petition presented to him
by those present was read after which the people were sternly directed to withdraw. The following morning Sullivan in civilian dress
announced that the large number of cases before the court could not
all be tried in the time allotted to the session and such as were not
yet ready to be heard would be continued. This satisfied those present,
who sent up a shout of approval.
Such action as this on the part of those most responsible for the
conduct of affairs and the patience exhibited by the more influential
on both sides went a long way to cool tempers and prevent the border
situation from becoming critical. The whole problem was resolved
without bloodshed, with Keene playing her part to soothe feelings on
both sides. More stable times, a more efficient government, and confidence in the principles of the new administration spelled an end to
these local disputes and helped foster increased domestic prosperity.
32
PART IV: 1784-1800
The end of the American Revolution brought peace and security
never before enjoyed in the western New Hampshire townships. There
were still wild animals lurking in the nearby forests, but organized
hunts were clearing out the bears and other dangerous animals. A
bounty of 40 shillings on wolves was offered in 1782. One wolf was
trapped in Keene as late as 1789, and for even a longer period they
continued to menace sheep.
New families arrived in the village, homes were built, mills
erected, and local organizations strengthened. The town that greeted
homecoming soldiers weary from the hardships of war was no longer
a rude frontier settlement, but a growing community enjoying nearly
all of the advantages of life common to New England in that era. The
whole of Cheshire County developed rapidly, a prosperous region of
farms and infant industry inhabited by a thrifty class of husbandmen
and clever mechanics. The town of Sullivan was incorporated in 1787
despite opposition at the loss of several families and 1,920 acres from
Keene's territory. Other land to the east was lost, again under protest,
when Roxbury was incorporated in 1812 from 1,472 acres of Keene
as well as sections from Packersfield (Nelson) and Marlborough.
While most citizens were anxious to get back to the routine of
work to improve their standard of living, a few still harbored resentment against the Tories who had fled during the war. Under the terms
of the treaty of peace with Great Britain those loyal to the Crown
were to be permitted to return to settle their affairs. When Tory lawyer
Elijah Williams turned up at Keene early in 1784 he faced threats
from the more zealous Whigs. Probably a number of them still owed
him money and were seeking a means of escape from a settlement.
Williams had to be placed in the custody of the sheriff for his own
protection. Even this did not insure his safety. He was seized and
carried to a tavern in Ash Swamp, where vengeance was prepared.
More considerate citizens soon gathered and attempted to arbitrate
the matter, which was resolved with the escape of Williams, though
not before a few heads had been cracked. The incident was somewhat
unusual in the generally quiet township where law and order were
maintained by the sheriff and his sworn deputies, although the militia
might be called out in emergencies.
A new meetinghouse was proposed in November 1784 and plans
33
were drawn up for its construction. A wooden jail was erected in
1785 on the site of the town pound at the corner of the present Washington and Mechanic Streets, and a work or poorhouse was established in 1790. The whipping post and pillory were moved from Main
Street to the street which soon became known as Prison Street (now
Washington Street). These grim signs of Puritan justice disappeared
soon afterwards, but a jail remained on this spot until 1884. Although
punishment was less severe in some respects than formerly, imprisonment for debt was still occasionally enforced, and Ebenezer Barden of
Stoddard died in the jail on November 3, 1806, having been confined
some time for debt. Both whipping post and pillory were occasionally
used, and a form of branding criminals with a permanent mark was
practiced in Keene as late as 1795.
The new meetinghouse, with a tower at the west end where a
bell was first hung in 1792, was dedicated on October 29, 1788. The
architect and master builder was Benjamin Archer and the 70 x 50
foot frame was raised in June 1786 by a large throng, who made of
the event a gala social gathering enhanced by a bountiful supply of
rum. The main entrance where public announcements and notices of
marriage intentions were posted was on the south facing the Green
and Main Street. Within the church a broad aisle led to the pulpit
opposite the door. The pulpit was built in the form of a huge wine
glass, accessible by circular stairs on either side, and over it was sus34
pended a dome-shaped sounding board. Although 63 pews on the
main floor and 25 in the gallery were sold at public auction in 1785,
before construction, and realized a total of 849 pounds, or about
$3,000 (mostly paid in cattle), the building project was not accomplished without financial difficulties and shortages.
The unpainted box pews, about seven feet square, and each
seating eight persons were enclosed, had doors, and were topped by
spindle balustrades a foot high. They were furnished by the individual
families, the appointments reflecting the social standing of their owners, as did their position and distance from the pulpit. Since there was
no provision for heat, the high partitions and doors helped combat
drafts and aided in the conservation of such warmth as might be
provided to each pew in winter by the family bringing from home (in
a tin foot warmer) a heated stone wrapped in cloth or live coals
from the hearth.
It was the custom in church at this period to stand during the
long prayers, the hinged seats being pushed upwards. At the close of
the prayer every worshiper would drop his unupholstered board seat
with a clatter that sounded like a volley of musketry. Sermons were
usually an hour or more in length, and two prayers were the normal
number at each of the two Sunday services. At the base of the pulpit
were deacons' seats and a hanging leaf that could be raised to become
a Communion table. Nearby was a cupboard for the elements of Communion; a pall or grave cloth to cover coffins at funerals was purchased in 1792. The elderly men sat facing the minister on long front
seats called the "old men's seats." In the gallery sat, among others,
servants, Negroes, and boys, as well as the singers, who had a section
reserved for them. Efforts to improve the quality of the singing were
made several times, and finally in 1806 the town voted six dollars
for musical instruction. Shortly thereafter certain musical instruments,
notably the bass viol, appeared among the musical equipment of the
church, but it was some years before a pipe organ was used in any
Keene house of worship.
Outside the church, where Ball's Block now stands, was a long
row of horse sheds built in 1789, and nearby was a single horse
block for the convenience of women and children in mounting. Those
coming into the village from Ash Swamp and more distant points
lacked time to return home during the one-hour intermission between
services and were usually entertained in the homes of friends in the
village. These gatherings were almost the only social contact farm
people had and made their visit to town an anticipated weekly adven35
ture for young and old alike. Order was maintained within the church
and in the village on Sunday by tithingmen whose long staff was a
badge of office. Tithingmen were elected each year at town meeting
until 1830.
In 1792 Thomas Wells, a hatter, owned the town's only vehicle
or carriage. Called a "chair," it was without a top and seated only two
persons. A short time later Judge Daniel Newcomb drove the town's
first chaise. The second one was owned by Rev. Aaron Hall. Almost
no one traveled any great distance; the condition of the roads and
the rude bridges made horseback the only practical means of transportation.
In 1787 William Lamson located his tannery on West Street.
Joseph Brown opened a store in competition with Abijah Foster's in
what is now West Keene. This area around the corner of the present
Hurricane Road and not far from Jesse Clark's mill and tavern was
also the location of a blacksmith shop, the pottery of Zebulon Neal &
Co. about 1794, as well as other small businesses, and was expected
by many to become the center or main site of the town in the future.
It might have been so had the meetinghouse not been built in the
east part of Keene where, in spite of the fact that only about 40
families lived in the vicinity of Main Street, business gradually centered. In 1786 Keene's total population was 1,122; by 1790 it was
1,314, including two slaves.
Some businesses, like Captain Wyman's tavern, a blacksmith
shop in the old fort, a few stores, and the school clung to the lower
Main Street region, where Keene had been first planted, and which
was sometimes called "court" or "gentlemen's end." However, with
the new church located up on the Common, stores sprang up in that
area, and Central Square took form with the increased activity and
construction.
When James Davenport Griffith established the first printing office in Keene and commenced publication of southwestern New
Hampshire's first newspaper, The New Hampshire Recorder and the
Weekly Advertiser on August 7, 1787, he located in the lower Main
Street area but soon moved northward. Though encouraged by "95
public-spirited customers" to bring the advantages of the press to
Keene, Griffith soon experienced difficulties obtaining materials, support, and payments for his newspaper, which was suspended in 1791.
One of his issues reported on the great tornado of August 1787 that
destroyed buildings and livestock and killed and injured a great number of townsfolk.
36
Griffith printed as a pamphlet Rev. Aaron Hall's oration commemorating New Hampshire's ratification of the United States Constitution and delivered at a civic celebration on June 30, 1788. This
was the first book published in Keene. Rev. Hall had been the town's
representative at the Exeter Convention to consider the proposed
Federal Constitution. In order for it to go into effect nine states had
to vote in the affirmative, and New Hampshire, on June 21, 1788,
was the ninth state to so act, thus creating the new Federal Union.
On the press he had carted from Boston Griffith also printed
Masonic orations, Rev. Hall's sermon against profane swearing, a military manual, and several miscellaneous pamphlets.
Alexander Ralston's inn was long a famous local meeting place.
It stood on the west side of Main Street at the corner of the present
Emerald Street. Across the street rose a series of business houses, and
these mechanics' and artisans' shops were known as Federal Row.
Moses Johnson had a general store just north of this area but later
moved to the other side of the street where the Buffum Block now
stands. Johnson carried on a varied business including a pearlash
works and a distillery near Castle Street. A distillery was an important community industry, since water as a beverage was seldom used
even by children in early New England.
The sharp and spicy advertisements of Moses Johnson and his
rivals in mercantile business filled many issues of the early newspapers while customers profited by the ensuing price wars. John F.
Vent, "goldsmith and jeweler from Europe," opened a business in
1793 which offered silver shoe, knee, and bridle buckles, and two
shoemakers from Lynn, Mass., Robert Spinney and John Newhall,
established themselves in town soon after 1794.
Daniel Newcomb was joined in the practice of law by Peleg
Sprague, who came to Keene and opened an office in 1787. He soon
built a fine house on the site of the present Colonial Theater. Newcomb was appointed judge of the Inferior Court in 1790, and in August 1798 Sprague became the first Keene resident to be elected to
Congress, although he served only until 1800. Samuel Hunt, later
a congressman, practiced law in Keene in the 1790's on the east side
of Main Street.
Several taverns did an active business not only for the accommodation of the occasional traveler but as centers for many local
meetings. Major Josiah Richardson's tavern stood on Pleasant Street
(now West Street) where he was in charge of Keene's first post office,
established in 1791. It is said that here the Duke of Kent, son of
37
George III and father of Queen Victoria, spent the night of February
4, 1794, on his way from Canada to Boston.
Aaron and Luther Eames took over Dr. Ziba Hall's tavern (site
of the later railroad engine house) on the east side of Main Street.
Opposite it the Asa and Mary Dunbar Tavern was erected in 1785,
and still stands as the Crystal Restaurant. After her husband's death
Mrs. Dunbar continued the tavern until 1795, when she sold it to
Daniel Watson and left for Concord, Mass., with her children. Her
daughter Cynthia, born in Keene on May 22, 1787, later became the
mother of famed writer, philosopher, and naturalist Henry David
Thoreau. Lemuel Chandler opened a tavern "at the sign of the Lyon
and the Brazen Ball nearly opposite the meetinghouse" on the corner
of the present Roxbury Street in 1788. Later it was called the Chandler House and was the site of the famous Cheshire House. The building had a large meeting hall located in the upper story, a flat roof,
and was painted yellow. When Chandler died this establishment came
into the hands of Dr. Thomas Edwards and was kept by him for many
years. Along its north side, presently Roxbury Street, stood a row of
Lombardy poplars.
Other taverns were located in West Keene, where about 1805
Colonel Abraham Wheeler opened what was known after 1814 as the
Sawyer Tavern. During sessions of court a group of talented attorneys
and lawyers made Shirtliff's hotel, the present Eagle Hotel, the center
of stimulating debate, witty conversation, and good eating. For the
traveler the tavern provided a welcome haven from the mud or dust
of the road, even though it was customary to sleep from four to six
or more persons in one room. To local folk taverns served as almost
the only social gathering places or clubs available dispensing food,
gossip, and strong drink. Almost every merchant had a license to sell
liquor which, together with the reported assortment of gamblers,
created what amounted in some minds to a social scandal in places
of public entertainment. The newspaper decried drinking, gambling,
and horse racing as "fashionable vices."
Pioneer textile industries, such as fulling mills for the treatment
of cloth, were in operation on several brooks, but power looms were
still unknown. A tailor advertised in Keene, but most cloth was still
spun and woven by hand at home.
The first town meeting to choose electors for the office of President of the United States and three members of Congress was held
on December 15, 1788, at which electors favorable to George Washington and John Adams wore selected.
38
Israel Houghton and Lockhart Willard were teaching private
schools in 1789; Mrs. Ruth Kidder taught one in 1791. A public exhibition by Willard's pupils was held at the Court House in June 1789,
and at another in September George Lilla's drama, "The Tragedy of
George Barnwell," was performed, probably the first play given in
Keene. Proceeds of the event went to buy books for the library that
had been established, the first reference to such an institution in
Keene. Nothing else is known of this literary venture; another pioneer
library was briefly mentioned in the Keene press during 1795.
Prior to 1793 Judge Newcomb realized the need for schools of a
higher order, and established a "grammar school," sometimes known
as "Judge Newcomb's School." This school was to be taught by a man
with a college education and was supported by the tuition of the students. The first teacher was John Peter Ware, a Dartmouth College
graduate of 1792, who was known for his "hickory stick" discipline.
Tuition was 12 1/2 cents a week, with a small additional charge for
those learning to write. Rev. Aaron Hall reported 12 school buildings
in the whole town in 1794 with an enrollment of 300 pupils. In 1795
Asa Bullard Jr. was a teacher. He later became a respected educator
and physician in Boston. For almost a century a schoolhouse stood
on Main Street at the site of the present Keene State College's Spaulding Gymnasium. By 1790 town support for schools amounted to 100
pounds and this was doubled in 1795. Frequently teachers were students earning money between terms at college, and if the scholastic
progress was somewhat uncertain, so too were the methods and equipment.
The construction of mill dams on the Ashuelot and neighboring
streams cut off the supply of salmon and shad which swam up the
Connecticut and its tributaries each spring. This raised a complaint at
town meeting in 1790, and inspectors were appointed to check dams
and sluices. On the Connecticut River a busy commerce traveled by
boat; a canal with locks was constructed at Bellows Falls. River transport was popular and profitable until railroads and improved roads
put an end to this slower mode of transportation.
Keene's second newspaper, also published by James D. Griffith,
was called The Cheshire Advertiser. It was issued from January 5,
1792, until toward the end of the year, when Griffith left Keene. He
was succeeded by the firm of Henry Blake and Co. which began publication of The Columbian Informer or Cheshire Journal on April 4,
1793. Henry Blake's death in March 1795 cut short the life of this
printing firm, which had made of Keene "that busy center for the
39
production of chapbooks." The business was purchased by Cornelius
Sturtevant Jr., a journeyman printer who had learned his craft as an
apprentice in the Keene printing office, and he began publication of
a weekly, The Rising Sun, on August 11, 1795. His firm also produced
pamphlets, orations, sermons, and the only foreign language book
known from a Keene press, Elegia de Originale Peccato, printed in
1795
Several neighboring towns were rivals for first place in Cheshire
County during these years. Westmoreland, Chesterfield, Richmond,
and especially Walpole enjoyed a larger population and property
valuation, and bid fair to outshine Keene in position as well as wealth.
It may have been partly to outflank her neighbors that Keene acquired a larger church bell weighing 1,000 pounds in 1794 and began
subscription for a town clock, proposed earlier but not possible until
a craftsman had set up clockmaking as a local industry. Luther Smith
agreed to build and maintain a tower clock for 10 years for the sum
of 36 pounds. This was accepted and the first town clock, with a single
dial facing south, was installed that year in the new meetinghouse.
On his way to study law in Charlestown Joseph Dennie, who later
attained fame as editor of the Walpole weekly newspaper and writer
of merit, had his first view of Keene in December 1790. He wrote
"Keene is a populous village, situated in a valley surrounded on all
sides by lofty hills. The houses are built in two rows, so as to form
a street, which extends for one half a mile at the end of which, a very
handsome parish church agreably [sic] terminates the view. Much
business is done in Keene, there are several stores and shops for
merchants and tradesmen, three lawyers' offices, and a printer's press
whence a Hampshire Gazette is weekly issued."
Mail arrived in Keene by postriders, and proposals for establishment of a stage line were considered in 1792, but the plan was
not carried out. From two-week delivery, mail service improved to
weekly delivery by 1795, when Captain Asa Bullard was appointed
the first postmaster under the new United States Government, with
the office at his "coffee house" on what is now the south corner of
Main and Dunbar Streets. For many years post office business was
conducted at different spots wherever the postmaster happened to
operate a tavern or store. Leaving Boston on Wednesday morning,
the rider arrived in Keene Thursday and traveled on to Charlestown
the next day. Passing through Keene again on Saturday morning, he
delivered mail to Boston on Monday morning. Except when snow permitted the use of a rough sleigh, all mail service and most travel were
40
still on horseback.
The Prison Street Cemetery ground was opened in 1795, after
which the old lower Main Street graveyard was all but abandoned.
Among colonial customs which were fast falling out of use was
that of "warning out" newly-arrived persons in the community. Newcomers were served with a warning to move on, partly as a defensive
measure by the original proprietors and also as a means of avoiding
public support should the new arrivals fall on hard times and apply
for aid. Frequently, however, such persons were later valuable and
even important citizens despite their strange reception.
A certain Monsieur Bellerieve offered to teach a private school
entirely in French in 1796, but his career was a short one, as he soon
ran into debt and absconded, leaving an unpaid lodging bill among
other obligations. Rachel Bill's private school of 31 pupils was probably typical in size of such institutons in Keene. A fife and drum music
school was held during 1796, and a dancing school enjoyed success
during the winter of 1798-99. Another, under Dana Parks, was conducted in November 1807 and the first evening classes in town were
held during the autumn of 1802 at Wells' Hall, formerly Bullard's Coffee House. The town appropriated $500 for schools in 1797. Private
education was offered by Phineas Cooke in 1809, and a Mr. Durand,
who taught French and also offered fencing and sword exercise instruction. Durand was accused of being a French spy by the Walpole
weekly, The Farmer's Museum, and he soon disappeared from the
local scene, although just what spying activities he could have engaged in were never made clear.
Proposals for a new court house were considered in 1795. Alexander Ralston, the wealthiest man in town, made an attempt to have
the new building located on Main Street opposite Federal Row and
his tavern, but it was finally decided to build it near the location of
the older one. Property was purchased bordering Major Richardson's
open land on the unoccupied west side of the present Central Square,
and the town provided the site for as long as court should be held
there. Erected in 1796, the new building was also to be used for town
meetings. However, certain county offices had not yet located in
Keene. The registry of deeds, for example, remained in Walpole until
about 1813.
Although Rev. Aaron Hall was personally liked and respected, a
tax for the support of the established Congregational Society in Keene
which had been required since colonial days was not universally appreciated. It was challenged in 1797 by Dr. Ziba Hall, who claimed
41
to be a Universalist. The selectmen supported the established church
and fought Dr. Hall's suit to recover his church tax. A sharp controversy followed, but on the grounds that the Universalists were not
a recognized denomination, the court ruled against Dr. Hall, and he
was forced to pay the required sum, as were several pioneer Baptists
a few years later. The legislature soon recognized Universalists and
other religious denominations, and compulsory support of the Congregational Church ended. The minister was still paid by the town, which
retained a voice in church affairs and provided the pastor's winter
supply of firewood, as in colonial times. At the annual "bee" held in
February 1801 to cut the Rev. Hall's wood, from the lot set aside for
that purpose, local citizens delivered 40 cords to his house. It was
Rev. Hall who communicated basic facts about Keene to Rev. Jeremy
Belknap in September 1790 for Belknap's famous history of New
Hampshire.
By 1797 the new federal monetary system had been accepted,
and the sums raised by the town in that year were expressed in dollars
and cents for the first time. Rev. Hall's salary was $500, the same
amount that was authorized for the schools and repair of highways.
Merchants slowly adopted the new system, although pounds, shillings,
and pence continued to be known for some years.
Newspaper publication in Keene was at a low ebb after 1798,
when the Sturtevant firm shifted its interest to a Putney, Vt., weekly,
The Argus. A young Boston-trained printer working at Leominster,
Mass., heard of an opening in Keene and came to negotiate with the
creditors of the business. John Prentiss struck a bargain with Deacon
Abijah Wilder, and with the help of Daniel Newcomb, he became
proprietor of the Keene printing office. With an old screw press, scant
equipment, and one assistant, young Prentiss spent his 21st birthday
setting type by hand for The New Hampshire Sentinel. The paper was
issued to 75 subscribers on March 23, 1799. The total cash assets of
the new venture amounted to five dollars. Within six months Prentiss
had attracted 250 readers at a subscription of $1.50 a year, which
was paid in wood, butter, cheese, and grain as well as cash. In 1802
Prentiss opened the first book store in Keene. His job printing business
began with an almanac for the year 1800 and later comprised a
variety of publications, including school texts and psalm books.
The winter 1799-1800 was one of the most severe on record
with snow frequently two feet deep and all roads blocked for days.
Yet it took only 12 days for news of the death of George Washington
to arrive on December 26. Abijah Wilder Jr., then only 15 years old,
42
climbed to the church tower and tolled the bell all night. The following day the flag, draped in mourning, was flown at half-staff, and the
bell tolled again until four o'clock in the afternoon. In January 1800
a committee met to plan the civic memorial services to be held on
February 22, the national day of mourning. Citizens assembled in
somber dress at 10 o'clock and marched with muffled drums to the
crepe-decorated church for religious services, including an oration and
vocal selections by a choral group. A company of militia and cavalry
formed an honor guard, and among the mourners were members of the
Rising Sun Lodge of Masons paying their respects to a brother Mason.
The Masonic organization in Keene had begun in 1784, formed
under authority of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Asa Dunbar
was the first Master, and meetings were held in the Ralston Tavern. A
New Hampshire charter for the Rising Sun Lodge was obtained in
1792, and in 1797 the first Masonic Hall was built near Federal Row
on Main Street (at the corner of what is now Dunbar Street). On the
ground floor of the building were business establishments, including a
large shoe manufactory. This building in later years was moved to
Court Street, where it is a dwelling at No. 110.
Perhaps the most celebrated among the first Masons in Keene
was Thomas Smith Webb, the town's first bookbinder, who after leaving Keene in 1796 became an important official and compiler of
Masonic ritual.
43
PART V: 1801-1815
In 1801 the village of Keene contained about 100 houses and
shops, a meetinghouse, a court house, a jail, and a population of
1,645. A traveler passing through Keene in 1800 wrote, "We came
into the beautiful compact town of Keene; I was pleas'd with the new
prospect; it is composed of elegant houses neatly finished and painted.
There is a large Congregational meetinghouse and a court house in
this town, the land good and very level for some ways round."
Central Square had not yet taken full form, but with the Meetinghouse at the head of a broad and grass-grown street, often called
simply "Keene Street," the prospect could not but attract comment.
In 1793 Rev. William Bentley of Salem, Mass., was impressed "by
the appearance of trade and prosperity" in the village but considered
that the lack of uniformity in building gave the business section a
scattered appearance. Most of the buildings were small wooden structures, with a few more impressive ones of brick beginning to make
their appearance. A store operated on the east side of the Square by
1800, but most business was located further down Main Street beyond
the Chandler House.
In the spring of 1799 the first known veterinarian, Cyrus Palmer,
a Negro, visited Keene and advertised that he would attend sick and
disabled horses for a few weeks. As early as 1793 Michael Bird advertised as a barber, but around 1807 Adolphus Wright became the
town's first permanently settled wigmaker and hairdresser, although
powdered wigs had gone out of fashion for men and were never very
popular in rural districts.
Local craftsmen made and sold a wide selection of goods including rakes, scythe-snaths (handles), chairs, clocks, books, saddle and
leather goods, nails, spinning wheel parts, furniture, and iron utensils.
Many storekeepers sold tickets in one or another of the lotteries, then
a popular way to raise money for bridges, canals, and even Harvard
College.
Keene had at least three who were called "doctor" to look after
the health of the population as much as their limited training permitted. Patent medicines, herbs, and remedies were sold in local apothecary shops. A proposed hospital, sponsored by Dr. Jonas Prescott in
1792, was turned down by the voters who remembered their unfortunate experience earlier during the smallpox epidemic of 1776.
44
Along the brooks and streams were tanneries as well as numerous
saw, grist, and fulling mills, powered by water wheels. Before the days
of quick transportation each town usually produced just about everything it needed. The exchange of produce for purchases was common
practice. Keene was as self-sufficient a community as any in New
England, although several general stores provided goods not available
from local craftsmen.
It was still the custom to allow horses, cattle, and hogs to run at
large; the long expanse of Main Street was sometimes called "Keene
long pasture" and was even used as a race course. The town pound
provided a valuable service holding stray animals of every description
rounded up from the business district. A town law forbidding livestock to run free was put into effect in 1809, after complaints were
aired on the condition of the street and Common, but it was nearly
20 years before the situation was fully corrected. Many civic services
were still lacking, although "Fire Wards" were appointed in 1794, as
well as an inspector of measures. The principal streets in town included Main Street, or simply "Keene" or "Town" Street; Pleasant,
later Mill Street (West Street) ; Prison or sometimes Jail Street (Washington Street); Walpole Road (School Street, and later part of Court
Street); Packersfield Road (Water Street) ; Frog Lane (Church
Street); Cross Street (laid out in 1787), and the Boston Road (Baker
Street). Almost none of the others now known had yet been opened.
As the new century commenced many signs of progress appeared
in Keene. The Third New Hampshire Turnpike Corporation, chartered in December 1799, held its first meeting in Keene in February
1800, and planned a highway to run from Boston by way of New
Ipswich, Jaffrey, Marlborough, Keene, and Walpole, through to Bellows Falls. It opened an important communications link to the village,
coming into Keene by way of the older Walpole Road along Court
Street, which was opened at its present entrance to the Square in
1808. The Court House was moved back to stand on the west side of
the present Central Square. Also the course of the Boston Road was
altered to open the present Marlboro Street through to Main Street,
with one of the toll gates located at the intersection. Mail service
along the new highway improved, as did travel conveniences. Another
highway, the Branch Turnpike, a new route toward Boston by way of
Troy and Fitzwilliam, was projected in 1803. As a part of its construction the first permanent bridge was erected across the Branch at the
lower end of Main Street and financed in part by the town. In 1805
this road was opened to the north through Surry, Drewsville, and
45
Charlestown along the Cheshire Turnpike. Beginning in 1803 a stage
line operated from Boston twice a week, and the village found itself
one of the crossroads of two important highways. One-day stage service from Boston was a great advance in 1807. The stage left Boston
at four o'clock in the morning and arrived in Keene at eight o'clock
that same evening.
However, even with the new highways, during "mud season" and
after a heavy rain roads and village streets were all but impassable.
In 1803 a plank walk, the first sidewalk in town, was laid along
Pleasant Street from the Meetinghouse to the mill sites owned by
Luther Smith, where Francis Faulkner and Josiah Colony later established a woolen mill in 1815.
The Cheshire Bank received its state charter in December 1803,
and the following May the corporation was organized with Daniel
Newcomb as president and Elijah Dunbar as cashier. Keene's first
bank opened in Dr. Edwards' tavern, but a brick building, one of the
first such structures in town, was soon erected on Main Street (near
the present railroad crossing). The upper floor was used as a hall and
occasionally as a school. Though the bank was never robbed, there
were several attempts made on the vault—in June 1816 by unknown
persons, in August 1822 by two men who broke jail soon after their
arrest, in June 1825 by a pair who later tried to burn down the jail,
and in July 1847 shortly before the brick bank was removed to make
way for the erection of the railroad station.
Each Fourth of July was celebrated by a military review, a
parade, an oration, religious services, and a banquet climaxed by the
drinking of many toasts. The Ashuelot Cavalry was organized in this
period, and the Keene Light Infantry was formed about 1804. Companies of militia in the region became proud participants at musters
and reviews. Colorful uniforms and standards added a festive note at
civic celebrations and as honor escorts for the governor and other
important visitors to the town. The annual muster became a regional
holiday, with a sharp spirit of competition between units. The Westmoreland Light Infantry and Keene's company were especially brisk
rivals. At the 1810 event a 14-piece band provided music, the first
recorded military band to appear in Keene.
Business was good in Keene during the first years of the 19th
century. Farms were widely cultivated and frame houses were replacing earlier cabin homes. The course of the Town Brook was altered
to flow into Beaver Brook rather than across Main Street at the old
causeway, and the work of covering it commenced. Still, at about this
46
ti me, Harry Willard, riding in a huge potash kettle, could paddle
across Main Street from a point near the present Newberry Block. In
1806 Samuel Euers established carriage and chaise-making as a local
industry. A road running toward Beech Hill from the Common was
finally authorized, and after the incorporation of Roxbury in 1812
it became known as Roxbury Street.
William King advertised in February 1806 that he was in town
for a few days to take "profile likenesses" (silhouettes). Except for
traveling artists no pictures or portraits were possible, although a few
of the prominent citizens traveled to Boston to sit for painters.
The Keene Engine Company was formed in 1808, the first organization of a fire-fighting unit in town equipped with a fire engine,
although a similar company had been proposed in 1806.
Captain William Wyman, fifth son of Revolutionary soldier and
tavern keeper Colonel Isaac Wyman, returned about 1805 to Keene
from the sea with a fortune, and built the brick store, now the southern
part of the Eagle Hotel Block.
Clockmaker Luther Smith built the northern end about 1806, and
the two sections were later connected. The local Masons had their
meeting place in the building for a time. North of his father's tavern
Captain Wyman built of native brick, around 1810, one of the finest
homes in Keene. Just before the work was completed Captain Wyman
died, and tradition claims that his ghost once haunted the home he
never lived to enjoy. Another local ghost was reported in Captain
Daniel Bradford's elegant home erected about this time in West Keene
(now No. 70 Bradford Road). Samuel Dinsmoor, a prominent lawyer
and civic leader, had come to Keene to study law under Peleg Sprague,
who advised him to make Keene his permanent residence. In 1811
Dinsmoor was elected to Congress and was governor of the state at a
later time. Elijah Parker began the practice of law at Keene in 1813.
His son Charles Edward Parker, a Boston architect, later designed
several Keene buildings.
Cultural activities increased. The Social Library, a subscription
organization in which borrowers paid for the privilege of membership,
was incorporated on June 12, 1801. The price of shares was set at
four dollars in 1808. Rev. Aaron Hall served as librarian, and the
collection was housed at the parsonage on Pleasant Street (site of the
present Keene Public Library). Small circulating collections were also
operated by religious societies, as well as by John Prentiss at his bookstore, where terms were six cents per volume for one week and two
cents a day thereafter.
47
A traveling wax-works show visited Keene for a few days in
July 1797, and in September 1801 there was another show in town
displaying tableaux, foreign curios, pictures, a musical clock, and historical figures and scenes. In July 1808 a company of professional
players presented an evening of recitations, comic and serious, called
the "Festival of Reason."
Dr. Amos Twitchell, who studied under Dr. Nathan Smith, head
of the medical school at Dartmouth College, and who became his
assistant, moved to Keene from Marlborough in 1810. His skill as a
surgeon was proved by a rare operation in 1807 during which he tied
the carotid artery, perhaps the first such operation in the nation. In
1811 Keene doctors joined in the formation of the Western District of
the New Hampshire Medical Society organized at Charlestown. Not
every physician was qualified, however, and one who advertised in
Keene during 1815 was a quack who was hauled into court to answer
for his so-called "cures."
With few outside contacts, local events added drama and interest
to village life. When several of Keene's "gay blades" stole one of the
historic cannon of colonial days from Walpole's Main Street in the
spring of 1807, it raised the indignation of that town against Keene,
and the affair was followed by all with avid interest. As only Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Walpole, and Charlestown could boast such ordnance and fired them triumphantly on days of public rejoicing such as
the Fourth of July, inhabitants of nearby towns which had no such
relics were jealous of this privilege. Return of the cannon was demanded by court action. Attempts to arrest the culprits proved unsuccessful and only added to the general excitement. One of the
Walpole citizens aiding the sheriff had a good idea of the identity of
the person for whom he was looking, and concealed himself to await
his quarry's return home. Dr. Daniel Adams, a respected physician,
noticed the hidden watcher, and discovering that he himself had been
seen but not recognized, led the pursuer a merry chase through woods
and swampland to his own doorstep, thus preventing the real culprit
from being captured. In the end several of the guilty were arrested
and brought to court, but the judge ruled that the cannon was not
the exclusive property of Walpole, and set the defendants free. The
cannon was immediately drawn up before the Court House and fired.
"May it please your honors," Lawyer-for-the-defense Vose said as the
echoes reverberated through Keene Valley, "the case is already
reported."
Walpole was not so easily defeated. Two years later, learning
48
that the cannon was hidden in a granary near Main Street, a group
laid an elaborate plan to restore it to Walpole. About 30 young men
ventured into Keene late on the night of July 4, 1809, but as the first
movement of the cannon made a terrible noise, the church bell was
rung and an alarm raised. Men began to gather in the street as the
Walpole party worked desperately to procure the heavy cannon. Finally, after lifting the piece to their wagon, the Walpole invaders
made their escape and were greeted as heroes by their fellow townsmen at daybreak with the ringing of the church bell. The members of
the Keene posse, riding after the fleeing wagon, might have overtaken
it had they not turned off on a wrong road; whether by accident or
design was never determined, though the rumors of deliberately following the wrong road were hotly denied. Rivalry between towns on
this and other occasions kept local spirits high and a subject for conversation always fresh at hand.
Although isolated in a large measure, Keene was not unaware of
happenings in the world at large. It shared with the whole eastern
United States the wonder of a total eclipse of the sun on June 16,
1806, and the terror of two minor earthquakes in 1817. After the
establishment of The New Hampshire Sentinel in 1799, Keene people
could read of national and international events even though information traveled slowly and might not reach the columns of John Prentiss' paper until weeks or even months after the event.
In late 1799 the threat of war with France excited the nation,
and Keene became a recruiting station once again. During the summer of 1807 outrages committed against American seamen by the
British so aroused the citizens of Keene that as soon as the President
called for 100,000 militia to be raised and held in readiness, the independent military companies and Ashuelot Cavalry voted unanimously
to volunteer in a body.
The effects of President Jefferson's policy of "nonintercourse and
embargo," which forbade American ships to trade in foreign ports,
had strong reaction throughout New England. Prices of imported
goods rose, and many articles which had come to be looked upon as
necessities of life could not be had at any price. Along the New England coast the active shipping industry was temporarily ruined. During September 1808 a six-horse wagon, carrying an estimated $50,000
in gold and silver, passed through Keene on its way from Boston to
Montreal to purchase bills of exchange on London. In six months'
time about $1,500,000 was transported to Canada, and the effect of
so great a drain on financial resources brought virtually all business in
49
New England to a standstill. People in Keene, as elsewhere, had to
make for themselves many articles formerly imported.
Discontent ran high. The embargo and its policies encouraged
development of the woolen and other textile trades, such as that organized at Swanzey Factory in 1810 to produce cotton yarn. In Keene
it was the chief cause leading to the establishment of a glass industry.
Town meetings were called in many places to address petitions
of complaint to the government. One held in Keene on January 26,
1809, forwarded a long series of resolutions asking for redress of
grievances against the embargo policies. Military spirit heightened as
the threat of war increased, and new state laws were passed requiring
that every town be constantly supplied with 32 pounds of powder, 64
pounds of musket balls, 120 flints, and equipment for soldiers in the
field. The tools of war had little changed from Revolutionary days.
War with Great Britain was declared after continued harassment of
American shipping, and enlistment headquarters were set up again
in Keene, this time at Benoni Shirtliff's tavern. Bounty offered was
$16 and upon discharge three months' pay and 160 acres of land.
Samuel Dinsmoor was quartermaster general of the state, and others
from the town held militia commissions.
Among the reform organizations established to encourage patriotism and discourage smuggling and sedition was the Washington
Benevolent Society, which had active branches in almost every town
in Cheshire County. Keene's Society was organized in February 1812
and included many leading citizens. Each member was given a small
volume containing a portrait of Washington, a copy of his Farewell
Address, and the Constitution of the United States. Active and vigorous, these societies held conventions and observed the Fourth of July
in 1812 in Walpole with a grand parade accompanied by banners, and
leading the procession 70 young ladies dressed in white. A similar
celebration was held in Keene the next year, at which the oration was
delivered by Phineas Cooke, and a dinner was held in the lower part
of the Court House.
The martial spirit fostered by the war and the influence of these
patriotic societies was evident at the annual muster in 1813, when
some 3,000 men assembled with over 20 companies and eight cavalry
units in full uniform. This colorful parade was witnessed by thousands
of people, in Keene for the holiday.
A military expedition advancing on Montreal passed through
Keene in April 1813 and camped about a mile above the Square, on
Fisher Brook near the Widow Leonard's tavern (since known as the
50
Kate Tyler place, near the corner of the present Court and Elm
Streets). Two of the men, natives of Maine, died there and were
buried near the camp. In February 1814 a large number of carpenters
passed through Keene by the same route on their way to Lake Champlain to build the vessels with which Thomas Macdonough won his
signal victory in the waters off Plattsburg. In May of that year loads
of 32-pound cannon balls were hauled from Boston to Vergennes, Vt.,
by way of Keene. News of the burning of Washington shocked Keene
as well as the rest of the nation. Answering the governor's call, the
Keene Light Infantry and the Ashuelot Cavalry, with other units,
readied themselves to march to the coast, which had been threatened
for some time by British ships of war. Several from Keene were in the
companies ordered to the defense of Portsmouth. The announcement
of Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans on January 8, 1815, did
not reach Keene until the Boston stage arrived on February 14, when
the news was greeted with great jubilation.
During and just following the War of 1812 the revenue taxes imposed on pleasure carriages, iron, leather, paper, beer, candles, salt,
and other articles proved a source of constant irritation. Property was
often sold by the sheriff to insure payment, and the burden of taxes
caused widespread business failures. Consequently there was violent
opposition to President Madison's administration. The local paper
even called upon him to resign. Despite his support of administration
policies, Samuel Dinsmoor was reelected to Congress in 1812, although his friends and supporters fearing the wrath of the electorate
had formed a protective guard for him upon his return to Keene in
1811.
Keene continued to grow in population, business, and wealth.
Justus Perry came from Marlborough in 1812 to begin his business
life in a store on the east side of the Square. He erected a fine home
on Prison Street, just beyond the Square on the present site of Keene
Junior High School. Perry collected a fine private library and was
active in civic and military affairs. His son Horatio J. Perry, born in
Keene in 1824, was later an important member of the American
legation to Spain. He married a talented Spanish lady, and proved of
particular service to the United States during the Civil War, while he
was in charge of American affairs in Madrid.
Aaron Appleton arrived in Keene from nearby Dublin, N.H., in
1814 and went into business partnership with John Elliot. In 1815
they erected the St. John's Block on the corner of Main and Pleasant
( West) Streets and their monogram still decorates the brick structure.
51
Here was located the combined printing office and bookstore of John
Prentiss in 1816. Salma Hale came to Keene in 1813 when the office
of the clerk of the County Court was moved from Walpole. Born in
Alstead in 1787, Hale was clerk of the courts in Cheshire County
for about 30 years.
A post route to Concord was established through Weare, Deering,
Hancock, and Packersfield, and in 1814 four-horse coaches began to
run from Boston through Keene and on to Burlington, Vt., arriving
in Keene three times a week. The arrival of the stage became a
great event, for it brought, in addition to visitors and mail, important
news fresh from Boston.
Stoves with sides formed by slabs of soapstone were first advertised for sale in Keene in 1812, and their use reduced house-warming
expenses. Cooking was done before the open fireplace until the introduction of cooking stoves in Keene in 1817. Ownership of a stove
soon became a mark of distinction.
On May 1, 1814, Miss Catherine Fiske opened her celebrated
young ladies' seminary on the east side of Main Street. After 1824 it
occupied the Main Street house built by John G. Bond about 1805
(since 1909 the house of the president of Keene State College). Assisted by several teachers, Miss Fiske attracted pupils not only from
Keene's leading families but also from nearly every state in the Union.
Her school won a wide reputation for excellence and was the first
such boarding school in the state. During its career probably 2,500
pupils received a high degree of instruction in languages (French,
Italian, Latin, and English), mathematics, history and geography, as
well as painting, drawing, and ornamental needlework. The first piano
in Keene was for use at the school, and William Willson is reported to
have built the town's first pipe organ for the school. Carriages were
owned for excursions, and a resident milliner was kept busy by the
girls. Miss Fiske promised parents that her school would "pay all
possible attention to the improvement of the manners, morals and
minds" of the students placed under her charge. A remarkably efficient teacher, Miss Fiske also taught some special classes for boys of
the town, invited for lectures several of the best-informed gentlemen
in the vicinity, and conducted a strict yet progressive educational program which won wide attention. One of the students was a niece of
Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was impressed by the school's curriculum. After Miss Fiske's death in 1837 the school was continued until
1844 by her assistants.
The New Hampshire Glass Factory, later known as the Keene
52
Window Glass Company, began in 1814, and was located on the
present Washington Street Fuller Park lot. Lawrence Schoolcraft was
brought from the management of a glassworks in New York State
to be superintendent of this window glass manufactory.
A second glass factory was established in 1815 by Daniel Watson, Timothy Twitchell, and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, son of the superintendent at the Prison Street factory. Bottles and flasks formed
the principal output from the Marlboro Street firm, which was in operation until the early 1840's. The factory was located on the north
side of Marlboro Street east of Beaver Brook. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft left Keene in 1817 and later became a famed authority and
writer on the American Indian.
Some of the demoralizing influences of the war, corruption in
politics and deterioration of morals, led to the calling of a convention
from 12 Cheshire County towns at Keene in November 1814 to consider measures that might be taken for the preservation of religion
and righteousness. The delegates passed a series of resolutions recommending the formation of local societies to promote a stricter observance of the Sabbath, tighter enforcement of the law, and men of
the highest character as tithingmen. In accordance with these recommendations a county society was formed, the General Monadnock
Society for the Promotion of Morals, and local tithingmen met to consider methods of suppressing drunkenness and disorder in public
houses on Sunday and issued a stern warning to the public, as did
their brother officials in neighboring towns.
Rev. Aaron Hall died in August 1814, in the 37th year of his
ministry in Keene. He was one of the most respected of the clergy in
the entire region. Rev. David Oliphant was settled over the Keene
church in May 1815, but desires for a less rigid approach to doctrine
were beginning to make themselves felt. Baptists from Westmoreland
had come to Ash Swamp, where meetings were held in a schoolhouse
at the settlement near the corner of the present Hurricane Road and
were led by Rev. Charles Cummings of the Sullivan Baptist Church.
Rev. Luther Rice, a pioneer Baptist foreign missionary and companion of Adoniram Judson, the first American foreign missionary,
preached in the village church in October 1814, perhaps encouraging
independent thought in matters of religion.
Traveling shows and attractions, less frequent during the trying
years of the War of 1812, resumed performances after the peace
treaty was signed. One show in August 1815 at the old Ralston Tavern featured the first elephant ever exhibited in Keene. A few boys
53
decided to see the elephant without paying for the privilege. When it
was learned that this star attraction of the show would enter Keene
by night along Prison Street an elaborate plan was concocted. A bonfire was laid near the glass factory (at the present Fuller Park) and
young sentries stationed themselves along the route to signal when the
animal approached. To assure the elephant's cooperation a trail of
apples was laid along the highway leading to the bonfire. The first
watcher was so amazed by the huge animal's long trunk and great
ears that he forgot to give the prearranged warning. However, the
elephant refused to cross the Beaver Brook bridge and had to be
driven around to ford the stream, thus giving time for the signal to be
passed to those waiting to kindle the bonfire. The great animal could
not be swayed from the trail of luscious apples and so gave an unscheduled performance which, in the flickering light of the bonfire,
must have been even more spectacular to the wonder-struck boys.
54
PART VI: 1816-1825
The decade which followed the War of 1812 was one of peace
and progress. The Baptists at Ash Swamp organized a church of 13
members in September 1816 and erected their first meetinghouse near
the present Hurricane Road corner. It was dedicated in December of
that same year after a public auction of the pews to finance the construction. This was the second religious denomination in Keene.
In the village moves to install stoves in the Congregational
Church were turned down, although the building was repaired and
painted. Agitation for a new bell met with more success, and one was
hung in 1819. Shortly thereafter a stove was installed in the Meetinghouse, to the displeasure of some traditionalists. One citizen found the
air so oppressive that he rose and left the building in a rage against
the new innovation, not realizing that upon that particular occasion
no fire had been kindled.
The village church boasted the only bell in Keene until 1828,
when Baptists, in cooperation with the town, purchased a Revere bell
weighing 777 pounds and tuned to the musical tone C sharp. Curfew
was then sounded by both bells at nine o'clock and a time signal was
rung at noon. Due to their use as a public signal the church bells of
many New England towns were commonly property of the town. The
bell in West Keene was rung so frequently by mischievous boys that
fire companies in the village were instructed to ignore its ringing unless it was continuous for at least five minutes.
Another use to which church bells were put was to make public
announcement of death. Three quick strokes told of a man's death
and four of a woman's. These were followed by tolled strokes equal
to the number of years of age at death. When the town was smaller
and most of its sick and older inhabitants were known to all, this grim
signal could usually identify the particular person lost to the community.
A private school education, as well as evening classes, was offered for two years by Thomas Hardy, beginning in 1816. He later
left Keene to take charge of the Chesterfield Academy. Nathaniel
Sprague also operated a private school, and about this same time
Lovisa Witt of Chesterfield began a long career as a teacher in Keene
and surrounding towns. Miss Fiske's Female Seminary was already
firmly established and growing in renown. The town appropriation
55
I
for schools in 1818 was $1,000, its highest figure for educational
purposes, and remained unchanged for some years.
Timothy K. Ames conducted a dancing school late in 1818.
Dancing was still frowned upon in some quarters and continued under
certain disfavor for years to come, though liberal influences were
making it more and more acceptable. One of the early productions
of John Prentiss' printing press had been The Dancing Instructor, Containing a Collection of the Newest Cotillions and Country Dances, not
to be mistaken for the now-popular square dance, but simply a common misspelling of the French term contre danse.
Pastimes popular among men and boys included an early form
of bowling. There were several alleys in town, and rooms for billiards,
although billiard tables had once been outlawed in the state. Wrestling
was popular, champions traveling from town to town for matches. A
ball field where boys played a form of early baseball called "one old
cat," which was played with only one base, was located near the
Meetinghouse on the Common. Nearby was a favorite spot where
marbles were played by the smaller boys. Girls took their recreation
indoors as a rule and spent their time learning the domestic arts
necessary for their future as wives and mothers. Almost every girl
worked a sampler to illustrate her skill in various needlework stitches,
not so much for decorative achievement as for the many sewing tasks
required of all housewives. Those favored with expert training under
Miss Fiske's direction might learn some of the more artistic needlework crafts, as well as the making of wax flowers and feather pictures, but these were arts most women had little time for in their
busy lives.
Among the older boys and men the martial spirit of the late war
remained high, and no greater pleasure was sought than to join one
of the military companies to drill and parade in colorful uniforms.
During September 1816 the Keene Light Infantry, equipped for active
service, marched to Surry for an encampment near the meetinghouse
of that village. Some of the Surry militia attempted to surprise the
Keene unit in the dead of night; however, a sentry challenged their
approach and gave the alarm. In three minutes the whole camp was
ready for action. The drummer, a veteran of the Battle of Tippecanoe,
said of the incident, "It seemed so much like old times, and was so
handsomely performed, that I could not sleep again that night for
pleasure." The following day was devoted to military exercises and
drill by the crack unit, one of the best in the state, and a visit to the
camp by the Ashuelot Cavalry from Keene. A similar encampment
56
was made in 1824 at Chesterfield in company with other military
organizations of the area. The annual muster was a major event; one
held in Keene during October 1819 included an infantry company
from West Keene and an artillery company composed of boys 12 to
15 years of age. The Keene Light Infantry Armory was located in a
field off present Court Street, giving the name to a street later opened
in that section.
The new pastor, Rev. David Oliphant, did not prove satisfactory
to those who were inclined toward a more liberal view of religion.
The established church had failed to meet with the approval of the
Baptists and they had withdrawn to their own church in Ash Swamp.
There Rev. Charles Cummings of Sullivan organized the congregation, assisted by lay preachers until 1819, when Forris Moore was
ordained over the church. In the village those equally dissatisfied but
not convinced of another mode of baptism were influential in town
action to dismiss Rev. Oliphant. The minister, however, refused to
deal with the committee appointed to "wait upon" him except by
written communication, and a lively controversy ensued. The church
organization of between 400 and 500 members backed the minister
in opposition to the town. The outcome of several long reports of
contending committees was that Rev. Oliphant acceded to the request
of the town and was dismissed in December 1817. The village remained without a minister while it heard candidates and visiting clergy
for several months. Finally in March 1818 Rev. Zedekiah Smith
Barstow preached as a candidate and gave so much satisfaction that
he was extended a call to settle over the church in May at a salary
of $600, soon raised to $700. Rev. Barstow was ordained before an
assembly of nearly 2,000 people on July 1, 1818, beginning a 50-year
pastorate. He was the last minister to be settled by vote of the town.
The First Congregational Society was incorporated in 1823 under
Rev. Barstow, who soon became a leading influence in the life of the
community. He made his home in the old Wyman Tavern, fitted up
for use as a parsonage, to which he brought his bride in August 1818.
Here he raised his family, celebrated his golden wedding, and died
in 1873 on the 55th anniversary of his first appearance in the Keene
pulpit.
The original proprietors' organization that settled Keene had continued to exist over the years; their last clerk was John Wood, elected
in January 1820 and holding office until his death in 1856.
The first New Hampshire gazetteer published at Exeter in 1817
described Keene as "a very handsome village of about 60 dwelling
57
houses, a meetinghouse, bank, court house, gaol and several stores,
etc." In statistical tables Keene was listed as having an 1810 population of 1,646 human inhabitants and, in 1812, 210 horses over four
years of age, 261 oxen over four years old, 608 cattle between two
and four years, and 577 cows over that age limit, as well as 108
acres of orchard land.
Hepplewhite bow front chest of drawers, by
Eliphalet Briggs of Keene-1810
Eliphalet Briggs had established his cabinetmaking business on
Prison Street, near the Center District School which had been built in
1793 on the site of a former schoolhouse, just above the Common.
New business firms were begun at several points around the fastdeveloping Square. When Samuel A. Gerould arrived in 1819, there
were such stores as that of A. & T. Hall, dealing in dry goods, groceries, drugs, and medicines; Appleton & Elliot, carrying a line of
hardware and also selling the products of their window glass business;
William Lamson, who sold fancy goods, groceries, and crockery, and
whose reported local sale of rum was 60 hogsheads a year in addition
to brandies, gin, and wine in proportion; Justus Perry, a general merchant, also owner of the bottle manufactory; Lynds Wheelock, who
58
offered dry goods, groceries, and crockery; and Dan Hough, who
specialized in drugs and medicines, along with groceries and dry
goods. Gerould purchased a recently-closed store and began what was
to be one of Keene's longest business careers.
The development of a business district surrounding the Meetinghouse, where Central Square was beginning to take form, was not the
result of any prearranged plan. Locating the Meetinghouse at the
corner of roads north and west had seemed a logical move in 1786.
With the turnpike coming into Keene nearby and a road laid out to
the east, a natural center was created which could hardly have been
more regular if planned from the start. When within a few years the
church itself was moved back to create an open space in front of it,
the prospect of the village with its long wide Main Street and Common was fully developed and became its most striking feature.
Salma Hale was elected to Congress in 1816 but declined reelection in 1818, and Joseph Buffum, the postmaster, succeeded him.
Some of the most famous lawyers in northern New England visited
Keene for sessions of court, including Daniel Webster and a future
President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, as well as other men
whose stimulating personalities added lustre to local social events.
Ithamar Chase, who came to Keene in 1815 to operate the tavern of his father-in-law, Alexander Ralston, died in 1817. The Episcopal burial service read for him was perhaps the first service of that
church in Keene and left a deep impression. Chase's son, Salmon
Portland Chase, later governor of Ohio, U.S. Senator, Secretary of
the Treasury under Lincoln, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
grew up in Keene, where he attended the district school and was tutored by Rev. Barstow, who later described him as "a rather raw
and uncouth lad, but very talented and an apt scholar." After his father's death Salmon Chase was placed under the care of his uncle,
Philander Chase, the first bishop of Ohio. Later he returned to Keene,
walking the whole distance from Troy, N. Y. It was young Chase who,
on November 24, 1819, discovered the body of Oliver Goodale, aged
about 43, face down in a shallow ditch at the side of the road on
what is now Water Street. The coroner's jury rendered a verdict of
death by plunging into the ditch (which was filled with about three
inches of water) while the victim was in a state of intoxication. The
i mpression on the boy was great; "a lesson I never forgot," he described it later. Rev. Barstow preached a temperance sermon inspired by the event, but it was still some years before an organized
temperance movement was formed in Keene, led in large measure by
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the minister, who also helped discourage drinking at funerals, a custom of long standing.
In addition to the mail stage traffic through Keene were teams
hauling freight along the turnpike and droves of cattle and sheep
bound for market. A cattle drive headed for Boston was not unusual in
the days before the railroad. Some of the baggage wagons weighed upwards of 2,000 pounds and were pulled by from four to eight horses.
Proposals were advanced to rebuild a section of the turnpike to avoid
some of the steep hills. A route between Bellows Falls and Keene (later
used by the railroad) was opposed on grounds that it would be of but
little benefit to the towns along the way and that such a project would
prove too expensive. Held up since 1813, a committee survey in 1816
laid out a road and reported on their work in 1817. Despite continued
opposition the new highway was approved, although not completely
built until 1833. It was first called the "County Road," later the "Summit Road." The Third New Hampshire Turnpike did not live up to the
expectations of its promoters and was made a free highway in 1820,
when the toll gates were removed, and the town accepted maintenance
of the section within its borders. Labor was cheap; six cents an hour
was paid to crews working on town roads in the period.
The slavery question, which was beginning to claim the attention
of the nation, was brought into sharper focus by proposals to admit
Missouri to the Union as a slave state. In Keene, as elsewhere in the
North, opposition was voiced through public meetings. On December
21, 1819, delegates from Cheshire County towns met in the Court
House to voice their disapproval of a further extension of slavery.
Several societies had been organized in the village, including the
Ladies' Reading Circle formed in July 1815. This organization took an
active interest in schools, and by 1825 had also voted funds to aid Indians, Greek refugees, and local charity work. It was called the Charitable and Reading Society in 1817, and was incorporated in 1882 as
the Ladies' Charitable Society, the oldest women's group in the community. A Young Mechanics' Association was formed in 1816; also a
Female Cent Society, a branch of the state organization. The Cheshire
County Agricultural Society was organized in 1816, covering the territory that is now Cheshire and Sullivan Counties. Its first cattle show
was held in Charlestown in 1818; the third was held in Keene in 1820,
on grounds through which the present Emerald Street runs. There was
a parade with a band, exhibits of manufacturers and fancy goods, as
well as livestock, and a banquet serving 130 persons. In 1819 the Society awarded $356 in prizes. The Hot Tongs Society was formed in
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1816, probably a social group for convivial spirits. The Cheshire
County Bible Society also had its beginnings under Rev. David Oliphant in 1816, and was later headed by Rev. Barstow for many years.
The Keene Musical Society was another organization of the period;
its concerts included Handel's "Messiah" in 1821. A debating club, the
Keene Forensic Society and Lyceum, was established in 1829 by 81 citizens to hold discussions on national, religious, economic, natural history, and moral questions. Interest in phrenology, study of the skull
and head contours with readings of character from features of the human cranium, enjoyed a vogue about 1825, when Professor L. N.
Fowler lectured and gave readings in the village. The Medical Society
of Cheshire County was formed by physicians, with Dr. Amos Twitchell as president and librarian. Annual meetings were held in Keene.
Measures to control the sale of liquor and to suppress intemperance, "the principal cause of pauperism," as the town warrant described it, were introduced in 1820. The selectmen gave notice that
names of ". . . those persons who are in the habit of drinking and tippling to excess" would be posted as state laws directed. In 1827 there
was a temperance group, the Association of Keene for Discouraging
the Use of Ardent Spirits, which, under the strong leadership of Rev.
Barstow, made valiant efforts to control the tradition of excessive
drinking common since colonial days.
The census of 1820 gave Keene's population as 1,895, a gain
of 249 in 10 years, despite the loss of 75 or more set off with Roxbury in 1812. Still at this time Chesterfield, Westmoreland, Walpole,
and Rindge exceeded Keene in population. Although artisans and mechanics of varied crafts were beginning to create an industrial economy, agriculture remained the town's chief occupation.
The idea of making the Ashuelot River a connecting link to the
Connecticut had been discussed for many years, ever since river commerce had become profitable and popular. Efforts in the local area culminated in 1819, when temporary locks were constructed around the
falls at two places between Keene and Winchester, the river bed deepened, and its course somewhat straightened. Lewis Page received authorization from the state legislature to complete this work, take tolls,
and conduct navigation on the Ashuelot. Freight charges were not to
exceed 50 cents per ton for the full 17 miles from the Faulkner and
Colony mills to Winchester. With the aid of subscriptions Page built a
boat 60 feet long and from 15 to 20 tons burden, named it the "Enterprise," and on Friday, November 19, 1819, opened navigation on the
Ashuelot. Decorated with banners and loaded with passengers on its
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maiden voyage, the boat was greeted in Keene by a large crowd of people, firing of cannon, and ringing of the church bell. Although the ambitious scheme failed to realize the hopes of its sponsors and was soon
abandoned, improvement of the river for navigation continued to be a
concern for several years. There was even a study made of the stream
with the object of creating a connecting link between the Connecticut
and Merrimack Rivers. Freighting to and from the Middlesex Canal in
Massachusetts and between Boston and the north brought a constant
flow of travelers through town, adding to the trade of the local taverns,
and giving rise to dreams of commercial development and improved
inland transport. The "Enterprise," perhaps the same boat that sailed
to Keene up the Ashuelot, (now supplied with a steam engine) was
used on the Connecticut after 1826. However, river transport enjoyed
only a short period of success and was replaced within a few years by
the railroad and improved highways.
In 1785 there had been but four buildings from the present railroad tracks to the head of the Square. In 1805 there were 16. By 1825
there were nearly 25 buildings in the same area, most of them built of
unpainted wood, with several of brick construction beginning to appear. Within a few years a native of Keene, George Washington Snow,
born in 1797, made a significant contribution to American architecture
with the "balloon frame," first used by him in Chicago in 1833, and
soon widely employed in all parts of the country.
The area north and east of the business district was open land,
fields and pastures. The increased danger from fire prompted the appointment of additional fire wards and the adoption of regulations for
better protection. The annual meeting in 1817 selected 10 as fire
wards, whose insignia of office was a staff five feet long, painted red,
and topped with a brass "spire." These officials had power to inspect
buildings and to take command during fires. Additional regulations,
adopted in 1828, specified the number of leather buckets, ladders, and
other equipment to be kept by each household—every house with
three fireplaces was to be provided with two leather buckets; every
house with six fireplaces with three buckets; houses with eight fireplaces, four buckets; and those with more than eight fireplaces, six
buckets. In addition, all households were required to have at least one
ladder.
Some of the services of the fire wards were put to the test on May
27, 1822, when the large three-story George Sparhawk Tavern, the old
Chandler House at the corner of Roxbury Street, burned. A single
town fire engine, aided by a smaller one from the window glass factory,
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could do little more than save some of the neighboring stores. The cis­
tern, or town well, on the Common was soon drained, and bucket lines
were formed from Beaver Brook. The roof of the Meetinghouse
caught fire at one point, but the flames were soon extinguished. Pay­
ment of damages to the hotel building is the first recorded instance of
fire insurance protection in Keene. In a short time the Cheshire County
Fire Insurance Company of Walpole, incorporated in 1825, was doing
a good business along this line.
The disaster inspired Keene citizens to begin subscription for a
second and larger fire engine. The Engine Company was reorganized
as the Keene Fire Society in 1822, and a second fire club, the Fire Fen­
cibles, was organized in 1825. Other forms of protection were estab­
lished when, in 1825, the first six police officers in the town's history
were appointed.
Foundations for another hotel 52 x 56 feet in size were laid on the
site of the earlier Chandler House, and the brick Phoenix Hotel, three
stories high, "large, commodious and elegant," rose from the ashes,
opened in December 1822, and was called "an ornament to our vil­
lage." It contained, in addition to 18 sleeping rooms and the bar, an as­
sembly hall, a large dining room, and handsome porticoes on the west
and south. A horse watering trough was located in front of the hotel.
Phoenix Hotel. Opened 1822; burned 1836.
63
This became a lively stage stop and a center of activity in the village. At the rear of the hotel Keene's first hay scales were erected, a
giant steelyard balance device. The post office was near the hotel,
and daily mail service north and south through Keene was established
in April 1825.
The major rivals of the new Phoenix Hotel were the old Ralston
Tavern (called the Keene Hotel in 1822), the Sun Tavern on the
Third New Hampshire Turnpike (now Court Street), and the Eagle
Hotel on old Federal Row further down Main Street. The last had been
operated as a tavern as early as 1806 and eventually purchased in
1823 by Stephen Harrington, who called it Harrington's Coffee House;
it was newly fitted out in 1826 and renamed in honor of the high patriotic feeling at the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The sign hung out at the hotel depicted on one side the building
itself and on the other a fine view of Main Street, the work of a painter
named Charles Ingalls. In addition, a golden eagle was carved about
1827 by Amos Holbrook to perch high on a post in front of the building. This historic antique was sold in 1883 for $102.50. It was preserved and used on the temporary wooden monument erected to honor
World War I soldiers and sailors, and later found a home in the gymnasium of Keene Junior High School on Washington Street. It is now a
part of the collection of the Historical Society of Cheshire County.
Colonel Harrington was a noted host and his hotel did a brisk business, especially when the stage arrived. The innkeeper set a good
table and kept his bar well supplied, with irons always hot for making
flip, a popular drink consisting of rum and beer mixed together and
stirred with a hot poker. Dances and parties were frequently held in
one or another of the hotel halls, and from 1815 on, Saturday auctions
were held at Salem Sumner's tavern (later the site of the Cheshire
House). After the tavern burned in 1822, the auctions moved to the
street, where they became a tradition. Participants in civic celebrations
usually gathered at a hotel for dinner and toasts following parades, orations, and military displays. Visitors included artists, peddlers, and
such individuals as D. Cass, the first surgeon dentist to advertise in
Keene, during February 1816, and John Lyscom, who gave public
notice of similar service in 1817.
The town's first theatrical performance by a professional company was advertised in May 1821 at a local hotel, where the tragedy,
"Douglass, or the Noble Shepherd," was offered for one week, admission 50 cents, children half-price. Also on the bill was a two-act farce,
"The Village Lawyer." The first animal show to exhibit in Keene and
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featuring the largest menagerie in the country, showed lions, tigers,
buffalo, elk, llamas, and other curiosities at the rear of Wadley's
Tavern (formerly called Ralston's Tavern) in 1822, and appeared
again the following year. Another attraction at this time was Sally
Marietta Snow, a 10-year-old dwarf, weighing only 16 pounds, whose
songs and pieces were performed in the Court House in 1819. Keene
played host to Navy Commodore William Bainbridge and his party
on April 30, 1819, with a large banquet, a walking tour of the village,
and evening receptions.
The new minister, Rev. Barstow, took a special interest in educational matters, and in 1819 was chosen to head the board of five "visitors and inspectors of schools." The "visitors," long in charge of school
matters, were also charged in 1824 with examining candidates for
teaching positions, although there were no educational requirements
for teachers for many years.
The town voted $50 in 1820 for singing instruction in both the
Congregational and Baptist religious societies. The principal hymnal
in use was Isaac Watts' transcriptions of Psalms, and John Prentiss had
issued an edition, as well as other music. His press had begun publication of school texts, including a history written by his brother Charles,
readers, and the famed Adams' arithmetic books. Religious publications ranged from conventional sermons to doctrines of the Baptists
and Universalists, and he issued a wide variety of other books, pamphlets, reports, and reprints of classic literary compositions.
A new court house of brick was erected in 1824 (the north half of
which is now part of Bullard and Shedd's drugstore on Central Square).
The Town Hall was also located in the building. The older wooden
court house, formerly the meetinghouse, was moved to make way for
the new construction. It became a double dwelling house and was later
divided, one part serving commercial purposes on Railroad Square until it was torn down in 1959. The other half became the dwelling now
at No. 26 Maple Street.
At this time the west side of Central Square was established, and
the bounds of that area took their present lines. Proposals to move the
Meetinghouse from the Common and dispense with the horse sheds
were considered as early as 1820, but were not acted upon for several
years.
In 1823 George Tilden, who began his apprenticeship as a bookbinder under John Prentiss in 1817, established a partnership with
Prentiss in the book and stationery business. The next year they
opened a circulating library of 200 volumes. This firm, G. H. Tilden &
65
Co., still remains in business, the oldest retail store in Keene. Placing
boys to learn a trade with established craftsmen was a common system
of education and formed the principal training available to young men.
At the age of 14 a boy was bound to a merchant or artisan to serve a
term of seven years and learn the trade. The lad worked without pay,
but his master had to provide his support, housing, and meals, and give
him full knowledge of the particular craft. As one of the major tasks of
an apprentice the boy was expected to make himself a set of tools of the
trade, and manufacture a complete product, his "masterpiece," which
fitted him to become a craftsman in his own right. Most shops had several boys learning the trade and assisting in the various hand operations to turn out a completed shoe, harness, wheel, chair, or clock.
Sometimes dissatisfied apprentice boys ran away and were advertised
for in the local newspaper. More frequently, however, the boys served
out their time to become journeymen, and finally masters with shops
and apprentices of their own.
Early Keene-made Hepplewhite bow front chest of drawers
In 1823 Abijah Wilder Jr. began a furniture and sleighmaking
business on the east side of the present Court Street, competing with
Eliphalet and John Briggs, who made a wide variety of furniture, and
cases for the clocks manufactured by Luther Smith. James Wells re66
sumed his hat business, Collins Jaquith established a shoemaking shop,
and A. and H. Walker opened a second bookshop, bindery, and circulating library. The Faulkner and Colony mills burned in 1825 but were
soon rebuilt in brick and made larger than before. Also in 1825 John
Prentiss erected a brick block on the west side of the present Central
Square, which still stands as No. 45 Central Square. When this building
was renovated in 1947, it was the last block in Keene with a sidewalk
canopy, once a common feature of nearly all local business blocks.
Samuel A. Gerould also erected a brick block, separated from the
Prentiss building by a passage 11 feet wide and from the first brick
Court House by an eight-foot passage. Another brick building was built
by William Lamson in 1827 on the corner of Roxbury Street, opposite
the Phoenix Hotel. It contained an auditorium called the "Music Hall."
The first flour offered for sale in Keene general stores was advertised in 1822. Formerly farmers had raised their own grains which they
carried to mills to be ground, and townsfolk had journeyed to the mills
to purchase meal and flour directly.
The controversy over religious matters was not wholly solved by
the separation of the Baptists. The Congregational pastor showed himself to be a strong leader of the traditional mode. Those who had Unitarian leanings waited to see if Rev. Barstow might not share their liberal ideas, but finding that he did not, they organized the Keene Congregational Society (Unitarian)) of 71 members on March 18, 1824.
The group met in the Town Hall, Colonel Harrington's hotel, and the
Masonic Hall, but claimed a right to the Meetinghouse on their proportion of Sundays. This request was granted, the village church to be
theirs five Sundays, the selectmen to determine which dates. Later the
number of Sundays was increased to 13, and Rev. Barstow's salary was
adjusted by the town in proportion to the loss of tax revenue for his
support. After 1828, when the town gave up its rights to the church,
bell, and land, the pastor was paid by his church society alone. Although there continued to be agitation over rights to the church, the
new denomination heard Rev. Thomas Russell Sullivan as a candidate
for their ministry in June and chose him to be their first pastor.
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PART VII: 1826-1840
An event of historical significance took place in 1826 with the
publication of the town's first history. Salma Hale's Annals of Keene
traced the community's development from its settlement to 1790, after
which date the author wrote, "but few, if any, events have occurred,
which would be interesting or instructive." Hale compiled the 69-page
historical record at the request of several citizens of Keene and the
newly-founded New Hampshire Historical Society in whose Collections
the work first appeared. Jacob B. Moore of Concord printed it, and the
annual town meeting voted to procure 400 copies for the local demand,
"provided that the expense does not exceed 50 dollars."
The original edition of the Annals contained many typographical
errors, was very brief and omitted mention of several notable events.
Nevertheless, it was an important historical sketch and proved popular.
Interest in the work prompted requests for a further account, and in
1848 Hale was prevailed upon to bring out a new edition, printed in
Keene in 1851, which corrected previous errors, continued the history
to 1815, and included valuable maps of the village in 1750, 1800, and
1850.
Hale had acquired some reputation as a writer with an English
grammar he wrote at the age of 17. Active in state and local organizations, he was also a trustee of Dartmouth College and the University of
Vermont, and a congressman from 1817 to 1819. About the time the
Annals first appeared his History of the United States was published.
This won a prize and a gold medal from the American Academy of
Languages and Belles Lettres and saw many editions published in
Keene, New York, and London.
The 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was
celebrated in grand style at Keene, as elsewhere in America. A new
church bell had been acquired for the local festivities, and it was rung
at sunrise, accompanied by 24 cannon salutes. The procession of several hundred citizens and friends of the community, officials of the day,
and clergy was escorted by the Keene Light Infantry to the Meetinghouse, where services were held and an oration delivered by Rev.
Thomas R. Sullivan. Patriotic music was rendered by the Keene Musical Society, and following the exercises "a very handsome entertainment" and banquet were offered to some 150 "under an artificial
bower," where 13 regular and 16 voluntary toasts were offered.
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The year 1826 was sometimes called the "grasshopper year" because of the great number of these insects and the serious damage they
inflicted. They destroyed gardens, field crops, and even clothes hung
out to dry.
In 1827 the state legislature divided Cheshire County and created
Sullivan County from a north section. The move was the result of years
of agitation; after the division, the sessions of court formerly held at
Keene and Charlestown were no longer shared, and Keene became
the leading town of the area. As early as 1812 Walpole had made a
serious bid to become the seat of Cheshire County, with an offer to
erect suitable buildings. Swanzey was also at one point considered a
candidate but, after the division of the territory, no serious threats to
Keene's position were advanced, even though the village still lagged
behind others in population for a few more years. In December 1826
the entire village consisted of but 202 buildings.
A mail stage line was begun in 1826 and offered service to Templeton and Worcester, Mass., and Norwich, Conn., and connected with
New York three times a week. In 1827 daily mail stages ran through
Keene for Middlebury and Burlington, Vt., and Montreal, Canada.
Another competing line ran through Rindge and Fitzwilliam, with service through Keene passing on to Surry, Drewsville, Charlestown, and
Woodstock, N. H., and Montpelier and Windsor, Vt., and Hanover,
N. H., giving Keene two daily stages to and from Boston. The fare to
Boston in 1834 was $2.50 by the old line and $3 by the Telegraph and
Dispatch Line, which guaranteed to make the run in 12 hours. Upon
completion of a railroad from Boston, stages were established about
1837 to connect with trains at Lowell, Mass. In 1829 petitions were
circulated in town protesting the carrying of the mails on Sunday.
Coaches were sometimes pulled by as many as six horses, and
from 60 to 150 passengers frequently arrived or departed from Keene
daily. Nearly all the stages spent the night in the village. The record
stage time from Boston was set on December 27, 1831, in 9 hours and
27 minutes, with eight or nine stops to shift mail and change horses.
Other stage lines gave service to Greenfield and Northampton, Mass.,
connecting with Hartford, Conn., lines and steamboats for New York;
and from Portsmouth and Exeter through Keene to Brattleboro, Vt.,
and Albany, N. Y., west. On September 23, 1834, a traveler arrived
in town who had left Cleveland, Ohio, on September 19, and although
detained six hours at Buffalo, N. Y., he completed the journey in just
over four days, then considered remarkable.
The village was visited by its first circus in July 1826. Held at the
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Phoenix Hotel, the bill included a play, "The Haunted Tailor." The
appearance of a similar show in July 1832 brought to Keene the first
zebra, rhinoceros, and orangutan ever shown in town, plus an exhibition of wax figures. George C. Shattuck, a college student visiting in
Keene, wrote of it to his father in Boston. The procession into town
was led by a large wagon pulled by six huge horses decked out in fancy
harness and bells. Inside the decorated wagon was the rhinoceros, and
following were seven two-horse wagons with the rest of the show. Large
crowds were attracted including Governor Dinsmoor and the pupils
of Miss Fiske's school. To the horror of the onlookers, a monkey
jumped on one of the ladies in the party and tore her cap.
The New England Zoological exhibition from Boston advertised
in May 1835, claiming 27 wagons with 80 horses and a crew of 150
men. The elephant shown in Keene later that same month was one of
the largest ever brought to America. It stood 11 feet 6 inches high and
weighed 12,000 pounds. John Sears, attracted into show business by an
exhibition in Keene during 1823, brought a fine menagerie to his home
town in 1834. He was said to be the first man in the country to enter a
cage with a lion.
In January 1828 the Gilbert and Trowbridge Theatrical Company
played a one-week engagement, offering "The Honeymoon, or How to
Rule A Wife." The same players appeared in September in "The
Heir-At-Law." They also featured comic songs and a farce entitled
"The Spectre Bridegroom, or A Ghost In Spite Of Himself." When
Monsieur Weiss, a magician, gave a local performance in August 1826,
his show included a display of moving shadow pictures, "phantasmagoria," an ancestor of motion pictures. In May 1838 the famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, appeared at the Eagle Hotel. The show
played in October 1840 amid one of the earliest snowstorms in the
region. Entertainment in the form of such attractions, medicine shows,
and peddlers made life more interesting and brought to the village
sights hardly dreamed of a few years before.
Traveling peddlers offered valuable services to country districts
and town dwellers alike during the early years of the 19th century.
Journeying on foot or by wagon, they frequently carried merchandise
unavailable in stores or different from what was manufactured locally.
Storekeepers usually purchased their goods only once a year from a
wholesaler, and there was much difficulty in delivering them. The peddler's wares were fresher, more attractive, and usually cheaper than
those of the merchant. Housewives saved in anticipation of a visit by
one of the peddlers in order to purchase laces, pins, needles, perfumes,
costume jewelry, and other fancies.
70
As the result of a movement launched in 1820 to enlarge and improve the Common, in 1828 the town quit its rights to the Meetinghouse
(the fourth and last one built in Keene) and turned it over to the First
Congregational Society. As part of the agreement, the Society, in 1828
and 1829, moved the structure from its site on the Common to within
four feet of its present location. The horse sheds, which had been built
in 1789 across the head of the Common, were removed and the church
remodeled with the addition of a new spire and four tall pillars to support the front of the steeple. The bounds of the Common and those of
the present Central Square were now established. However, the Common remained a dusty unimproved space, crossed by roadways, and
treeless. Wilder's Building (now Ball's Block) was erected in 1828, and
the names of streets leading from the Square acquired their present
names of Washington, West, and Court.
In 1829 the Unitarian congregation built a meetinghouse on the
corner of Main and Church Streets. The cornerstone was set on July 4,
1829, and the building was dedicated on April 28, 1830, with the assistance of the Congregational Church choir. The Unitarians were the
first in town to dispense with the violin in the choir loft. Their new brick
church boasted Keene's first church pipe organ, built by Henry Pratt of
Winchester. The church had 88 pews on the main floor and a small
gallery for the singers. The style of the building was "Grecian," reflecting the interest in classic art popular in the period. At the sides of the
pulpit were tablets bearing the Ten Commandments and Biblical inscriptions. The pulpit itself was supported by two high slim columns in
front, and in the belfry was a 1,500-pound bell, cast by the Revere firm
and sounding the musical note F sharp. Aided by a legacy from William
Lamson, the sale of pews, and subscription, the congregation was able
to enter their new building free from debt. Unitarians were served by
Rev. Thomas R. Sullivan until 1835, when Rev. Abiel A. Livermore.
became pastor. In October 1839 a public clock, built by H. Holbrook
of East Medway, Mass., and the gift of John Elliot, was added to the
front of the building. The original town clock had long since ceased to
function and was lost when the Frst Church was moved and a new
spire built. The Congregational Church in Keene did not have a tower
clock again until 1859.
The Baptists in Ash Swamp were far from the center of activity
and were experiencing difficulties. They had no settled minister for
several years. Edward Hale was the minister from 1829 to 1831, and
the church was reorganized in 1832, taking the name of the Union
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Baptist Church. Christy G. Wheeler was ordained pastor in August
1832 but left in 1833, after which services were maintained on a small
scale in the Ash Swamp meetinghouse. Revival meetings of four days'
duration were held in Keene during September 1831, lasting from 5
A.M. to 9 P.M. and featuring emotional messages, confessions, and
conversions. Pioneer Methodist Episcopal church services were held as
early as 1803, when Bishop Francis Asbury, the "father of American
Methodism," visited Keene. Organization of a Methodist Church of 30
members took place in December 1835.
Keene enjoyed some of its most brilliant years during this period.
Visitors remarked upon the elegance of Keene homes and the richness
of their furnishings. Several of the ladies set a high mark in entertaining, and social events, dances, receptions, and parties were noted for
their taste and distinction. Well-known hosts included Justus Perry,
Governor Samuel Dinsmoor, Joel Parker, General James Wilson, and
his son James Wilson Jr., whose imposing house was near the site of the
old Ralston Tavern. Through the efforts of Rev. Abiel A. Livermore
of the Unitarian Church, literary groups met frequently, an interest in
foreign literature was developed, and book societies flourished. The
town of Keene had "come of age" and enjoyed some of its finest hours
as a community.
The Keene Debating Society, afterwards called the Keene Forensic Society and Lyceum, represented the best minds of the area. Their
lectures and debates were open to the public and embraced a wide
range of subjects. The issue of slavery was considered upon several
occasions as were other moral, religious, and political questions. At
one meeting discussion centered on the proposition, "Would it be advantageous to the public and to Keene to construct a railway from
Boston through Keene to the Connecticut River?" At another, in 1837,
the removal of American Indian tribes to an area west of the Mississippi
River was debated.
The Keene Book Society was formed in 1824; membership in
1827 was 122 and its library held 275 volumes. Among speakers to
appear in Keene were some of the leading figures in the country, including Noah Webster of dictionary fame, who lectured in 1832. In
1831 the Keene Book Society merged with the Keene Circulating Library, which had been in existence for some years and possessed a
library containing over 1,000 books. The older Social Library continued to operate, and there was also the Cheshire Athenaeum Library
of some 600 books. The Cheshire Theological Institute was formed in
1830 around the 700 volumes owned by Rev. Barstow. There were
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even two collections of books for younger readers, the Sabbath School
Library, of over 500 volumes, and the Juvenile Library, of about
250 volumes. The two book stores continued to offer circulating collections of books to the public at a small fee.
Among the groups which were active were the Ladies' Charitable
and Reading Society, Free Fellows' Society, Auxiliary Education Society, Youth's Social Fraternity, and the Masonic Order. The Cheshire
Agricultural Society's exhibitions were held in Keene in 1826 and in
1829 with ceremonies and celebrations. The Keene Musical Society,
Keene Harmonic Society, and Keene Musical Association were devoted
to classical music, while the Cheshire County Sacred Music Society
made fine church music its objective. The Keene Thief Detecting Society, organized in 1838, was composed of the leading men in town as
"pursuers" of horse thieves and other malefactors.
The New Hampshire Sentinel was joined by a second weekly
newspaper with the publication of the Cheshire Republican in November 1828. This paper was brought by Nahum Stone from Walpole,
N. H., where it had been originally established as the Farmer's Museum
in 1793. The Unitarians issued a monthly periodical edited by Rev.
Thomas R. Sullivan from July 1827 to 1830, called the Liberal
Preacher, which contained outstanding theological contributions. This
periodical was later moved to Boston. The New England Observer was
begun as another local publication but was short-lived, as it united
with a Concord publication within a few months of its beginning in January 1826. Benaiah Cooke, who arrived in Keene as a private school
teacher, soon became publisher of a number of periodicals including
the Cheshire Republican and the American Silk Grower and Agriculturist (about 1836) during the brief period when dreams of easy fortunes
in silk were entertained in New England. Cooke also issued the Cheshire Farmer from 1838 to 1840. Rev. Abiel A. Livermore sponsored a
periodical, the Social Gazette, "for the publication of the literary efforts
of the young." In it appeared a story by Mary Elizabeth, daughter of
James Wilson Jr. She later gained a place in American literature as
Mrs. Sherwood of New York and Washington, writer of social etiquette
and a noted poet. Mrs. Sherwood is the only woman from Keene included in the Dictionary of American Biography. Born in Keene on
October 27, 1826, she died in New York City on September 12, 1903.
She was hostess for her widowed father during his term in Washington
as a member of Congress, 1847-50, and in 1857 she and John Sherwood, a lawyer from New York, were married in Keene. Her background in New York and European society enabled her to write
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authoritatively on social life. When she was a child, however, her literary talent was not fully appreciated, and the fact that her first story
was actually published locally did not please her mother. The town
librarian expressed concern that the young girl read too many novels.
While serving the Keene Unitarian congregation, Rev. Abiel A.
Livermore wrote his Commentaries on the Gospels and on the Book of
Acts, 1841-44, which saw several American and English editions. He
also wrote a prize-winning essay of the Mexican War. Although not a
part of the Keene publishing scene, Edward Payson Dutton, who was
born in Keene in 1831, joined the Boston book trade and founded the
publishing firm which still bears his name.
Temperance and charitable organizations flourished, including a
Tract Society of Keene, the Ladies' Cent Society, the Heshbon Society,
and church foreign and domestic missionary groups. A large temperance meeting was held in Keene in 1829, and the Cheshire County
Temperance Society, organized in 1830, had long years of service. There
was also a Keene Temperance Association, and a short while later the
Young People's Association for the Promotion of Temperance was organized. The town supported proposals for a state hospital for the
insane with a meeting in 1836, at which several resolutions were passed
in favor of the project advanced by Governor Samuel Dinsmoor, a native of Keene. When surplus government revenue was awarded to the
states in 1837, Keene voted to use its share for worthwhile loans and to
award the interest therefrom to the proposed asylum, provided it be
located in town. Dr. Amos Twitchell was among those appointed by
state authorities to a committee to select the location and after Concord
was chosen, Keene directed that its interest payments be used for other
local purposes. In September 1838 a large anti-slavery convention was
held at the Court House. The slavery topic was the subject of the Debating Society's meetings as early as February 1834, and was fast
becoming an issue of national concern. John Dickson Jr., who lived in
Keene from the time of his birth in 1783 until around 1808 and who
later served in Congress from New York State, is generally credited
with delivering the first significant anti-slavery address on the floor of
the House of Representatives in February 1835.
The various hotels and taverns in the village continued to do a
healthy business. Colonel Harrington at the Eagle Hotel was host to
frequent dances and balls. In January 1836 a group from Walpole,
178 strong, arrived in 66 teams to dine and dance from 6 P.M. to daylight, and a 47-team sleigh-riding party from Dublin was entertained at
the Phoenix Hotel in December 1832. John Prentiss' new brick block
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had an oyster saloon in its basement and there was another operating
in town. These saloons offered oysters, cooked and raw, as well as a
wide variety of liquid refreshment. One of the pranks of the period
involved the theft, in December 1827, of the sign from George W. Emerson's "victualing cellar," or saloon. It was discovered the next morning
nailed up over the main entrance of the Congregational Church, and a
reward of $25 was offered for the apprehension of the culprits.
William Lamson's new brick store, on the east side of the Common
at the corner of Roxbury Street, became a popular local gathering
place. Jesse Corbett carried on a watch-repairing and jewelry business
and was succeeded by Norman Wilson as principal jeweler in Keene.
Eagle Hotel, from woodcut in the first Keene directory, 1831
Edward Poole established himself in this trade about 1835, and was the
first in town to advertise "Loco Foco" or friction matches. Poole became
a mechanic of rare ability and conducted some of the first local experiments in photography. Working with him for a time was a relative
from Massachusetts, William Frederick Poole, who later became a
noted librarian and founder of Poole's Index to Periodical Literature,
the forerunner of the modern periodical index. John C. Mason was a
gunsmith, with a shop on Winter Street. This street, as well as Middle
and Summer Streets, was opened in 1832 as part of a development
program in that section.
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Dexter Anderson, a hatter, arrived in Keene in 1827. Until 1835
Richard Montague was active in tailoring in association with several
partners, and the firm of Dinsmoor, White & Lyon, established shortly
after 1833, was the first to sell ready-made clothing in town. By this
ti me long trousers had replaced the knee breeches of the Revolutionary
period, and high beaver hats supplanted the three-cornered ones of an
earlier day.
The firm of Keyes & Colony erected a brick building on the corner
of West Street (site of the Keene Savings Bank) in 1833, and its third
story became one of. Keene's best halls. It was equipped with a spring
floor and was popular for both dances and meetings; at one time the
Baptists held church services there. A baker had established himself in
1816, and this business was carried on under different ownership at
the north corner of Main and Church Streets until 1900. John Chase's
livery stable opened before 1830 and was the first in the community.
Several ladies were in business, operating small millinery shops and
dressmaking establishments. Women's clothing was copied from illustrations in magazines such as Godey's Lady's Book; dress patterns
were not produced until 1863.
A blacksmith and wheelwright shop occupied the site of the present City Hall. The major textile industry was Faulkner & Colony, who
were still dressing cloth and carding wool into rolls for families to spin
and weave at home. Keene craftsmen were creating many fine pieces
of furniture and ornamental goods for the handsome homes being
erected in increasing numbers. There was even a portrait painter, Joseph Wheeler, who lived on Court Street. Wheeler came to town as a
youth about 1810 and his first artistic ventures were furniture decorations for the Briggs cabinetmakers. He began ornamental paintings
about 1829, and a number of local portraits were completed in his
studio, which was described by Mrs. Sherwood as "a little nook of refinement and artistic seclusion, with that indescribable charm which
artists' studios always possess."
Carriages, chaises, saddles, harnesses, and leather goods were in
constant demand, and the first "Franklin fire-frame," or heating stove
of this popular style, was advertised for sale locally in 1834. Pumps
and woodenware were being made on the North Branch and at Ash
Swamp. Jehiel Wilson's industry at South Keene, begun about 1820,
was reported to be the first in New England to produce pails by power
machinery. A forge located in the area at that time gave to the section
the name "Furnace Village."
The screw gimlet, which had been invented by Gideon Newcomb
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of Roxbury, was also an important product in Keene, as well as the
manufacturing of bits and augers and a patent jack screw for raising
buildings. A turning mill was at work producing spinning wheel parts,
and numerous saw and gristmills were kept busy by an increasing population. Proposals for a canal from Surry to Keene, with mill sites along
its course, were studied in 1832 and 1833, but the project was abandoned. Industrial progress was beginning to make itself felt in earnest
in the region where formerly farming had been predominant.
The town school committee watched over the steady progress of
local education. In 1831 there were 768 students enrolled, and money
raised for schools amounted to $1,300. Complaints that too much religious matter was being taught brought about an end to this instruction
and the distribution of tracts in public schools in 1832. Private education was offered by Miss Fiske and others. Benaiah Cooke, later a
Keene printer and publisher, arrived in the village about 1827 and
opened a private school in a room over a store. Afterwards called the
Keene Academic School, it enrolled nearly 100 pupils. Alonzo Andrews
had a private school in 1830, as did Alphonso Wood about 1829, and
Osgood Herrick operated a private grammar school for a few terms.
Writing and bookkeeping were taught by Reuel Blake at this period,
and music and dancing instruction was continued by special schools.
With its long rows of rude benches and desks, Washington Street's
Center District School, which was warmed only by an open fireplace,
was replaced about 1831 by a two-story brick schoolhouse, topped
with a cupola and the first bell in any Keene school.
In December 1828 Keene High School was established by the
citizens of the three central school districts. Classes were first held in
Wilder's Building. The first teacher was Edward C. Eells, a graduate
of Middlebury College. Candidates for admission were examined by a
committee, and the school was managed by a prudential committee,
as in the case of each school district. Requirements stated, "no scholar
shall be admitted into this school who is not nine years of age; who
cannot read, and who has not made some progress in learning to write;
who is not expert in the first four simple rules of arithmetic, and who
is not acquainted with the rudiments of geography." The next year
Eells was succeeded by Asahel Bennett, whose salary was $40 a month.
The school became inactive after 1830 and was not revived until 1853.
The Keene Fire Society, of 64 members, and the Fire Fencibles,
with 45 members, were the two local fire clubs, still private organizations. The latter group, organized in March 1825, was the original hook
and ladder company of Keene. The firemen's uniforms were long red
frocks.
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Keene's first directory appeared in 1831. Although a village register had been published in handbill form as early as 1827, the first serious effort at a directory was a 36-page booklet containing 508 names,
a business register, and illustrations of the two village churches and
two hotels, the Phoenix and the Eagle. Citizens had met the previous
December to decide on names for the 12 streets and areas covered.
Among the directory's listings were 204 farmers, 34 laborers, 25 shoemakers, 22 carpenters, 17 merchants, 16 glass blowers, 15 widows, 13
blacksmiths, 13 instructors, and a variety of single classifications. Town
officials included fence-viewers, field drivers, fire wards, hog-reeves,
and pound keeper. The editors of the work stated that their aim was
"to afford a convenient manual for those who reside in the vicinity,
and a correct guide for the stranger; who can at once form an opinion
of the business, population and flourishing condition of the place."
There was not another directory published until 1872.
Political feeling was high in Keene, where enthusiastic conventions of Whigs assembled in opposition to the movement favoring Andrew Jackson for President of the United States in 1828. Keene cast
346 votes for Adams and 107 for Jackson. When an attempt on Jackson's life was made at a funeral in Washington in January 1835, Samuel
Dinsmoor Jr. of Keene was standing so close at hand that he heard
the caps of both pistols explode. The procession with the President had
just proceeded from the rotunda of the Capitol into the portico. Fortunately both pistols flashed and no one was hurt. Keene's population in
1830 was 2,374, for the first time exceeding that of Walpole, Westmoreland, and other townships of the region. In 1832 Keene cast 344 Whig
votes and 131 Democratic votes in the national election. The number
of voters in 1833 was 499. Living in Keene were, in addition to the
human population, 280 horses, 393 oxen, 799 cows, 666 young cattle,
and 1,984 sheep.
Joel Parker, a leading lawyer in the village since 1816, was appointed to the state's supreme court in 1833. He became chief justice
in 1838 and a highly respected legal figure, later a Harvard and Dartmouth professor of law.
The Keene Light Infantry was still among the best military companies in the state. Their colorful uniforms of blue faced with red
included a helmet of bearskin, with a foot-high tin front and black
plumes. The men were also equipped with knapsacks captured from
the British during the War of 1812 and issued to the local company due
to shortages of supplies. The company, with the Ashuelot Cavalry,
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formed an honor guard for Samuel Dinsmoor upon his return from
Concord on July 4, 1831, after his election as governor of New Hampshire. Governor Dinsmoor was conducted from Marlborough to Keene,
where he received the applause of its people and a special welcome
by students of Miss Fiske's Female Seminary, who were arranged before the school building to do him honor. Following this triumphant
arrival, a reception and banquet were held at his Main Street home
(site of the present Colonial Theater). Samuel Dinsmoor was reelected
in 1832 and 1833 to the state's highest office, and died in 1835. The
military units of Keene had all participated in a muster held in October
1831, when they were reviewed by Governor Dinsmoor and a member
of his staff, Colonel Franklin Pierce, later President of the United
States. The Keene Light Infantry journeyed to Concord for service as
part of the honor guard during President Andrew Jackson's state visit
to New Hampshire in June 1833 and won the special praise of the
President and his party.
The centennial of George Washington's birth in 1832, like other
civic holidays, was patriotic in character and featured an oration by
Salma Hale, as well as choral music and a banquet. The ball in the evening and illumination of the village after dark, however, were new
features. Late on the night before July 4, 1828, some ambitious celebrants drew the Keene Light Infantry's old cannon to the Common and
attempted to fire a salute. The charge was too heavy, and the resulting
explosion blew the cannon into pieces, which flew in every direction.
Fortunately no one was injured.
During the "hard cider and log cabin" campaign of 1840 Daniel
Webster visited Keene on July 9, and spoke for two hours to approximately 4,000 people at the Academy House yard. During his address
some of the supports of the hastily-constructed platform gave way. "If
the Whig platform goes down, I go with it," Webster remarked and went
on with his speech. That evening he was guest at a gala reception.
The Ashuelot Bank was organized in 1833, with Samuel Dinsmoor as its first president, and a brick building was erected on the west
side of the Square. The Cheshire Provident Institution for Savings was
organized in 1833, with Dr. Amos Twitchell as its first president. This
bank was located in George Tilden's book store on the west side of
Main Street. Later it became the Cheshire County Savings Bank. The
Cheshire County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. was formed early in 1834.
The town poor farm was established in 1830 on the Deacon Daniel
Kingsbury place ( at the end of the present Aldrich Road) and was
maintained by the town as a home for the indigent until 1876.
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E scap es fro m the o ld wooden ja il had become so freq uent th ey
turned int o a local joke. Once six to eight per sons bein g held for debt
climbed out without diffi culty th rou gh a window and had a "night on
the town" before returning to wa ke the jai ler to let them back in. They
were told to come back in the morning and not disturb people's sleep.
The 1831 jail populati on was four men an d one woman ; two jailed
for assault and one each for debt, thef t, and insa nity. How ever, laws for
the relief of those taken for debt were soo n p assed. In 1833 th e woo de n
bu ilding was repl aced by a sto ne jai l, using 1,400 ton s of R oxbu ry gra n­
ite and fo ur tons of iron in the con struction of "one of th e stro ngest and
most thorou ghly bui lt p risons in the Union ." It contained four cells on
Old jail on Was hington S tree t- 1833- 1884
the first floor and thr ee above, and the stru cture measured 24 x 36 fee t.
A ja iler's ho use con structed of bric k wa s erec te d next to th e new ja il.
Al so bu ilt in the per iod were seve ra l fine Was hington Stree t hou ses,
and the first tombs in the nearb y cem eter y were built in 183 3. A
private fa mily burial tomb was erec ted by Ju stus Perry at his imp osing
hom e on the site of th e present Keene Juni or High School. Thi s tomb
wa s lat er re move d to the town ce me tery.
T he question of a railroad th rou gh Keene had been in many mind s
ever since that form of transport ation had proved pr actical. It wa s dis­
cus sed by the Ke ene De bating Society and was the subject of sur veys.
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There was talk of construction from Boston to Brattleboro, Vt., with a
connecting line to Keene in 1829, but not until July 1 8 3 5 was the Keene
Railroad Co. chartered, with a projected line to the village from Lowell
and Nashua through to Brattleboro and Bennington in Vermont and
on to Troy, N. Y. Engineers examined various proposed routes, one
through Marlborough, Dublin, and Peterborough. All proved too expensive, and the scheme was finally abandoned, although dreams of a
rail link for Keene were not forgotten, especially when navigation on
the Connecticut River ended in 1835, with the sale of the locks and
canals at Bellows Falls to Boston manufacturing interests.
Although never associated with local railroad affairs, Samuel S.
Montague, born in Keene in 1830, became an officer in western railroads and was largely responsible for spanning the continent by rail as
a planner and builder of the Central Pacific Railroad. The movement
westward was intensifying at this period, and in June 1834 an emigrant
meeting was held in the Town Hall for those interested in becoming
pioneers of a new generation.
The Phoenix Hotel burned on April 6, 1836, destroying all but its
brick walls, although most of the furniture was saved. The building
burned slowly, a floor at a time, giving ample opportunity to remove
most of the contents. Amid the confusion one helper is reported to have
thrown a fine looking glass out a second-story window, while carefully
carrying a feather bed downstairs to safety. There was a serious fire
near the Eagle Hotel, which destroyed several buildings later in the
same year; the danger from fires was becoming quite a serious threat,
as more buildings clustered in the Central Square and Main Street
area.
After looking at the blackened ruins at the corner of Roxbury
Street for some months, a group of businessmen raised a fund to erect
the Cheshire House, using some of the brick walls and the portico left
standing from the Phoenix Hotel, and what was to become one of
Keene's most famous landmarks opened in November 1837.
A remarkable display of "northern lights," aurora borealis, was
witnessed in Keene on January 25, 1837. During the first three-quarters of an hour of the display the mercury in Rev. Barstow's thermometer, the village's standard in matters of temperature, fell 10 degrees.
The event was a subject for discussion and scientific explanation for
some time among those of the town most active in scientific pursuits.
When Halley's Comet was sighted during October 1835, there
was one man living in Keene who recalled its previous appearance.
Thomas Baker, who had seen the comet as a boy in 1759, could de81
scribe it vividly and even drew a sketch of the phenomenon in 1835,
when he was over 80 years of age. Another comet which attracted
widespread attention was Donati's, seen in unusual brilliance during
1858.
Miss Fiske died in May 1837 and, though her school continued in
operation for several years under the direction of her staff, without her
personal guidance and leadership the institution lost some of its high
standing. Largely sponsored and supported by the Congregational
Church, the Academy in Keene was opened in the spring of 1837.
Breed Batcheller, grandson of a well-known Tory of Revolutionary
days, became its first instructor. Though a private school, it offered
education to all qualified youth of the town, and the enrollment was
about 200 students, while the staff numbered four during the early
years. Instruction was offered in the usual subjects taught in such institutions, augmented by music and drawing. Among the pupils were two
Cherokee Indian girls, probably Keene's first "exchange students,"
who were invited to town for educational opportunities during the
1840's. The brick house on the corner of Court and Summer Streets
was built at this time to serve as a boarding house for the school, which
soon became known as Keene Academy.
William Torrance became principal of the school in 1850. However, financially unsuccessful, the school experienced difficulties in
maintaining high standards, and in 1853, through Torrance's efforts,
the building was leased to the "Associated Districts" of the town, thus
beginning community-sponsored secondary education in Keene. The
popular Torrance died in 1855 and was buried in the Washington
Street Cemetery, not far from another pioneer Keene educator, Miss
Catherine Fiske.
The financial crisis of 1837, which gripped the entire nation in
one of its most serious depressions, was the cause of widespread business failures and had its effects on Keene. A meeting of citizens was
held in May, and a committee chosen to examine the local situation
and make recommendations. Upon the advice of this group, the two
local banks followed the course of many such institutions in larger
places and suspended specie payments. The committee further recommended "such a measure should in no wise impair the confidence
which the community has heretofore placed in the management of the
Banks in this town." Keene was able to weather the serious depression
with less severe consequences than had been anticipated, but the effects of the disaster which closed so many businesses and banks, ruined
merchants, frustrated labor, and paralyzed the national economy for
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seven years helped bring to an end much of the brilliant social activity
in Keene as elsewhere.
In 1839 the revived Baptist Church, led by Rev. John Peacock,
erected a brick meetinghouse on Winter Street. On the corner of Winter and Court Streets the county, in 1840, erected a granite building for
county offices and the storage of records. The site is that of the present
Cheshire County Court House, which was erected in 1858.
During this formative period of Keene's growth the outline and
size of Central Square were finally established. Three-story brick
buildings had been built on its north, east, and west sides, and most of
the old plank walks had been replaced by brick. The Cheshire House,
Unitarian Church, Baptist Church, Center School, and Academy
Building, all of brick, had been built near the Square, and the new
county office building and jail, both of stone, added to the village scene,
as did a number of fine houses along the principal streets. Stone bridges
at the lower end of Main Street and on the Walpole and Surry Roads
had been added, as well as many highway improvements. Mills, shops,
and industry of various sorts were established, making the town one of
the busier centers in the state.
But it was still a quiet country town in many ways, described by a
visitor as "one of the most delightful villages in New England. There is
hardly another place in the Union (of its size of course) that possesses more talent and sterling intellect than Keene." Francis Parkman,
famed historian, said of Keene: "A town noted in rural New England
for its hospitality, culture without pretense, and good breeding without
conventionality."
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PART VIII: 1841-1855
During the ten-year period between 1830 and 1840 Keene
gained 236 inhabitants and its population rose from 2,374 to 2,610.
In addition to military musters, the annual election day ( at that
ti me the first Wednesday in June which was also opening day of the
legislature) became an event to celebrate in the life of the now mature
township. Election Day in 1841 was observed with a gathering of
nearly 1,200 people on the banks of the Ashuelot River for a feast,
music, and speeches. General James Wilson Jr., who had been appointed surveyor general of the Wisconsin and Iowa Territories, was
honored that same afternoon at a banquet and reception previous to
his departure for the West.
Wilson was elected to Congress in 1847 and reelected in 1849,
but he declined to run in 1850. Samuel Dinsmoor Jr., son of the former
governor, was elected to that office in 1849 and served three terms.
During the political campaign of 1852 there was spirited rivalry
in Keene between the Whigs and Democrats. Whig supporters raised a
large flag bearing the names of their candidates, Scott and Graham,
over the New Hampshire Sentinel office on the west side of the Square.
They were answered by a larger flag, bearing the name of candidate
Franklin Pierce, flown from the office of the Democrat-supported
Cheshire Republican office across the street. The Whigs then raised a
30-foot pole which the Democrats topped by an 80-foot spruce from
which flew the largest flag ever seen in Keene. The Whigs searched
the whole region and found in Sullivan a tree 100 feet high. This they
painted, fitted with a gold eagle finial, and by cutting a hole in the roof
of the Sentinel office, raised a flagpole, from which they flew a flag 30 x
50 feet in size 91 feet above the rooftop. Surmounted by a colorful
streamer, 100 feet long, flying proudly atop the building, this banner
was a handsome sight. In windy weather the giant flag snapped with the
sound of a rifle that could be heard for some distance. The Democrats
were outdone in flag displays, but their candidates won the election.
The old Whig party was followed by the new Republican organization in the 1856 campaign, and the New Hampshire Sentinel, a
Whig paper for many years, embraced the new party, while the
Cheshire Republican, despite its name, was Democratic in politics.
In September 1856 a flagpole in three sections was erected by the
Keene Fremont Club in the newly-fenced Common. The first pole in
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Central Square—middle 19th century
this area was about 180 feet high and remained in place until cut
down as unsafe in June 1862.
Programs of civic improvement were fostered in town. A new
road toward Newport up the valley from Gilsum to Marlow opened in
1841 and connected with the Beaver Brook Road, which had opened
in 1837 from Keene to Gilsum. A stone highway bridge was built in
South Keene in 1842. When it collapsed, just after completion, a rebuilding committee was selected. However, controversy arose over
the liability of the contracts and nothing was done until 1846, when
a wooden structure was put up.
Renewed interest in temperance was evident by the organization
of the Sons of Temperance and the Washington Total Abstinence
Society of 600 members formed in 1841, with Salma Hale as president. A temperance jubilee was held in Keene on February 22, and
an impressive temperance celebration was staged on July 4, 1842,
at John Elliot's grove on the banks of the Ashuelot River. Temperance societies, Sunday School groups, and others, numbering 2,000
strong, and headed by a military band, formed a procession from the
Square. Later all enjoyed a banquet and heard speeches and choral
music. Other such affairs were held to commemorate Washington's
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Birthday and July 4.
In September 1845 a legal meeting resolved "that all places where
playing cards or other gambling articles, and all intoxicating drinks
are kept and sold, and other immoralities are practiced, is hereby
taken and deemed by the good people of this town to be a public
nuisance." Control of liquor sales by strict license was approved by
a vote of 251 to 41, and similar action was taken in 1847 and 1848.
J. H. W. Hawkins, "the reformed inebriate," made one of his several
Keene lecture appearances at the Town Hall in May 1846 in support
of the temperance cause; within a few weeks 1,500 out of a population of about 3,000 had taken the pledge.
Interest in railroads increased when proposals for a line from
Boston were advanced, and meetings were held to arouse popular
support. Alvah Crocker of Fitchburg, the promoter largely responsible for the railroad to that town, addressed a meeting in the Town
Hall in December 1842. Another enthusiastic meeting was held in
the First Church in December 1843, and the formation of a company
to found the enterprise was begun.
In June 1844 the New Hampshire legislature granted a charter
for the Fitchburg, Keene, and Connecticut River Railroad, but it was
rejected by the corporators. The charter of the Cheshire Railroad
Co. was then granted on December 17, 1844, and the company's first
meeting was held in Keene on January 10, 1845. Thomas M. Edwards, an active promoter of the railroad, was a strong leader of
the new corporation. It was largely by his efforts that the line was
completed and the railroad introduced into Keene. Edwards was active in all phases of local life, and served two terms in Congress,
1859-63, where he was appointed to several important committees
and was frequently called upon to preside over the House in the
absence of the speaker.
Among the construction workers employed on the line were many
Irish immigrants whose conduct was sometimes the subject of local
concern. Aided by the town's educational funds, the Ladies' Charitable Society organized a school for the children of the railroad workers, and teachers included, among others, the wives of local clergymen. While the contractors employed by the railroad were as a whole
honorable and treated the men well, a few were less than prompt
in delivering pay, and strikes were sometimes called. The new
Americans were often inclined to be intemperate and unruly, and
riots among the laborers broke out on several occasions. Much of
the trouble was the result of rum sold by the wagonload in the work86
ers' camps by unscrupulous merchants.
Most of the rioting took place as the great work of cutting through
the "Summit" was in progress. Hand drills were used, later supplemented by a few steam-powered machines, but most of the construction was accomplished by hand labor. The workmen stood in mortal
fear of the military; when the militia was called to aid the sheriff in
putting down disturbances, the rioters quickly scattered into the
woods. The most serious rioting took place near the "Summit" in
August 1848 as the result of a quarrel among the laborers, some
natives of County Cork and others from Limerick. About 200 armed
sons of Cork descended on the shanties of the Limericks and exchanged a variety of missiles and a few volleys of gunfire. One member of the attacking party was killed outright, and several of both
factions were wounded and later died. The Cork men proved the
stronger and drove the Limericks back, taking possession of their
homes. Word was sent to Keene, and the Keene Light Infantry was
dispatched to the scene but found all quiet upon its arrival, as the
leaders of the fray were hidden in the woods. The dead were buried
at Walpole. Later about 40 of the participants were arrested, of whom
21 were placed on trial; 16 were found guilty and jailed for disturbing
the peace.
The Irish, the first important influx since settlement days, brought
a new spirit to the community, a labor force for the developing industries, and a new dimension to the Yankee scene in Keene, as elsewhere throughout New England. The first local Roman Catholic Mass
was celebrated by Rev. John Daley in 1845 in the cabin home of
Patrick Burns, which was located four miles from Keene. Marriages
were performed at the Eagle Hotel, and Mass was said in private
homes and at the Town Hall by visiting clergy. The area was served
by the pioneer Catholic parish, which had been established at Claremont, until 1856, when Rev. John Brady, Claremont's resident
pastor, purchased a building on Marlboro Street in Keene and converted it into a church.
In 1844, the Forest Tree Society was given permission to plant
trees and otherwise improve the appearance of the town. The first
attempts to set out trees along Main Street had taken place in 1788.
Trees were planted on Prison Street about 1823, and on Winter Street
in 1842. The Walker Elm or "auction elm" at the head of Main
Street, where the weekly outdoor auctions were held for many years,
was set out in 1842 by Alvah Walker, then proprietor of the Cheshire
House. The tree was removed in 1900, and the site was later occupied
by the flagpole.
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1876 view of Walker Elm, planted 1842 by Major Alvah Walker
In the fall of 1844 the Forest Tree Society reported that it had
set out 141 trees along village streets. That same year permission
was granted to the Society "to fence in and ornament a small central
portion of the Common of such size and shape as the Selectmen shall
deem compatible . . ." Merchants objected that their signs would
be hidden from view and sales would suffer. Others objected that trees
would impair use of the Common as a parade ground for military
and civic reviews, as a market place for farmers and their teams, as
a field for the village baseball game on Fast Day, as an open space
for wood sleds in winter, and as a free area for all the activity of
Court Week. Many also complained because they believed "it would
give the town a countrified look, and people would cease to believe
that we were metropolitan in fact, or in aspiration."
So great were the objections that threats were made to uproot any
trees that were planted, and the Society was forced to postpone its
planting. Finally, in June 1851, amid scowls of disapproval from the
onlookers, a few of the more active members of the Forest Tree
Society planted some trees brought from the "Statia" farm and enclosed that small section with a fence. It was soon found that one
could still cross from one side of the Square to the other without difficulty and that trade remained brisk in spite of "the leafy concealment
of the signboards." Demand now arose to enlarge the park, and this
was done by creating an elliptical outline from the earlier so-called
"Coffin Common" shape. In 1856 stone posts were set and gravel
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walks laid out. The earliest picture of the Square appeared in Austin
J. Coolidge's History and Description of New England, published in
1860.
The Center School was sold in 1844 to Eliphalet Briggs, who
owned a nearby cabinet and furniture business, and a new brick
school was erected on the north side of Church Street, a short distance
from Main Street.
The Cheshire Bank (later Cheshire National Bank) put up its
Main Street building in 1847, moving vault doors and locks from the
former bank, which had been torn down to make way for a railroad
depot.
The graceful stone arch railroad bridge at South Keene was built
of Roxbury granite in 1847, under the direction of Lucian Tilton,
chief engineer of the railroad.
Publisher Benaiah Cooke's periodical The Philanthropist was issued as a temperance paper from 1846 through 1848, and he then
began the Free Soil Palladium, which had only a short life. Otis F. R.
Waite, who purchased Cooke's other newspaper in 1848, continued
it as the Spirit of the Times until 1 850. Then it passed back to Cooke
and was published as the American News from 1851 until his death
in 1852. It was purchased at auction by Samuel Woodward and was
joined with the New Hampshire Sentinel in 1855. Also published at
this period was the Homeopathic Advocate and Guide to Health,
an advertising journal issued by D. White in 1851 and 1852.
Beaver Brook Lod g e No. 36 of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows was chartered on August 19, 1851, with six original members. Freemasonry, which had been inactive in Keene since 1830,
was revived in 1856.
The location of the railroad station was the object of much discussion in 1846. Original plans called for its location near where it
was finally built, but the amount of filling and grading necessary in
the area (from early days it had been so low and wet that a bridge
or causeway was once located there) made the site between Water
and Marlboro Streets seem better suited. To induce the railroad to
locate the station nearer the Square, a group of businessmen and
citizens subscribed $4,500 to purchase the Dorr land and presented
it to the railroad as a station site. The property included land on
West Street, where the Episcopal Church was later built, and an area
which was long used as a circus and show ground and for open air
meetings. Here on July 4, 1 849, a crowd of about 4,500 men, women,
and children attended a large celebration sponsored by Sunday
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School children from the entire county, who were brought by special
trains to Keene.
By failing to comply with the conditions of the gift of land upon
which the Court House had been built, and by allowing it to be used
for commercial purposes, the county lost its title to the property in
1847. This meant that the town also lost its public meeting place. In
1848 the present City Hall property was purchased and Charles Edward Parker of Boston, son of Elijah Parker and a native of Keene,
was elected as architect for a town hall. The building was dedicated
with a Grand Citizens' Ball on February 28, 1849. Kendall's Band
from Boston played as 500 persons danced until four o'clock in the
morning, inaugurating a "Citizens' Annual Ball" that was to be a
local social feature for many years to come. The meeting hall was lit
by gas for the first time in December 1859 for a gala concert by the
Keene Brass Band, which had been organized in June 1855. The
original building, still standing, has undergone remodeling several
times, including the addition of a tower and interior renovations.
Railroad construction had pushed toward Keene where it was
awaited with growing anticipation. The original locomotive (with one
set of driving wheels), "Rough and Ready," was used during most
of the construction and was the first to enter Keene, pulling work
trains as the track was being laid. The line was opened to Winchendon and Troy in the fall of 1847 and to Keene the next spring.
May 16, 1848, was a gala day in the life of the village, an historic
moment no one soon forgot. The weather was showery in the morning
but cleared before noon. Roads had been crowded since dawn as
hundreds of people poured into the village to view the new wonder.
The first train from Boston was not scheduled to arrive until 1:30,
and by that time nearly 5,000 had gathered around the new railroad
station inspecting everything. Most of the people had never seen a
locomotive before, and excitement ran at fever pitch. To signal its
approach cannons were to be fired at prearranged intervals. A little
before 1:30 stores closed; all business ceased while clerks and merchants joined the impatient throng. A hearty cheer was raised as the
sound of the first cannon was faintly heard. Soon other shots echoed
across the valley, each one louder, and all who were waiting turned
their eyes eastward down the ribbons of steel. Suddenly the train, a
doubleheader, came into view, a series of 15 cars drawn by two small
puffing locomotives, their huge balloon stacks belching dense clouds
of wood smoke. The cars were decorated with flags, banners, and
evergreen. The brasswork of the engines, the "Cheshire" No. 5 and
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the "Monadnock" No. 6, was brightly polished, and the whole spectacle was one of strength, power, and beauty. The crowd broke loose
with wild hurrahs, church bells rang, artillery salutes were fired, and
a band began to play as the train slowed, crossed Main Street, and
entered the depot. The train was so long that it extended far down
into the yards, where passengers who had ridden on the three open
cars (fitted with improvised seats) dug the cinders out of their eyes
and prepared to join the celebration. One old man who had waited
many long hours raised his hands and looked toward heaven, exclaiming "Now, 0 Lord, I am ready to go!"
Among those who witnessed the first train was Mrs. Henry Ellis,
97-year-old widow of a Revolutionary War soldier. "What do you
think of it?" she was asked by Dr. Amos Twitchell. "It beats everything I've ever attended, balls, quiltings, weddings and ordinations,"
was her reply.
The Suffolk Brass Band had come on the first train as volunteers
for the occasion, and a procession was formed to the Town Hall for
the railroad company's annual meeting. Headed by the band and the
proud stockholders, the parade made its way up Main Street amid
the cheers of the enthusiastic crowd. Following the business session,
the procession wound its way back for a banquet served in the depot
to about 1,500 people. Addresses were heard by Thomas M. Edwards
and other leaders in the railroad enterprise, civic officials and honored
guests, including Mayor Quincy of Boston. The train was turned
around and left for Boston shortly after 5 P.M., as spectators applauded and cheered. In the evening the stockholders completed
their business with a reception by Edwards, who was president of the
railroad, while the town enjoyed the music of the visiting band.
In July two trains a day began regular service to and from Boston,
leaving both places at seven o'clock in the morning and two o'clock
in the afternoon, arriving at 11 A.M. and 6 P.M. The first passenger
conductor was Gardner E. Hall, formerly a stage driver whose profession was all but wiped out by the railroad. On January 1, 1849,
the railroad was opened to Bellows Falls. Problems of construction
over some of the most difficult terrain in the state made the line one
of the most expensive and one of the most thoroughly built in New
England. Accidents were not infrequent, neither were landslides; one
of the largest was a slide near Walpole, which closed all traffic for 10
days in March 1849.
Over the rails passed freight, travelers, and fugitive slaves, bound
for freedom in Canada, who were aided in their escape by Northern
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abolitionists. In September 1850, 22 cars of excursionists, bound
from Boston to Montreal, passed through Keene, and 149 cars of
cattle from the north heading for Boston passed through in July 1859.
Many of those who left for California in search of gold traveled by
rail; the local press was filled with advertisements of homes, farms,
and businesses for sale during the gold rush.
The record run on the Cheshire line was made on November 23,
1849, as part of a contest between the Cheshire and Concord routes
from Boston north. A single engine made the distance of 50 miles
from South Ashburnham to North Walpole in 52 minutes.
Agitation for another railroad was begun as early as 1845, and
the Ashuelot line was surveyed in 1847. Their charter was obtained
in 1846, but difficulties and delay in raising funds prevented construction until 1850. Service was opened in 1851. John H. Fuller was the
moving force behind the Ashuelot Railroad. (Fuller Park was named
in his honor when it was opened in 1925.) The Ashuelot road never
had its own rolling stock but was leased to the Connecticut River
Railroad. This important link to South Vernon, Mass., gave to Keene
the added distinction of being a rail junction.
The railroad repair department became one of Keene's major industries. The brick shop buildings were equipped not only to service
the needs of the Keene-based Cheshire Railroad, but also to build
locomotives, which was first done in 1859. In 1855 there were 60
employed in the repair work; before the close of the century the shops
reached a peak of 487 employees.
A third rail line, the New Hampshire Union Railroad, (to run from
Keene to Concord by way of Hillsboro) was incorporated in 1851,
but the project was abandoned due to lack of business prospects for
the road.
During this time the mercantile life of Keene saw the addition of
several new concerns and the steady growth of those already established. The Cheshire County Bank (now Keene National Bank) was
organized in July 1855, with offices on the west side of Main Street. A
carriage and sleigh-making business under Jason and William French
was moved to Keene around this time, and its products brought to
the firm and to Keene a measure of fame. Aaron Davis established an
iron foundry on Davis Street. Decorative cast iron work, stoves, gates,
and fences were the products of George Holmes and Brother. The
organ and melodeon firm of Joseph Foster was organized. In business
from 1845 until 1857 with Charles F. Felt, and in later years with his
brother Ephraim, Joseph Foster produced an instrument much ap92
preciated in its day. Foster, a Baptist deacon, provided that church
with its first pipe organ in 1861. The melodeon business was located
in its early days at the rear of the Winter Street Baptist Church in
the "gunshop," erected about 1853, and was shared with Gilman
Woodward and later George 0. Leonard, makers of prize-winning
sharpshooting rifles. Pianos were first advertised for sale in Keene by
Eliphalet Briggs in 1843. They were the work of Lemuel Gilbert of
Boston. Henry Pond employed 12 people in an extensive hat manufactory, which included not only tall beaver hats but also a wide variety of cloth hats and caps.
The industrial complex on Mechanic Street was begun about 1848
and had one of Keene's first power plants and steam engines. At
South Keene pails were manufactured in increasing numbers. Mortising machinery, as well as some of the country's first woodworking
machinery, was produced by J. A. Fay & Co. on the site of the present
Washington School building. The firm moved to South Keene (someti mes called Branchville) where it developed so rapidly that plants
were established in Connecticut and Ohio. Eventually the Keene
factory was closed and the company carried on at Norwich and Cincinnati.
The photographic history of Keene opens about 1840, with the
first experiments of Edward Poole, a jeweler and watchmaker.
Poole's first daguerreotypes were made as a hobby. The earliest commercial photography in Keene was that of a traveling firm, Thomas
& Marsh, in July 1841. Norman Wilson, another Keene jeweler, was
the first local professional in the field, early in 1842. Samuel C.
Dustin, who opened a studio in 1856, is responsible for most of the
pioneer photographs made in Keene, along with Jotham A. French
and Chester Allen, who started in the business in the 1840's.
In 1848 Edward Farrar carried on experiments conducting sound
electrically by wire. He actually transmitted the music of a piano
from his office across the Square to the Town Hall, but his work met
with little support and, failing to secure permission to run more wire
in town, he abandoned his experiments. The principles and some of
the devices employed by Farrar were the same as those later proved
commercially successful by the telephone.
In June 1851 authorization for a telegraph line from Burlington
through Keene to Boston was granted, and the first message by telegraph was received in Keene on December 23, 1851.
The use of ether in dental extractions was pioneered by Horace
Wells at Hartford, Conn., in 1844. Keene's first such operation took
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place in April 1847 by Dr. C. Stratton, probably the first anaesthetic
administered in Keene.
The Methodists, whose services had been held from time to time
since 1803 in Keene, organized in 1835 and held meetings in the
Town Hall until the congregation purchased land on the west side
of Court Street and erected a small wooden building. Dedication
services were held on July 15, 1852. The Baptists, on nearby Winter
Street, were served by Rev. Mark Carpenter, Rev. Horace Richardson, and Rev. Gilbert Robbins as pastors between 1840 and 1857.
Rev. Abiel A. Livermore was pastor of the Unitarian congregation
until 1850 and then Rev. William Orne White served for 27 years.
Meetings of Millerites became frequent in the area as 1843, the
year they believed would bring the end of the world, approached.
In December 1842 they held a 10-day series of Keene meetings
under Mr. Preble of Nashua, a traveling preacher. Reports that
numbers of them, wearing white ascension robes, actually waited on
the hills about Keene valley to be gathered up into heaven are probably true.
The missionary efforts of the Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons,
began fairly early in this region. Lucy Mack Smith, mother of Joseph
Smith, Jr., the prophet, was born in Gilsum, N.H., and her brother
continued to live there after the foundation of the new church in
New York State in 1830. Joseph Smith Sr. and his son John, father
and brother of the prophet, preached in this area in 1836. Elders
came about 1841 and converted 16 persons, and further church organization took place in 1857.
An 1844 survey of schools revealed that Keene maintained 14
buildings, nine of brick, though not all were plastered or properly
painted. "All the rooms except one are warmed by stoves," the report
observed, "which often produces too high a temperature, causing
dullness and headaches. The floors are very cold, from the fact that
there is no tight cellar or underpinning, the wind being allowed full
sweep under the whole house. This tends to keep the feet cold while
the stove keeps the head hot: a state of the human body not approved
by our physicians."
Although equipment was sadly lacking. 610 scholars were enrolled. The high school was revived in November 1853, with 93 pupils
and two teachers, and the Keene Academy building leased for its use.
Under William Torrance, its first principal, public secondary education was finally begun. The first high school dramatic presentation
was staged in November 1855 to raise money for the purchase of a
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piano. Private education continued to be offered, but on a smaller
scale, and for the most part confined to special subjects, such as the
writing school of W. G. Spalding, from Worcester, in 1843, the singing school of William S. Hutchins in 1852, and instruction in piano,
guitar, flute, and clarinet offered by J. S. Farina in 1848.
The Cheshire County Teachers' Institute, a training session to improve classroom teaching, was organized and held in Keene in April
1845. Another was held in the fall of that year, and two sessions in
1846, at Winchester and Dublin. The 1847 institutes were held in
Keene and Chesterfield.
The extensive cabinet and furniture shop of Eliphalet and Warren
S. Briggs on Washington Street and the old two-story school, used
as a joiner's shop, with other buildings just above the Square, burned
on a Sunday morning in February 1846. Rev. Livermore dismissed
his congregation and went with them to assist at the fire. According to
tradition, Rev. Barstow, with a different sense of duty, continued
services as though nothing unusual were happening, although his own
church was threatened by flames. Further efforts at fire protection
had been furnished in 1845 by seven cisterns sunk around the business district and connected by long pipes to the central town well at
the head of Main Street. It was, however, a meager effort, and fire
lines, or bucket brigades, were still employed to assist the handpumped fire engines. Beyond the Square there was no protection except for nearby brooks and wells. The Ashuelot Fire Insurance Co.
was organized in February 1853, beginning a business venture that
was to last for half a century.
In 1847 the Keene Fire Society turned over to the town its two
fire engines, leather hose, fire buckets, and engine house on Roxbury
Street. The latter was sold at auction in 1851. In 1848 a third engine,
the Deluge No. 1 (built by Hunneman fire engine makers) was purchased, and in 1852 uniforms for the firemen were adopted. The
older hand pumpers received the names Lion and Tiger; the engine
companies later became known as the Deluge and Neptune. The
Deluge engine house was located on Court Street, near the site of the
Barker Block. The Neptune engine house was situated at the rear of
the new Town Hall on Washington Street. Musters for fire companies
became popular. Streams were pumped for prizes, the mark being the
flagpole in the Common. A firemen's ball became a feature at this
time as a social event. The second annual levee of the Deluge and
Neptune Companies, held at the Town Hall in December 1856, was
a gala affair, marred only by a fire during the evening festivities.
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The Deluge machine had been pulled upstairs and decorated for the
event, and by the time it was dragged down and to the scene of the
fire the buildings were a total loss.
A company of riflemen in West Keene was formed in 1842, and
area units continued their rivalry in parades, reviews, and exercises,
although the lure of military musters was on the wane. An encampment of 220 officers was held near the Emerald House (now the Hotel
Ellis) in September 1847. Other military gatherings were held on
Roxbury Street and on Beaver Street (where Woodland Cemetery
was later located). A visiting company, the Mechanics' Phalanx of
Lowell, paraded in Keene in September 1851, and the colorful uniforms attracted a large crowd.
Only a few soldiers from Keene saw service in the Mexican War.
Captain Charles B. Daniels of the regular army, a native of the town,
was killed in September 1847, while leading an assault at El Molino
del Rey, and Captain Albemarle Cody, also of Keene, was wounded
and promoted to brevet major for gallant and meritorious conduct.
In June 1842 some 70 artillerymen from Plattsburgh, N.Y., passed
by way of Keene to Rhode Island and service in the "Dorr Rebellion." The unsuccessful Thomas W. Dorr, who claimed the governorship of Rhode Island during a conflict of authority, fled to New
Hampshire and lived for some months in Westmoreland, during
which time he was a frequent visitor to Keene.
The military as a whole became less and less an attraction, and
the last of the old-fashioned musters was held in 1850.
Public entertainment, in addition to balls, receptions, and society
meetings, was provided by a number of traveling companies. J. W.
Barrett displayed his "dioramic illusions," including the "Battle of
Bunker Hill, Storm at Sea, the Garden of Eden and the Sunset in
Paradise, made to imitate with surprising accuracy the movements
of animate nature" in April 1842. In April 1849 a group of American
Indians performed in the Town Hall with dances, songs, and illustrations of tribal customs. Welch's National Circus played Keene in May
1849, and was the first to be lighted by gas, which was manufactured
in their own portable plant. The circus that came in August 1851
was said to be the largest in the nation, and consisted of 110 horses
and 90 men. It also featured a gallery of life-size wax figures of
Presidents of the United States. In September 1853 Spaulding and
Rogers' Circus brought to Keene a 40-horse team driven four abreast,
pulling "the world renowned" Apollonicon, a steam calliope, and
featured musical, equestrian, gymnastic, and dramatic talent. When
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the troupe returned to Keene in May 1856 they came by rail, the
first railroad circus in the town's history. Another calliope performed
for large crowds in Keene in September 1856, this one attached to
a railroad locomotive and used to provide music for rail excursions.
Mrs. Gibbs, a talented English vocalist, gave a "Soiree Musicale" in
June 1841, an affair that was almost broken up by the noisy rehearsal
of the local brass band nearby. The famed Hutchinson Family Singers, natives of Milford, N.H., performed in the Town Hall in June
1842 as part of their New England tour. The Swiss Bell Ringers, who
were heard in May 1851, delighted the audience: "not only was it an
entertainment attractive from its novelty, but also from its musical
merits." Advertised as a "wonderful curiosity" and "the American
giantess," the 19-year-old Rosina D. Richardson, born in Marlow,
N.H., and famed fat girl who weighed 500 pounds, was the attraction
at the Town Hall on December 7, 1852.
Although a successful cattle show had been held in Keene in 1843,
agricultural shows had declined in the two decades prior to 1847.
There was a revival of interest that year, when the Cheshire County
Agricultural Society was formed and sponsored exhibitions. In 1849
its show attracted 60 pairs of oxen entered for premiums, with more
than 100 pairs on display, while fruit and other produce, as well as
fancy articles and manufactures, added to the general interest. For a
number of years the high standards of this fair were matched in succeeding exhibitions. A private showing, by Paul F. Aldrich of Swanzey
at the Emerald House in Keene, of an ox weighing 4,000 pounds and
a six-year-old Durham heifer weighing 2,300 pounds attracted much
attention in December 1847.
On October 3-6, 1854, the fifth annual New Hampshire Agricultural Society Fair was held in West Keene on land (now Wheelock
Park) purchased as a fairground by prominent citizens. Special
trains brought a record number of visitors, many of whom were transported to the exhibition in a type of early bus, a wagon built by a
French firm of carriage makers. It seated 24, and bore the name
"Experiment." In addition to the extensive agricultural exhibits and
fancy articles shown in a building 100 feet long which had been
erected for the occasion, two buffaloes from Nebraska were shown, a
1,200-pound Maine hog, and a moose. More than 200 pairs of oxen,
400 head of cattle, horses, and other stock drew large crowds. A
gallery seating 2,000 had been erected, as well as barns and other
buildings, and the event brought to Keene the governor, state officials,
and visitors from a wide area. Local hotels were crowded with as
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many people as had ever been entertained for a single event up to
that time.
Archery enjoyed a period of popularity among both men and
women in Keene, and at least one festival dedicated to the sport was
held on the banks of the Ashuelot River in 1849. The XY Club was
formed by a group of women in June 1854. Meetings featured discussions of fashions, current events, the manner of dealing with
servants, and cultural topics, but gossip was barred according to club
rules. Social events, excursions, and parties were frequently held by
the club members. The ladies, with their husbands, made the journey
to Bellows Falls in three double carriages in September 1855. Leaving Keene at 7 A.M., they traveled through Surry and Walpole whose
"wild and varied scenery" was admired. The party dined at the famed
Island House, viewed the falls—"to see the noble stream plunging
and foaming over the huge rocks worn smooth by continued action
of the waters for ages is truly magnificent"—and returned to Keene
about 9 P.M.
A severe wind and snowstorm in December 1854 damaged fences,
timber, and buildings, and toppled 50 chimneys in the village. Many
trees were lost, including those on what had been known since colonial times as the minister's lot. The sawmills did a brisk business, but
it took generations to grow trees again in some of the badly damaged
areas.
Among the cultural activities in Keene were a social book club,
formed in 1847, and the resurrected Keene Debating Club. Lectures
by leading figures in American life were sponsored by the Keene
Lyceum which had been established in this period. Wendell Phillips
spoke on "The Lost Arts" in January 1854, and William Lloyd Garrison was the speaker at a series of anti-slavery meetings during
October 1855. Others who spoke included Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Henry Ward Beecher, Charles Sumner, Josiah Quincy Jr., Bayard
Taylor, and John Godfrey Saxe. Henry David Thoreau is known to
have visited the native town of his mother, Cynthia Dunbar. Speaking of Keene's wide street in 1850, Thoreau wrote, "Keene Street
strikes the traveller favorably, it is so wide, level, straight, and long.
I have heard one of my relatives, who was born and bred there,
say that you could see a chicken run across it a mile off. I have also
been told that when this town was settled they laid out a street four
rods wide, but at a subsequent meeting of the proprietors one rose
and remarked, 'We have plenty of land, why not make the street
eight rods wide?' and so they voted that it should be eight rods wide,
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Central Square in the 1860's
and the town is known far and near for its handsome street. It was
a cheap way of securing comfort, as well as fame, and I wish that
all new towns would take pattern from this. It is best to lay our plans
widely in youth, for then land is cheap, and it is but too easy to contract our views afterward. . . . Keene is built on a remarkably large
and level interval, like the bed of a lake, and the surrounding hills,
which are remote from its street, must afford some good walks. The
scenery of mountain towns is commonly too much crowded. A town
which is built on a plain of some extent, with an open horizon, and
surrounded by hills at a distance, affords the best walks and views."
Another literary figure associated with Keene because of his birth
in the village and who returned for visits was Charles King Newcomb,
whose father served in the War of 1812, and who was the grandson
of Judge Daniel Newcomb. Although he never fully realized the high
hopes others held for him, no less an authority than Ralph Waldo
Emerson praised him without reservation, saying his mind "was far
richer than mine."
Traveling artists, painting portraits for their board, had visited
Keene for many years. Several, like Horace Bundy, are identified as
among the best of the American "primitive" school. A larger figure
in the field of American art was Benjamin Champney, founder of
the "White Mountain School," who was among those attracted in
increasing numbers to Mt. Monadnock. During the summer of 1849
Champney visited his native New Hampshire and made sketches in
the Keene area. He described the village as "that most delightful of
New England towns," where he "made many pleasant friends." A
picture he made from Beech Hill is among the earliest artistic representations of Keene. Reproduced as a lithograph in 1850, it had a
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popular sale in Keene. The notables who doubtless visited Keene on
their way to and from Monadnock included Nathaniel Hawthorne,
William Ellery Channing, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Abbott H. Thayer,
and Louis Agassiz.
Hale's Annals of Keene saw its second and enlarged ediSalma
tion published by the Prentiss firm in 1851. The selectmen were directed to take 1,500 copies at a reasonable price. In 1853 the New
York firm of Presdee and Edwards published a handsome wall map
of the village.
As Keene approached its centennial of town government, the population grew to 3,392. Perhaps a sense of history was beginning to
make itself felt in 1852 when a fireproof safe was approved for the
protection of town records, although there was no office except the
residence of whoever served as town clerk. The centennial anniversary of Keene under its New Hampshire charter was observed on
May 26, 1853. A large tent was pitched on a flat space near the
Square, but rain forced the exercises to be held in the Town Hall.
Thomas M. Edwards was chairman of a committee of the town's
leading citizens to plan the affair. An ode sung by a large choir was
composed by the Baptist minister, Gilbert Robbins, and the oration
of the day was delivered by Joel Parker, then a professor of law at
Harvard. The rain having stopped, a procession was formed, led by
the Boston Brigade Band under famed American bandmaster Patrick
S. Gilmore, and marched down Main Street to a spacious tent where
a banquet was served for nearly 1,800 people. Toasts were offered
to the Centennial, Sir Benjamin Keene, the first settlers, the ladies
of the community, the Ashuelot River, those of Keene who had left
to seek their fortunes elsewhere, the house of Nathan Blake, Rev.
Jacob Bacon, Captain Isaac Wyman and those who answered the
Lexington alarm, the schools, and a number of the leaders in the
growth of the village. Each toast was responded to by a short address
and often a musical selection. The three fire companies, Deluge,
Tiger, and Lion, made their first appearance in new uniforms, and
escorted the celebration officers and clergymen. The meeting was adjourned for 100 years, and a band concert and reception were enjoyed
by all.
Prominent among the unusual characters in Keene during this
period was Anna Banks, who lived in a hut on Gilsum Street, not far
from the glass factory. She was a wrinkled old crone who obtained her
living largely by telling fortunes, and it became a popular sport for
young people to consult her. Her appearance on the streets of the
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village attracted attention, as she was a colorful personage, generally
good-natured and allowing all manner of fun in her presence. The
roof of her shack extended to the ground so that it was an easy matter
to climb up to the huge chimney, where a view of a considerable
portion of the interior could be obtained. A kettle of boiling water
usually hung from a crane in the fireplace, and the boys thought it
fun to ascend the roof quietly on a dark evening and drop sticks and
stones into the kettle below. On one such occasion, her patience tried
to the bone, old Anna seized a dipper and filling it with scalding
water, flung it on those of the mischievous who were not quick enough
to reach the ground and make their escape from her wrath. Anna
Banks died in 1858 at the age of 76.
Justus Tozer, famous for his ready wit and ability to construct
rhymes on any subject suggested, was another eccentric who also died
in 1858. Although he was a harmless, good-natured old man who had
lived to 70 years, it was said at his decease that he had not drawn a
sober breath for 40 of those years. His quaint rhymes and witty remarks on all subjects made him a favorite with young people. During
the summer months Tozer made his home in a barn or deserted house.
In cold weather he was given shelter by some humane family, and
paid his way by sawing wood and doing other chores. Once asked to
concoct a rhyme about himself, he immediately rendered the following:
Justus Tozer is a poser,
He's a drunken skunk;
It takes a gill to wet his bill
And a pint to get him drunk.
Of less popularity was "Sol" Sumner, a ragged, filthy, and extremely repulsive old man who prowled around town in search of
means to keep himself in a little food and drink. He had none of
the sociable characteristics which made Anna Banks and Justus
Tozer tolerated with good grace.
Whether it was on Anna Banks' advice or not, one unusual occurrence in town at about this time shows how strong superstition and
belief in fortune-telling were at this date. A young man in one of the
families of the village was sick, supposed to be "in consumption."
His friends were told by a fortune-teller that if they would disinter
the remains of a relative who had been dead for some time, take out
the heart and burn it to ashes, and give the ashes to the sick man, he
would be cured. This was actually done, but the young man was buried
in the old Washington Street Cemetery a short time later.
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PART IX: 1856-1865
Jim Myer's Circus performed on the Roxbury Street grounds during July 1856; Sands, Nathan and Company's Circus, complete with
trained elephants and a steam calliope, played in July 1857 and July
1859. Wambold's Circus visited at the depot grounds near West Street
in June 1861. Miss Dollie Dutton, "the smallest girl in the world,"
gave a series of public "levees" at Cheshire Hall in September 1861;
she was 10 years old, stood 29 inches tall, and weighed only 15
pounds. Her program featured songs and spoken pieces. "Blind Tom,"
a talented blind Negro musician, performed in December 1865. In
October 1861 a panorama, "Ancient and Modern Palestine and
Scenes in the Life of Christ," was displayed at the Town Hall. These
shows consisted of long paintings wound on rollers, which were unfolded slowly while a lecturer described each scene.
Sara Jane Lippincott, who published popular works under the
name of Grace Greenwood, was a Lyceum speaker in November
1860. Also of a cultural nature was famed French violinist Camilla
Urso's concert at the Town Hall in February 1864. There was also a
public demonstration of laughing gas staged at the Town Hall in May
1863.
By the eve of the Civil War a number of buildings presently
standing in Keene's business district had already been built, and more
were soon added, replacing the older wooden structures with their outside stairways to the second story. Between 1856 and 1859 nearly 100
new buildings went up, including many substantial residences. Central Square was fully developed, the railroad had become a local
fixture, and Keene's industrial life was quickening its pace.
A count of shade trees made in 1860 showed Main Street to have
211, and Washington Street 164; the total on all village streets was
1,296 trees.
The streets and Square were not yet paved, but some stone and
plank walks had been laid. Flagstone crossings in the Square were
added in 1863. Nearly every business block was equipped with a
permanent sidewalk covering or canopy, topped by a tin roof which
provided shoppers with protection from the elements, and loungers
with welcome spots to discuss anything at all. The town's two weekly
newspapers printed news received by telegraph, and mail service was
greatly improved, although no trains or mail moved on a Sunday,
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when the great doors of the depot were closed across the railroad
tracks. A municipal gas works was established in 1859 with connections to public buildings, some street lamps, and many private homes.
Service was generally shut down by 10 P.M., however, after which
ti me all sensible people were expected to be home in bed.
The principal hotels in Keene were the Eagle, the Cheshire House,
and the Union Hotel (formerly the Emerald House and now Hotel
Ellis). The Eagle was kept by Asaph Harrington and was quite famous for its accommodations and food. The Cheshire House was
described as "a noble structure, its rooms airy and convenient, and
the internal arrangements in full keeping with the invitin g appearance of its external form." The portico of the former hotel building
was replaced in 1859 by a piazza extending across the front of the
hotel. Keene's first hack line was established by Edward Loiselle in
1863.
The community was still essentially rural in character despite its
growing industry, with vacation and tourist attractions recognized
even at this early date. Among the sights in the region Mt. Monadnock,
the lakes, ponds, and pleasant drives were popular with visitors. Another well-visited spot was the site of a remarkable tree called the
"matrimonial tree," which had a cleft in its trunk wide enough to
admit the passage of two persons abreast. Couples who passed
through were considered engaged, and legend had it the pair would be
married within a year and enjoy a happy married life. The tree stood
on the banks of the Ashuelot River, not far from "Lover's Lane," now
Appleton Street, and the nearby grove was long a favorite place for
picnics and celebrations. Here were held temperance festivals, church
outings, and the archery contests, once popular in Keene. In 1855 the
tree was felled by li g htning. A marker was placed on the site around
1910.
Among those attracted by the beauty of the Keene area was Abbott Handerson Thayer, son of Dr. William Thayer and Elizabeth
Handerson Thayer, daughter of noted lawyer Phineas Handerson of
Keene. As a boy growing up in town, Abbott Thayer tramped the
woodlands, studied nature, and became expert in mounting birds.
From 1856 to 1864 the youth made Keene his home, and the region
became an inspiration for a future career in art. He returned to Keene
to work at the Stearns Farm on West Hill in 1887, and had among his
pupils there, and in Dublin, a second cousin, Barry Faulkner, another
artist who appreciated the aesthetic potential of the Ashuelot Valley.
In 1854 the town purchased about 12 acres of land. once an old
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Cheshire County Court House
muster field on Beaver Street, and Woodland Cemetery was dedicated
in June 1856. The first burial was that of George B. Rahn, who had
died at 18 years of age. The Washington Street Cemetery, after 60
years of use, had become too crowded. Many graves were not marked
or the stones became lost; only about 695 could be identified in a 1903
survey.
The present County Court House was built in 1858-59 on the site
of the former stone record office. G. J. F. Bryant of Boston was the architect. Part of the earlier Court House, built in 1824, still stands on the
south corner of Winter Street. On the east side of the Square several
new brick blocks were erected, including one with an ornamental iron
front. The Cheshire House property was expanded and remodeled in
1859, and in 1860 another story was added to the St. John's Block on
the south corner of Main and West Streets.
Early in 1860 Cheshire Hall, located in the hotel of the same
name, was dedicated. In this hall were held many of Keene's social
events, including dances and balls. The Keene Quadrille Band, an
auxiliary to the Keene Brass Band, formed about 1859, provided music
at the opening festivities. In the third story of the building was a 5,000
gallon tank which provided water for the hotel. In November 1860 the
hoops burst and the entire building was flooded, its stairways becoming
temporary cascades.
The First Congregational Church took its present form in
1859-60, when it was moved back four feet, enlarged, and remodeled.
The church was rededicated in January 1861, and Rev. John A. Hamilton, who served under Rev. Barstow from 1858, was ordained as his
assistant.
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In 1856 a fire destroyed a part of the Mechanic Street industrial
area. When it was rebuilt a chair factory was added, in addition to the
door, blind, and sash industries. Steam was beginning to replace water
power in Keene mills, which continued to produce lumber and manufactured goods, as well as textiles, machinery, and tools.
A meeting of citizens was held in December 1857 to consider the
growing demand for improved library facilities in town. A public library project was studied, and in January 1859 a voluntary association
was formed. Leonard Bisco was named first librarian of the Keene Public Library, and shares in the enterprise were sold for $5 each. The collection consisted of volumes from several private libraries plus 1,000
new purchases. Circulation was begun on September 3, 1859, from a
collection of 1,500 books, including valuable files of the New Hampshire Sentinel which were donated by John Prentiss. The library was
located on the second floor in Elliot's Block on the corner of West
Street. It was not yet a tax-supported public institution but was open
to more citizens than any previous such enterprise had been.
A Young Men's Christian Union was formed in Keene during
1859, with rooms on the east side of the Square. A free reading room
was maintained for the youth of the community, and lectures were
sponsored from time to time. Delegates were sent to the first state convention in 1868, but the organization became inactive after 1869. It
was revived as the YMCA in 1885.
The town accepted a bequest from David A. Simmons in 1860 for
the assistance of the poor, aged, and infirm. Further additions to this
fund created a valuable early form of social assistance. The annual
town meeting of 1860 also saw action to preserve the original Keene
ministry land, a tract of some 56 acres in the north part of the town
near the Old Gilsum Road, which had been set aside for support of the
town's pastor in 1787 and provided his winter supply of firewood. A
great deal of the timber had been lost in the high wind of 1854, and
money from the sale of the lumber had been placed in the town treasury, but voters directed that a separate fund be established. By this
action an annual payment to the ministers of all faiths has been made
ever since.
Protestant Episcopal services, which had been held as early as
1816 in various locations, led to the organization of a church during
the summer of 1858. Rev. Henry N. Hudson and Rev. Nathaniel
Sprague, D.D., a native of Keene, among other visiting clergy, had
conducted services before the formation of the church under the sponsorship of the Rt. Rev. Carleton Chase, Bishop of New Hampshire.
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Rev. Edward A. Renouf, of St. Stephen's Church in Boston, was invited
to work in Keene, and in May 1859 he became the first rector of the
parish of St. James. Land purchased from the Cheshire Railroad on
West Street was given for the erection of a church, and plans were
drawn in 1860 for the structure by Charles E. Parker, a Boston architect and a native of Keene, who had made plans for the Town Hall in
1848.
In 1858 Smith and Morley of Philadelphia published a large wall
map of Cheshire County, one of a series of New England county maps.
It included views of Keene's Main Street, the Cheshire House, and the
Eagle Hotel, as well as a map of the village and a business directory.
The population of Keene in 1860 was 4,320, and there were 70 miles
of roads in the township.
The Cheshire Steam Mills were established at this time to make
use of the timber blown down in the great 1854 wind. Their extensive
shops on Davis and Ralston Streets were erected about 1860. Josiah
Colony had carried on the successful Faulkner & Colony textile mill
after the death of Francis Faulkner in 1842 and was joined in the business by Charles S. Faulkner in 1846. Colony retired in favor of his sons
George D. and Horatio in 1869. George W. Ball's brickyard, first located on Roxbury Street and later on Appleton Street, was begun about
1856, to make use of the rich clay deposits of the Keene valley, and
Hiram Walcott produced lead pencils on Court Street during the
1860's.
John Humphrey established his first mills in Keene in 1861, and
the shoe peg factory, begun in 1858, became the nucleus of a settlement
and school district on Beech Hill. The important South Keene firm of
J. A. Fay & Co. closed its Keene association in 1862, when their operations were moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Norwich, Conn.
The Cheshire Republican weekly newspaper was sold in 1865 by
Horatio Kimball, its proprietor since 1852, to Julius N. Morse and William B. Allen. Allen withdrew after about six years and Morse was sole
proprietor until 1878, when the paper was sold to Joshua D. Colony &
Sons. John W. Prentiss, who had worked with his father John Prentiss
at the New Hampshire Sentinel, was publisher himself after his father's
retirement in 1847 after 48 years as editor and publisher. Forced by
poor health to retire in 1853, John W. Prentiss died in 1863.
The Cheshire Agricultural Society continued annual exhibits and
the buildings on its fairgrounds in West Keene were improved; over
6,000 people attended some of the exhibitions. The Cheshire County
Musical Institute was formed, carrying on the programs of several
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former musical societies and offering varied concerts. Visiting professional soloists, accompanied by the local chorus of as many as 500
voices, presented noteworthy performances.
Storm clouds of the impending national conflict between North
and South had been watched by Keene citizens with apprehension,
although they were not as yet directly involved beyond support of abolition movements and aid to occasional fugitive slaves who passed
through town on their way to Canada. Only three persons in town were
Negroes, and they were free citizens. Asa S. White, who had emigrated
to Kansas with other anti-slavery people, addressed citizens in the
Town Hall in October 1856 and brought to Keene an eyewitness account of the border warfare in "bloody Kansas." Thomas M. Edwards,
elected to Congress in 1859, was a witness to the growing peril, and a
friend of political figures in the nation's capital. William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists spoke from Keene platforms; Edward
Everett Hale came in 1857 and Horace Greeley lectured in December
1860.
Political figures were more frequent visitors in town as the national
elections of 1860 approached. Abraham Lincoln wrote to an associate
from Hartford, Conn., in March just after his famed Cooper Union
speech, "Will you please try to get Mr. Greeley or Gen. Nye or some
good man to go and speak at Keene, N. H., next Friday evening? I
promised to have it done if possible and I will be much obliged if it can
be.
In the spirited election Keene cast 635 votes for Lincoln, 244 for
Douglas, 31 for Breckenridge, and 5 for Bell. During October the Lincoln and Hamlin Wide Awakes, a Republican campaign club and a
chapter of a national organization, had staged an impressive four-mile
torchlight parade with nearly 1,000 marchers. Moving down Main
Street 8 to 18 abreast, they made an impressive display and drew as
large a crowd as could be remembered up to that time. The procession
was swelled by units from Rindge, Troy, Fitzwilliam, Walpole, Claremont, Chester, Springfield, and Bellows Falls, and, with bands and
drum corps, they formed one of the most spectacular campaign parades
ever staged in Keene. Supporters of the Republican ticket placed lamps
or candles in all their windows; those who belonged to the other parties
took care that not a glimmer of light showed from theirs.
News of the secession of Southern states was read in Keene with
growing concern. On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon and
the news flashed to the nation. On April 15 President Lincoln called
for 75,000 volunteers, and the governor of New Hampshire issued his
13
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Recruiting in the Common for the Civil War
call for the militia. It was answered from every quarter of the state.
Keene became a regional recruiting station again, and as a railroad
center saw many soldiers off to the field of battle.
On April 19 a handbill was circulated announcing a mass meeting
of citizens of Cheshire County to be held on April 22. As the crowd
was too great to be accommodated in any hall, the meeting was moved
to the Square, where leading members of both political parties spoke
in support of the Union. It was reported to be the largest meeting ever
held in the Square, and a photograph of the event still exists. Ex-Governor Samuel Dinsmoor was chosen president of the proceedings, and
aging General James Wilson addressed the gathering with a rousing
speech. Tileston A. Barker of Westmoreland offered to head a volunteer company; the Cheshire Light Guard became fully organized on
the spot, ready to march in three days; 23 citizens agreed to pledge
$100 each to aid the families of volunteers. In the evening Keene citizens met at the Town Hall to hear addresses in support of military
enlistment, and at an adjourned meeting the next evening applauded
Lieutenant Henry C. Handerson, the recruiting officer, who marched
in with a company of recruits. That group of 67 men, which left for
Concord on April 25, was given a send-off by a large crowd, and from
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the New Hampshire Bible Society each volunteer received a Testament.
Intense excitement prevailed through the summer and fall, and
frequent meetings were held, several of them mass gatherings in the
Square.
On May 6, 1861, Captain Barker's company of 79 and another of
62 recruits left Keene for Portsmouth amid the cheers and prayers of
Keene citizens. As the state treasury lacked the funds for these expeditions, the three Keene banks, as well as others in the state, offered
loans to the state to meet the sudden emergency. Keene citizens subscribed $25,450 of a loan and took further measures to provide for the
families of volunteers. In the absence of governmental programs and
organized machinery for loans and bounty payments, especially during
the early years of the war, communities organized to support such
efforts.
Women of the village were quick to begin their work for the
cause. Clothing, bandages, and other needs of the troops were furnished
by the ladies who first met on May 6, 1861, at the home of Rev. Edward A. Renouf. A meeting at the Town Hall the next day was well
attended, and work was soon organized sending boxes to Concord and
the Soldiers' Aid Society. Early in June the Cheshire County Soldiers'
Aid Society, a branch of the state group, was formed. Correspondence
and cooperation were established with similar organizations, and materials were gathered in Keene for shipment to the National Sanitary
Commission. Nearly every Keene woman was a member of the Soldiers'
Aid Society, which was governed by 11 directors representing the several religious societies in town. The zeal and loyalty of the women
continued throughout the war, weekly meetings being held and large
shipments sent as their contribution to the war effort. At one meeting
100 ladies met to sew shirts, their project aided by a similar ladies'
group in Nelson. Several fairs and special events to raise money were
held each year and these were organized by the ladies. At the close of
the war the accumulated treasury funds were used to assist the families
of those soldiers who had been killed or wounded, and the Society
remained active until 1871, when it sent 12 cases of clothing and bedding weighing 2,650 pounds to sufferers in the Chicago fire.
Church and other groups, such as the Ladies' Charitable Society,
were also active in war relief work. Perhaps the first box for soldiers
sent from Keene was that prepared by members of the XY Club in
June 1861. Included were magazines, blankets, socks, shirts, slippers,
soap, towels, and a copy of The Life of Fremont. When William S.
Briggs returned from a trip to Washin g ton early in 1862, the club ladies
109
gathered to hear about the "state of affairs in our nation's capital" and
were fascinated by Briggs' description of a reception he had attended
at the White House given by President Lincoln, "of the furniture of the
famous East Room, the dresses of the ladies, and manner of the President and his wife to their guests."
Tragedy struck the club when a member, Mrs. Julia Nancy Wakefield Dort, and her six-year-old son Arthur were drowned in August
1862. Mrs. Dort had been visiting her husband, Major Obed G. Dort,
while his regiment was encamped at Newport News, Va. After the regiment left, the wives were on their way back to Baltimore when a boat
collided with their steamer. In all 120 lost their lives.
The Cheshire County Christian Commission, a branch of the national organization, was formed in 1863 with headquarters in Keene,
and the Union League Club was also among those groups active on
the home front during the war years.
In August 1861 a large building on Court Street north of the
Court House burned. Used for stores and the Foster organ and melodeon business, it was said to have been used years earlier as a court
house, and for a time stood in the center of what is now Court Street,
before that street was laid out in its present course.
Ardent patriotism inspired by interest in the progress of the war
was evident in holiday celebrations, such as Washington's Birthday
1862, which was observed in grand style. Stirring speeches at the
Town Hall, music by a military band and glee club, and 34 young
girls, who carried miniature flags representing the states, and who sang
"The Star Spangled Banner," made a deep impression.
Although all joined in support of the Union at the outbreak of
hostilities, Democratic statesmen and some of the press, including
Keene's Cheshire Republican, later became critical of the federal
administration and its conduct of military operations.
Company G of the First Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, composed of many of Keene's first recruits, saw service in the
early months of the war. Captain Barker's company from Cheshire
County became Company A of the Second Regiment with several
from Keene as officers, and it saw action at Bull Run. It also fought
at Gettysburg in 1863. Several in the Third Regiment were from
Keene, and others served with the Fifth New Hampshire Regiment,
which saw action at Fair Oaks, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Keene men enlisted in several other New Hampshire regiments and some fought with units from other states.
In December 1861 the Sixth New Hampshire Regiment had its
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rendezvous in Keene at Camp Brooks (now Wheelock Park) where
their camp was composed of large conical tents, each equipped with
a stove. The presence of soldiers caused unusual excitement throughout the town, and a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner was provided at
the camp by local citizens. The regiment marched to Central Square
on December 19 and formed a circle around the Park, where its colors
were presented and an address was delivered by Governor Nathaniel
Springer Berry. A number of the officers and men were from the Keene
area, including Colonel Simon G. Griffin, who had volunteered as a
private, and was a veteran of earlier service in the Second Regiment.
Rev. John A. Hamilton of Keene served as chaplain at one time with
this unit. The regiment left Keene in 22 cars on Christmas morning
1861. Even a foot of snow did not keep an immense crowd from gathering at the station to cheer the soldiers off.
The Sixth saw action at the battle at Camden, N. C., where it
was commended for its part in scattering the enemy, winning a reputation that lasted throughout the war. In July 1863 news of the fall of
Vicksburg, in which the Sixth played a part, was greeted in Keene by
music, the ringing of church bells, and cannon salutes. The soldiers
received a grand welcome upon their return home early in 1864, and
quarters were set up in the Town Hall for the men. The regiment returned to the field in March and was reviewed by President Lincoln
in Washington before joining in the last fighting of the war at Petersburg and Richmond. Under command of General Simon G. Griffin,
the Sixth won high praise from the General Staff. A native of Nelson
and later a resident of Keene, Griffin became New Hampshire's highest ranking volunteer officer of the war and saw service in 22 major
battles.
In 1862 the Ninth New Hampshire Regiment was recruited and
included a number from Keene. Several local men served with the
Eleventh, the Fourteenth, and the Eighteenth Regiments, which were
raised in 1862 and 1864. New Hampshire furnished several cavalry
companies in which Keene men served, as well as artillery companies
and sharpshooting units with whom local men saw action. Three from
the town held commissions with the Negro troops raised during the
war, and 11 men served in the navy. In 1866 it was reported that
Keene had sent 584 men into military service, 48 of whom gave their
lives during the war. A Keene soldier, Corporal Charles H. Knight,
received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action at Petersburg, Va., on July 30, 1864, during a mine explosion.
The continued demand for troops, necessitated by the terrible
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battle losses as well as the short terms of enlistment, made recruiting
a steady task. A draft was instituted in 1863, and 410 names were
entered from Keene in the first drawing, of which 123 were drawn
out. A few went into service, but most hired substitutes. When the
second draft call came the quota from Keene was 58.
In March 1864 a steam boiler exploded at Osborne & Hale's
Mechanic Street plant injuring 12, two of whom died. A photograph
of the ruins is one of the early pictorial records in Keene history. A
tower and balustrade were added to the Town Hall in 1864. In the
national election that year Keene cast 652 votes for Lincoln and 317
for the opposition candidates; the Union men celebrated their victory
with a banquet for 350 at the Cheshire House soon after the election.
The war economy depreciated the value of paper money, and
large amounts of this currency were issued to meet the emergency.
Prices rose, and heavy income and other taxes were imposed. Bonds
were sold in support of the government, nearly a million dollars'
worth being taken in Keene by individuals and the banks. Each of
the banking institutions adopted governmental regulations, and three
became national banks; the Cheshire National Bank in 1864, the Cheshire County Bank (rechartered as the Keene National Bank), and
the Ashuelot National Bank in 1865. The Cheshire National Bank
was made a United States depository, receiving and transmitting internal revenue to the amount of $700,000 during 1865.
News of the fall of Richmond arrived in Keene at noon on Monday, April 3, 1865, the day following the event. All during the afternoon and evening the streets of the village resounded with joyful noise.
A salute of 100 guns was fired to honor the approaching end of the
conflict, flags flew, drums sounded, and bonfires illuminated the festivities, which lasted until midnight. At the news of Lee's surrender
on April 9 preparations were made for a grand civic celebration.
"The village of Keene was probably never so generally and brilliantly illuminated as it was on Friday evening, in honor of the recent
splendid Union victories achieved in Virginia. The court house, hotels, town hall, and nearly all the stores, shops and dwelling houses
were literally in a blaze. The streets were thronged with people from
this and neighboring towns, and the fire companies from Keene, Troy,
Ashuelot and Bellows Falls bearing torches, marched through the
principal streets, accompanied by the Ashburnham Band and other
music. The fireworks prepared and managed by a gentleman from
Boston, added much to the excitement and pleasure of the evening.
The whole affair was eminently successful," the Sentinel reported.
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During that same evening, April 14, 1865, as Keene and the entire
North celebrated, President Lincoln was shot while attending a performance at Ford's Theater in Washington. William Howe Otis, the
professional name of Otis Reed of Keene, a member of Laura Keene's
company (which staged the play Lincoln was attending), frequently
played opposite her in "Our American Cousin," the bill that evening,
but was not in the cast on the fateful night.
"More tears were shed that day, I believe, than were ever shed
on this planet in any one day before," wrote Rev. William Orne White
in a letter describing the reaction to Lincoln's assassination. Church
bells tolled, and homes, stores, and public buildings were draped in
black. April 19 was declared a national day of mourning, and Keene
houses of worship were filled for the special services conducted at the
West Street and "Keyes' Corner" about 1863
same time as the state funeral in Washington. Minute guns were fired,
and bells tolled as the community joined the nation in grief.
One of the most destructive fires in Keene history occurred on
October 19, 1865, when the entire group of buildings, on the east side
of the Square from Roxbury Street to the Town Hall, was destroyed.
A strong breeze threatened the Cheshire House as well, and much attention had to be given to prevent that building from catching fire.
Keene's fire department was composed at this time of a chief engineer,
four assistants, the Deluge and Neptune Engine Companies, the Niagara Hose Company, and the Phoenix Hook and Ladder Company,
and citizen volunteers. The town well exhausted, water was pumped
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from Beaver Brook by an engine located at the crest of the Roxbury
Street hill and from there to the scene of the blaze. Destroyed in about
three hours were three brick business blocks, including the "fireproof"
iron front building owned by the Cheshire Mills interests, and the
"Music Hall" located in one of the structures. The only wooden building in the area, the post office owned by Thomas M. Edwards, and
sometimes called "Uncle Tom's cabin," was pulled down to prevent
the flames from spreading to the Town Hall. Study of a municipal
water system had begun in 1861, and this latest fire served to advance
the proposals. A meeting in support of the measure was held in March
1866, but opposition on the grounds of the expense involved prevented the plan from being carried out. Water pipes were not laid to
the Square until 1869. Charles Batcheller received a patent in the early
1860's for a driven well technique that was used in Keene at several
private homes and on farms with some success.
There was excitement in Keene in November 1865 when Mark
Shinborn made his escape from the jail on Washington Street. Shinborn was a German who had come to this country about 1860; he
was a man of handsome and pleasing appearance. He acquired a
knowledge of locks and in November 1864 robbed the bank at Walpole of some $40,000. He was arrested at Saratoga, N. Y., and brought
to Keene for trial in 1865, where he attracted much attention, particularly among the young women. He was convicted and sentenced
to the state prison for a term of 10 years, but on the day of his sentence,
as supper was being brought in, he produced a revolver, which had
been smuggled to him by an accomplice, and walked out of the stone
jail, making his way up Beaver Street toward Beech Hill. Pursuers
followed, and one caught up with the escapee near Sunset Rock, where
Shinborn sat on a large boulder and informed the follower politely
that he had come about far enough. Shinborn was later captured in
New York State and was returned to Keene in February 1866. He was
then taken to Concord, where he made another escape from prison in
December and returned to Keene. He lived in Keene unrecognized
for several months as he looked over the prospects for robbing the
Ashuelot National Bank. An unsuccessful attempt on the vault had
been made early in December, perhaps by his accomplices. Shinborn
took impressions of the vault keys and had duplicates made, but upon
entering the vault found only about $1,000, which he felt was not
enough, and he resolved to wait until more money was deposited. On
his second attempt he found the money sacks so heavy that he decided
to go to New York for aid in removing them, but other matters inter114
-
vened and he never returned .
In New York Shinborn was involved in a robbery reportedly
amounting to a million doll ars. He escaped to Europe , assum ed a title,
and gambled away his fortune. Returning to a career of crime , he was
sent to prison but managed to obtain a pardon. He then circulated the
rumor of his own death, and returned to the Unit ed Stat es, where he
was arrested by the Pinkerton Agenc y in 1895. Imprisoned for ov er
five years for robbery, he wa s returned to New Hampshire to serve
out his sentence for the Walp ole robbe ry . At this time he denied re­
p eatedl y that he was Mar k Shinborn.
Rev . John A. H amilton , associ ate with R ev. Barstow at the First
Chur ch, left Ke ene in 1865 , and was followed by R ev. Joseph All en
Leach, who serve d as associa te until the o rganiza tion of the Second
Congregation al C hu rch in 1867 , when he became its first pa stor. Rev.
Willi am N. Clarke, wh o in lat er years was an imp ortant figur e in
A merican theological thought and writ er on religious subjects, was the
Baptist pastor from 1864 until 1869.
In June 1865 the New H am pshir e legislature passed an act to
establi sh Ke ene as a city, subje ct to the approval of the local citizens,
but at th is time, pr eferring to rem ain a town, th ey voted 411 to 241
not to adopt the measure.
Clark e's Block at mid 19th century
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PART X: 1866-1874
Following the Civil War Keene embarked upon a period of renewed growth, including both industrial and civic improvements. The
Fourth of July 1866 was an occasion for patriotic festivities, with ringing of church bells and firing of cannon. The parade included the
usual procession of "Antiques and Horribles," comic floats which frequently poked good-natured fun at local institutions and activities.
Local firemen, visiting companies from neighboring communities, and
bands from Ashburnham and Gardner, Mass., Unionville (a name
applied to East Swanzey), and Keene provided martial music. In the
afternoon there was a muster contest between crews of the handpumped fire engines, and an oration by Rev. William Gaylord at the
Town Hall. The day ended with evening fireworks, as did so many
"Glorious Fourths" in Keene.
A unique feature of the 1866 celebration was to have been an
ascension in the balloon "Emporia" by Professor Allen of Providence.
The event, set for the east side of the Square on the open lots created
by the October 1865 fire, never came off due to high winds, which
was a disappointment to all but the tavern-keepers. It was not Keene's
first proposed balloon ascension, however. An earlier event sponsored
by the Cheshire Agricultural Society was scheduled for September 19,
1860, by Professor H. M. Spencer of Winsted, Conn., but this was
also called off at the last minute.
In 1866 the Cheshire Railroad erected new brick shops, 415 feet
long, under the direction of Francis A. Perry, master mechanic of the
road. Dedication of the new building was held in April 1867 with a
supper for 800 and dancing until 2 A.M. Perry received a patent for
an improved spark arrester for locomotives in 1874, and a number
of the locally built wood-burning balloon-stacked engines equipped
with the device bore names honoring the railroad's leaders, "David
Upton," 1866; "F. A. Perry," 1870; "Samuel Gould," 1870; and the
"Thomas Thatcher." The railroad's extensive service and repair shops
soon became a major Keene industry, and a pioneer labor organization, the Sovereigns of Industry, Keene Council No. 5, was formed in
August 1874.
Huge woodpiles lined a great part of the yards and Railroad
Street; area farmers made extra money by providing fuel for the locomotives. Special excursions were popular such as the one on August
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28, 1869, to Bellows Falls, when 100 citizens and the Keene Brass
Band went to honor President Ulysses S. Grant and party, including
his wife and two children, during their brief stopover en route to Saratoga, N. Y.
The failure of the town well and cisterns during the great fire of
October 19, 1865, prompted renewed agitation in favor of a water
system for the town. The subject had been considered by industrial
interests and the public for many years without result, despite the
studies made in 1861 and 1862. A committee appointed at the annual
meeting in 1866 selected Goose Pond as a source for such an enterprise. The matter was again postponed, but a special meeting was
called in October 1867, and authorization for the project was given
in December. Pipe was finally laid and water introduced to the Square
in November 1869, and to neighboring areas of the town shortly thereafter for an original system of 48 hydrants. The town well at the head
of Main Street was soon filled in and a bandstand with six lamps was
erected in August 1872 on the site next to the "Walker" or "Auction
Elm." A third fire engine, Niagara, was purchased in 1867, and moves
to acquire a steam fire engine were begun soon after the water system
had been inaugurated. The town's first street sprinkler made its appearance on the dusty streets in May 1872. Proposals were made in
1870 for a sewerage system in the town.
Despite the great advantages to the community, there were some
who opposed the water system because of the expense involved. Soon
after the introduction of water to the village a comic poster, "Grand
Celebration, Introduction of Swale Juice in Keene," appeared, a satire
in which the critics were vigorously lampooned, along with numerous
local characters and institutions. In August 1870 a public watering
trough, designed and built by John Humphrey, with accommodations
for the public, horses and cattle, and for dogs drinking from a lower
basin, was erected at the head of Main Street. An idler in the Square
counted 267 people and 311 horses and cattle served from 6 A.M.
to 7 P.M. on a May day in 1872, attesting to the usefulness of such a
public convenience. An octagon-shaped auxiliary reservoir was constructed in the present Robin Hood Park area in 1872, known as the
Beech Hill Reservoir.
At a council held in October 1867 it was decided to organize
another Congregational Church, to be known as the Second Congregational Church in Keene, and formed of about 125 members dismissed from the First Church for that purpose. The new group was
led by Rev. Joseph Allen Leach, formerly the associate pastor with
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Watering trough and drinking fountain erected 1870
against background of the old Buffum Block
Rev. Barstow. Rev. Leach, assisted by his wife, also taught a successful private school for poor boys in Keene. In December the new congregation voted to build a house of worship, and land was purchased
on Court Street across from their temporary meeting place. The church
building was dedicated on September 16, 1869, a William Johnson
pipe organ was installed in 1870, and active parish organizations were
formed.
Rev. William Herbert of the Catholic parish in Keene succeeded
Rev. Bernard O'Hara who died in January 1866. Under Rev. Herbert
a vestry and three living rooms were added to the church building on
Marlboro Street, where the pastor had his residence. He was succeeded
in 1869 by Rev. Daniel W. Murphy, who enlarged the church buildings and installed an organ. A Second Advent Church under Marshall
A. Potter was active for a number of years; the Advent Christian
Church was organized in April 1872.
The Unitarian Church was remodeled and redecorated during
1867 and 1868. The seating was increased from 430 to 600, a tall
steeple, a William Nutting pipe organ ("one of the largest instruments
in the state") installed, and a new tower clock added. The church was
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rededicated in August 1868 by the pastor, Rev. William Orne White.
A Methodist state conference met in Keene during a week in
April 1866, and that denomination began to devise means of building
a new church. The older wooden Methodist Church was moved across
Court Street to the site later occupied by the Baptist Church, and a
brick Methodist Church was erected from plans by the Boston architect, Shepard S. Woodcock. Grace Methodist Episcopal Church was
dedicated on November 23, 1869, and its pipe organ (by the firm of
Steer & Turner) was installed at this time. The former church was
soon moved to Vernon Street, and eventually became the Bethany
Mission organized by the Methodists in 1889.
The first service in the present St. James Episcopal Church was
held in 1864. The bell, a gift of D. Henshaw Ward and his wife Julia
F. Ward, arrived in Keene and was hung in the recently completed
tower during the fall of 1869. A product of William Blake of Boston,
the bell weighed 3,087 pounds and was tuned to the musical note D.
Rev. Austin V. Tilton, pastor of the Baptist congregation from 1869
to 1872, recommended that his people consider expansion from their
Winter Street location, and under the pastorate of Dr. William H.
Eaton a brick church was erected from plans of Shepard S. Woodcock,
and the cornerstone was set on August 6, 1873.
Another destructive fire had occurred on August 12, 1867, which
destroyed most Mechanic Street shops, as well as several nearby
dwellings. The fire spread so quickly that workmen were forced to
jump from windows to escape the flames. In about an hour and a half
17 or 18 buildings were reduced to ashes. The fire was kept from
spreading to Court Street by pulling down a wooden building that
stood between the two areas. Another mill fire in 1869 destroyed the
Ralston Street industrial buildings, and in 1873 a blaze ravaged woodsheds and storehouses of Faulkner & Colony mills.
Buildings were replaced on the east side of the Square, including
structures by Charles Stone and Charles Bridgman in 1866, and in
1870-71 the Bank Block by the Cheshire Provident Institution. A
matching block was erected by Timothy Colony. The construction of
these blocks was hampered by an earthquake which occurred when
they were nearly completed. Fortunately there was no serious damage,
although a construction worker had been killed in a fall earlier during
the work. Below the ground were found logs and tree stumps preserved
by the moisture of the old Town Brook, some of which were thought
to date from early geologic periods; similar wood was found elsewhere
in the Square during building construction.
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View from Baptist Church steeple, showing old Unitarian
Church, corner of Main and Church Streets and, in the
distance, the old Catholic Church on Marlboro Street.
Elbridge Clarke developed several wooden buildings and the
Albe Cady house into what became known as Clarke's Block. Morgan
J. Sherman, landlord of the Cheshire House from 1866, built for the
hotel a reputation as a leading New England hostelry. Brick buildings
were erected at a number of places in and around the business district.
About 75 new homes were built in the town during this period.
In May 1874 citizens purchased 25 pairs of English sparrows
which were set free in the park at Central Square in an effort to further
beautify the village. Birdhouses were even installed in the park.
A cast steel bell by the British firm of Naylor & Vickers Co., Sheffield, was placed in the tower of the Town Hall early in 1868, the gift of
a public-spirited citizen.
In 1870 Fred A. Barker built a residential block beside the Methodist Church on Court Street. It was his plan to dispose of the property
by means of lottery tickets at $1 apiece. Only a portion of the tickets
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were sold, however, and the drawing held at the "Grand Musical Jubilee" staged in March awarded only a part of the prize; the other apartments were sold individually. The scheme was not without its problems; the price of the block was reported at $15,000, and there were
financial difficulties.
In 1873 the Philadelphia firm of Sanford & Everts published a
large wall map of the town showing the many new buildings and other
properties as well as proposed city ward divisions.
On July 1, 1868, the entire town joined in a celebration honoring
Rev. Dr. Zedekiah S. Barstow's 50 years as pastor in Keene and his formal retirement. The First Church was decorated for the occasion, and
Rev. Barstow, wearing robes of the period of his ordination in 1818,
delivered an historical sermon. This was followed by a procession to
the Town Hall and a banquet served to 600. Speeches by town leaders
and pastors of all Keene churches recognized the contributions made
by Dr. Barstow to his church and community. The last minister settled
by the town before the final separation of civil and church authority,
Dr. Barstow was an earnest and powerful champion of education, temperance, and all good causes. The pastor and his wife celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary in August at their residence, the historic
Wyman Tavern on Main Street. Mrs. Barstow died in 1869, and the
pastor on March 1, 1873, on the 55th anniversary of his first appearance in the Keene pulpit.
Keene's first Memorial Day observance was held May 30, 1868,
with a procession of soldiers and sailors, fire companies, school children, units of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Keene Brass Band,
and a decorated floral cart drawn by four white horses. At Woodland
Cemetery, where a receiving tomb had been erected in 1866, graves
were decorated, and Rev. William Orne White gave the oration.
Masonic organization in Keene was increased with the formation
of Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar No. 7 in 1866 and
the Lodge of the Temple No. 88 in 1869. The Keene Masons entertained Fitchburg units with colorful parades and ceremonies in May
1870. The Elliot building, St. John's Block, at the corner of West Street,
was again remodeled in 1868, the hall enlarged for the Masonic fraternity. In 1870 the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite was established as the
Winslow Lewis Lodge of Perfection, revived in 1884. The Odd Fellows
organization was meeting in its hall in Ball's Block, where Monadnock
Encampment No. 10 was formed in 1868, and Rebekah Degree Lodge
No. 6 was instituted in 1871. The pioneer GAR unit formed in town in
February 1868 was later called the John Sedgwick Post No. 4. The vet121
eran group became inactive after 1872 but was revived in 1880, when
it had some 300 members.
The Young Men's Christian Union, begun somewhat earlier, and
the Keene Social Union organized in 1873, became the Young Men's
Christian Association. However, this organization which was dedicated
to Bible study did not last long. The Keene YMCA was not definitely
organized until November 1885. In October 1871 the Keene Natural
History Society was formed "for the promotion of scientific knowledge in Keene and Cheshire County" largely through the leadership of
George A. Wheelock. Veterans of the Civil War also formed a military
organization, the Keene Light Infantry, with armory facilities on Vernon Street.
In 1871 the Ladies Sewing Society of the Unitarian Church, a
group which had been formed as a Sabbath School Society in 1833,
voted to establish an Invalid's Home in Keene. Led by Mrs. Margaret
E. White, wife of Rev. William Orne White, and aided by a legacy from
Charles F. Wilson, the proceeds of a May Festival, and funds from a
small pamphlet titled The May Flower, a house on Beaver street at the
corner of Grant Street was acquired and the organization was incorporated in November 1874.
Among prominent speakers and performers to appear in town
was Petroleum V. Nasby (David Ross Locke), famed humorist, who
lectured on "The Lords of Creation" in December 1869. This was a
comic treatment of the pioneer woman suffrage movement just beginning to appear. General Tom Thumb, his wife, and Commodore Nutt,
celebrated midgets, appeared in June 1868; George Francis Train,
author and financier, spoke in April 1871, and Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who created the popular image of Santa Claus, as well as the
Republican elephant and Democratic donkey symbols, appeared at
the Town Hall in December 1873. Anna Harriette Leonowens,
British tutor to the royal household of Siam from 1862 to 1867, whose
adventures were the inspiration for The King and I, lectured at the
Town Hall in February 1873, and Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife
of Mormon leader Brigham Young, spoke in December 1874.
Whitmore & Clark's Minstrels played a two-day engagement at
the Town Hall in December 1867. This troupe had been organized
in 1866 by George Clark and Osceola A. Whitmore of Vermont. For
a quarter of a century the company toured each season and many of
the performers were Keene and Swanzey citizens. In preparation for
their road appearances they rehearsed in Keene, where many made
their homes. Their colorful street parade at noon served to advertise
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the attraction; however, they were but one of many traveling shows
to include Keene on their circuit in increasing numbers following the
Civil War. In 1869 J. M. French's Oriental Circus and Egyptian
Caravan exhibited, featuring the elephant "Empress," claimed to be
"the largest wild beast ever captured alive." In December 1871 Hall's
Boston Orchestra was highly praised, "the best musical entertainment
which has ever been given in Keene."
The Cardiff Giant, supposedly a "petrified man" over 10 feet
tall and "discovered" in 1869, though later proved a hoax, was displayed in Keene for a week or two in January 1871. One of its
viewers was Robert P. Leonard, a local itinerant tinker and clock
repairman who was also an amateur printer and publisher. Bob
Leonard wrote a "poetic history" of the attraction and also printed
at irregular intervals a newspaper called The City News and later
The Douglas Street Journal, which he filled with his own doggerel
verse. One of the familiar sights in town was the shanty on wheels
(complete with stove and smokestack) in which rode Bob's lunatic
brother, Welcome Leonard. Too poor to hire anyone to watch over
his brother and unwilling to commit him to an asylum, he hit upon
this novel method of keeping the unfortunate man near at hand while
he journeyed about town repairing clocks, tinware, and umbrellas.
The Chauncy Hall Battalion, a Boston schoolboy military group,
visited Keene for a parade and review in May, and The Worcester
Highland Cadets made a similar appearance in June 1873. There
were concerts from time to time by one or another of the three bands
organized in town, and also frequent dances and balls at the Town
Hall and elsewhere. The Keene Brass Band, reorganized in June
1866 under the direction of William T. Allen, reached its highest
point in this period, playing for commencement at Middlebury
College in 1869, at Kimball Union Academy, and at out-of-town
special events and public functions. Also organized were the Keene
Quadrille Band and J .R. Colby's Quadrille Band.
Efforts to erect a commemorative memorial to Keene's role in
the Civil War were begun in 1868, when a soldiers' monument was
voted by the town. The sum of $2,000 authorized was inadequate
for the project, and no further action was taken until August 1870,
when an additional $5,000 was appropriated, and a committee appointed to carry out the work. The Soldiers' Monument on the Common was erected in 1871, and further improvements were made on
the park in 1872. An iron fence surrounding the monument was
added in July 1885, and park benches were first installed in 1882.
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Soldiers' Monument
Martin Milmore of Boston was the sculptor of the eight-foot
bronze figure of an American infantryman cast at the Ames Mfg.
Co. in Chicopee, Mass. A matching figure was erected at Woburn,
Mass., as that community's war memorial. The pedestal of Roxbury
granite, about 13 feet in height, was cut by Charles S. Barnes, a local
stonemason, from designs furnished by the committee. Dedication
ceremonies were held on October 20, 1871, with a crowd of some
7,000 in attendance, including the governor, units of the local GAR,
companies from neighboring communities, Keene firemen, civic
bodies, the Keene Brass Band, and the Keene Light Infantry. A
guest of the day was General James A. Garfield, later President of
the United States, who was in New Hampshire on a visit to his mother's birthplace in Richmond. General Judson Kilpatrick delivered the
principal address, and following the ceremonies guests and officials,
about 150 in number, dined at the Cheshire House where numerous
toasts followed an elaborate banquet. In the evening gala receptions
were held at General Simon G. Griffin's West Street home (later the
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site of the post office) and at the newly-completed home of Henry
Colony (now the Keene Public Library), both affairs serenaded by
the Keene Brass Band.
Keene's population in 1870 was 5,971, and the town had 1,185
dwelling houses. In 1 872 a Keene Business Directory was issued,
the first such publication in book form since 1831. Its compiler, A. C.
Tuttle, ingratiated himself with the managers of the Boston, Concord,
and Montreal Railroad and other companies on the promise of compiling directories of the communities on their lines. Armed with free
passes, Tuttle ran up heavy board bills, secured all the advance
money he could, and then disappeared. In the case of Keene, however, he did carry through with the project, and a directory was
actually published. Another by R. S. Dillon & Co. was published in
1874, after which date Keene directories were issued almost annually and provided valuable records of residents and business activity in the town.
One of the industries established in this period was the pottery
begun in 1871 by James Scollay Taft, and over the years "Hampshire Pottery" has come to be widely recognized. Starkey & Howard's
pottery was established on Myrtle Street also in 1871, and E. C.
Baker & Co. was begun in 1873, but both were closed by 1875.
These industries made use of the rich clay deposits of the Ashuelot
River, as did the brickmaking firms of George W. Ball, W. A.
Barrett & Co., and Bemis & Russell.
The Keene Five Cents Saving Bank was incorporated in 1868
and began operations on January 1, 1869. Successful for over two
decades, it was forced to close during the great financial panic of
the 1890's.
General James Wilson returned in 1867 from California, where
he had been a commissioner to aid in the settlement of Spanish
claims, and he represented Keene in the state legislature in 1871
and 1872. General Simon G. Griffin was chosen speaker of the House
of Representatives in Concord in 1867. Salma Hale, historian, died
in Keene in 1866. Levi Chamberlain, a lawyer and political figure
for many years died in 1867, as did Major Asaph Harrington, well
known to travelers as host of the Eagle Hotel.
The Chesire House and Eagle Hotel offered free transportation
to and from all trains. The American House (at the corner of Emerald
Street), which became the City Hotel in 1 874, did not offer such
service, but had "a good and lively billiard hall connected with the
house," which may have made up for it. This hostelry, now the Ellis
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Hotel, has had a number of names, including the Workingman's
Hotel, Emerald House, Union Hotel, and Revere House.
John Prentiss of the New Hampshire Sentinel died in 1873 at
the age of 95. Althou g h retired from active management of his newspaper since 1847, he had continued to write for it until shortly
before his death. He contributed greatly to the growth of the community, aided its schools with gifts of books, supported its various
libraries and cultural organizations, and was among the most influential citizens of Keene for over 70 years.
Agitation to make Keene a city was begun early in 1865 with action by the New Hampshire legislature to permit such a change in
government, but voters turned down the proposal and did likewise
in 1866. In 1867 a similar measure by progressives was voted down
460 to 430, and a protest was lodged which resulted in the whole
issue being dropped. In 1868 city status was defeated 700 to 378,
and in 1869 it lost by a vote of 784 to 177. The issue again failed
in 1870. Those in favor of city government formed a committee in
June 1872 to draft a charter, which was approved by the legislature
on July 3, 1873. On March 10, 1874, Keene adopted the new
municipal status by a vote of 783 to 589 and thus became a city.
The New Hampshire town charter of 1753 was surrendered to a new
city government headed by Horatio Colony as first mayor. The municipal government was organized on May 5 when, somewhat to the
dismay of many, Democrats took control in what had traditionally
been considered a Republican town. A city seal was adopted which
showed the figure of Justice surrounded by symbols of Commerce,
Industry, and Agriculture. The change from government by a board
of three selectmen to that of a mayor, aldermen representing each
of the newly-created five city wards, and a common council of 15
began a new era for Keene as a municipality.
In August the Keene Public Library organization voted to surrender to the city the shares and property of the library, and final
transfer of the collection of about 3,000 books was made the following February.
Mrs. Lydia M. Handerson, the first woman to hold this office in
Keene, was appointed postmaster in September 1874 to succeed her
husband, Henry C. Handerson, who had died the previous June.
The first woman doctor in the city was probably Dr. Rebecca F.
Hill, who practiced with her husband Dr. Gardner C. Hill. She was a
graduate of the New England Medical College in Boston and began
practice in Keene around 1867.
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PART XI: 1875-1886
Among the municipal services which called for the attention
of the new government were the schools. A high school building to
replace the old Keene Academy was voted in May 1875, and classes
were moved to the City Hall during the construction. Shepard S.
Woodcock of Boston was called upon to design a Keene building, and
the result was long a source of pride to the entire community.
Built on a foundation 18 inches thick of stone hauled from a
quarry near Westport, N.H., the five-story Victorian structure had a
127 foot tower. The walls were 14 inches thick, the whole finished
in the best manner called for by educational standards of the period,
including a ventilation system for all rooms. More than a million
locally-made bricks went into the building, which housed not only
the high school but several lower grade classes, as well as a gymnasium, laboratories, a school library, and an exhibition hall seating
500. At the front portico stood four columns of colored granite from
Aberdeen, Scotland, and Gothic arches, decorative ironwork, and
spires of the roof and tower surrounded the old Academy bell, which
had been cast in Troy, N. Y., in 1854 and was retained from the
former building. The building was dedicated on December 4, 1877.
The high school was conducted under four teachers, and enrolled 122 students. A varied program of instruction was offered,
including English, history, geography, drawing, modern languages,
mathematics, Latin, and Greek. In 1878 an alumni association was
formed, and in November 1880 a student military group was organized, called the Keene High School Cadets. This unit was uniformed
and equipped with rifles. During 1883-84 high school pupils published their first student periodical, the K. H. S. Index, which contained creative compositions as well as some historical articles. Student editors participated in the formation of the Scholastic Press
Association of school newspapers in Boston at this time, while an
active athletic club played baseball and football. Field trips by
science classes included visits to the local pottery and gas works.
Teachers' Institute was held in Keene in 1 884 with nearly 125 enrolled.
The increased facilities of the new building permitted reorganization of the city's schools. Arrangements were made for teachers to
take charge of a single class instead of two as formerly, while a
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number of grammar school students were moved to the new high
school building from the School and Church Street schools. In 1877
the Union School District was divided into 13 primary, 3 intermediate, 2 grammar schools, and 1 hi g h school. In 1880 Keene had 20
school buildings, 1,216 pupils, and 42 teachers. There were in addition 10 suburban districts located beyond the center of Keene.
A new school, its bell the gift of John Symonds, was erected on
Park Avenue in 1881, and a district was created there in 1886.
The old Church Street schoolhouse was sold in 1883 and became
a laundry. The Elliot Street school was built in 1886 to replace the
Main Street school buildin g , which had been removed during the
widening of Appian Way. Starting in 1879 women were permitted
to vote in school district affairs and that same year Mrs. Abby Bickford became the first woman elected to the school board. One of the
private schools operated in this period was opened by the Misses
Laura B. and Kate L. Tilden at their West Street home in September
1883. Dancing schools continued to be popular; one conducted by
Professor Ball at Liberty Hall early in 1882 enrolled about 80.
The Court Street Baptist Church was dedicated in 1875, and
the Universalists organized as a church in 1876. There was some
speculation of erecting a public library building on a Winter Street
site, and proposed drawings were prepared by Leslie Seward, a local
artist, in 1876; however, nothing ever came of this suggestion.
In July 1875 the grounds of Keene Driving Park were opened
to the public. This was located at lower Main Street, now Edgewood.
West side of Main Street—circa 1872—note old railroad
depot and shadow of Unitarian Church steeple on road
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West side of Main Street in the 1880's
A trotting course had been constructed measuring just over a halfmile in length, and a grandstand built to seat 1,500 spectators. The
judges' stand was topped by a gilt weather vane, "Goldsmith Maid,"
and there were stables, outbuildings, a fence, and an arched g ate to
the grounds. Agricultural shows and races were held here for a number of years after the Cheshire A g ricultural Society discontinued its
annual fair in West Keene in 1883. Keene joined the entire nation in
the special centennial celebrations of 1876. Buildings in the business
district and many homes were gaily decorated with flags and patriotic
emblems. Visitors from Winchester and Peterborough joined in the
West side of Main Street in the early 20th Century
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parade which featured bands, military units, and members of the
new city government riding in carriages. Later trotting races at the
Driving Park, a dance at City Hall, and the annual Fourth of July
oration in the Unitarian Church helped to complete the celebration
climaxed by fireworks, cannon salutes, and ringing of church bells.
Buildings in the Square were illuminated well into the night by hundreds of Chinese lanterns. Rev. William Orne White's historical
address was printed in honor of the event.
View from Central Square showing Unitarian
Church steeple
The Unitarians celebrated their 50th anniversary in December
1875; Rev. William Orne White, who was granted a leave of absence
in 1876 for a European tour, resigned in 1878 after a pastorate of
27 years. As a civic leader, Rev. White helped to promote temperance as well as educational and municipal improvements. His
daughter, Eliza Orne White, born in Keene in 1 856, became a successful writer of novels and juvenile literature. In July 1878 the spire
of the Unitarian Church was lowered by some 12 feet due to its unsafe
condition and noticeable sway in high winds.
The population of Keene in 1880 was 6,786. This was the year
City Hall was remodeled, its roof raised 61/2 feet by means of 36
screw jacks. At the same time a permanent stage was constructed to
accommodate the many traveling theatrical groups visiting Keene.
One of the first professional companies to enjoy the new facilities
was Denman Thompson's troupe in "Joshua Whitcomb," which
played at the hall in March 1881. The entire house was sold out in
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two hours. When the show had played in Boston the year before, 85
Keene theater lovers made the special half-fare excursion by rail to
attend.
The balcony installed in City Hall at this time became a source
of considerable speculation, as the supports for the circular gallery
were rods from the ceiling which gave concern to many, although
they never evidenced signs of actual danger. A new council chamber
was constructed, and the former Keene Five Cents Savings Bank
vault was installed there in 1885. However, the city government
was not the sole occupant of the building; for some years shops and
stores occupied the ground floor. In 1881 the Keene Public Library,
with its collection of 5,000 books, was moved from the Warren Block
on Washington Street to the north store of the City Hall (later occupied by the police department), and a printed book catalogue of
the library collection was issued. In December 1877 control of the
library was transferred from a committee of the city government to
a Board of Trustees.
The first postal letter box in Keene was erected at the railroad
station in March 1875; boxes on city streets were added in 1879.
The Metropolitan Telegraph Co. was organized early in 1879 to
furnish communication throughout the city. The system, consisting of
12 Morse telegraph instruments and three miles of wire, was not
successful. Keene's first telephones were introduced in July 1879
with two subscribers; in July 1881 the city councils approved the erection of telephone poles and wires, and the first Keene telephone
exchange opened soon afterwards on the site that later became
Goodnow's Department Store. In 1885 the exchange was moved to
the Tierney Block, where weather predictions by means of flags were
displayed in code for temperature change, storms, etc.
The Cheshire County Telephone Co. was formed in October
1881, with lines to South Keene and Marlborough. On September 1,
1881, the first telephone calls were placed between Keene and
Marlborough and Keene and Gilsum to a single telephone located
in those towns. Operations were taken over in 1883 by the New
England Telephone and Telegraph Co. whose directory showed
some 400 telephones in use throughout Cheshire County. Calls were
possible, weather permitting, in a radius of 50 to 75 miles of the exchange. Before 1886 calls were placed by name, and the introduction of numbers was met with some opposition. The local telephone
"book" was simply a card in the early years of service.
Memorial services were held by all Keene churches and at City
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City Hotel (later Hotel Ellis) circa 1880's
Hall on September 25, 1881, for the assassinated President James
A. Garfield who was remembered as a special guest at the dedication
of Keene's Civil War Soldiers' Monument in October 1871. Many
Keene stores and homes were draped in mourning, all business was
suspended, and the city's church bells were tolled when news of his
death reached Keene. "The sad tidings of the President's death,
although not unexpected, have cast a gloom over the entire community," the Sentinel reported.
Woodland Cemetery was enlarged under city auspices in 1876,
while Greenlawn Cemetery was organized in 1879 and passed to
city control in 1889. North Lincoln Street was extended in 1886 to
prevent general traffic from passing through the cemetery. The remaining slate gravestones from Keene's first lower Main Street cemetery were removed to the Woodland Cemetery extension in 1877
and to the Washington Street Cemetery in 1904.
In June 1886 the Thomson-Houston Electric Co. was granted
a license to erect poles and run wires for Keene's first electric light
system. The pioneer generator was located at the Farnum Mill on
Emerald Street and it supplied power for street and commercial
lighting by August. The first electric street lamp in Keene, an arc
light as were all of the earliest electric lights, went into operation on
August 28, 1886, on Roxbury Street just beyond the Bank Block,
near the post office. The Keene Gas Light Co., which had provided
lighting for much of the community for years, including gas street
lamps in the center of town, increased the size of its plant and changed
its method of making gas in 1881. It purchased the electric power
generating facilities late in 1886 and enlarged its buildings in order to
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offer electricity among its services. However, gasoline street lamps
beyond the business district continued in use for some years. Street
lighting in 1877 was provided from one hour after sunset until 10
P.M. on nights with no moon, and after the introduction of electricity
until midnight.
Other progressive moves were made, including the first local
exhibition of the phonograph on July 9, 1878, Keene's first typewriter in use at the Cheshire Railroad Co. office in 1883, and in 1885
an ingenious battery-operated electric circuit-breaking clock constructed by Samuel Wadsworth, jeweler and clockmaker, at his store
in the City Hall Block. Connected to strike the nine o'clock curfew
signal on the bell above in the tower, it was among the earliest such
devices in any municipality. Later the clock was also connected to
the whistle and fire alarm system at Beaver Mills. Wadsworth, a
naturalist and amateur scientist, also began a continuous daily record
of Keene weather in 1892, a record which has been maintained by
local meteorologists to the present day.
After nearly five years of study and discussion of the matter,
the Stevens box system of fire alarms was introduced in November
1885. This consisted of five boxes, four miles of wire, and the whistle
at Beaver Mills. Additions and extensions of the system were made
almost every year thereafter. Citizens were warned not to telephone
in fires, but to make use of the new alarm system, which consisted
of bright red locked boxes with their keys behind a small glass window. On the night before the Fourth of July the keys were customarily removed and entrusted to neighbors where they would be available in the event of emergencies.
The mechanical City Hall alarm installed in 1879 continued
to be used as a precaution for a number of years, and an electric
striker was attached in April 1886. It was long regarded a high honor
by the several fire companies to be the first to arrive at the scene of
a disaster. As a result of this rivalry, a number of vacant shacks and
abandoned barns mysteriously caught fire, followed by an unusually swift response by one or another of the engine companies.
Measures to correct such over-zealous enthusiasm were taken in 1880
after several fires were set to aid company standings. In August 1883
an Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine was purchased from the manufacturers in Manchester (their No. 580), and an independent steam
fire company was formed, adding to the resources of the Deluge,
Neptune, and Phoenix Hose Companies and the Washington Hook
and Ladder Company. In 1878 the Deluge Engine Company cele133
brated its 30th anniversary with a banquet and appropriate festivities. The engine house was moved in 1880 from St. James Street to a
site purchased by the city on Vernon Street where a new fire house
was erected in 1885.
A number of fires kept the department alert, including a serious
blaze at the Taft pottery in 1875, another which occurred there in
1878, and a third fire in 1879. By far the most dangerous fire was
that of March 24, 1880, which destroyed Clarke's Block at the head
of the Square on the corner of Washington Street. It was discovered
about 10:45 P.M. after a brisk wind had fanned the flames which
now threatened to level the whole area, including the First Church.
All church bells were sounded, and soon a large crowd had gathered.
Six streams of water were played on the fire, which spread rapidly
through the old wooden buildings. Dense clouds of smoke blew down
Main Street, and wind-carried sparks threatened other property,
diverting the firefighters at frequent intervals from their main task.
When the buildings collapsed every hope of saving the old church
seemed doomed. In response to a telegraph request for help, a steam
fire engine was sent by rail from Fitchburg to Keene. Although it was
a bitterly cold night, heroic firemen climbed to a height from which
they could direct water on the center of the blaze. It was 1 A.M.
before the fire was brought under control. Grateful members of the
Clarke's Block after the fire-1880
134
First Church entertained the firemen at a supper two days later.
A brick building, retaining the name of Clarke's Block, replaced
the destroyed structures, and in December 1880 Liberty Hall was
opened. Here appeared Susan B. Anthony, champion of women's
ri g hts, in June 1881, and Julia Ward Howe in February 1882. In
March 1885 the Salvation Army first visited Keene. Appearing at
Liberty Hall were Brigadier General Lutz, Captain Heck and his wife,
Salvation Mamie, and another evangelist called Smiling Alice.
In 1881 when the four-story Ashuelot Boot & Shoe Co. factory
on Leverett Street was destroyed by fire, an insurance company offered a reward for the apprehension of suspected arsonists. Woodbury's pail factory on upper Washington Street burned in 1883, and a
$75,000 blaze at the Ashuelot Mills occurred in February 1884. In
1883 the Roxbury Street block connected with the Cheshire House
burned and was replaced the same year by a three-story structure
which is still standing.
The entire community was stirred in May 1876, when a local
citizen, Alvin C. Foster, was found dead, perhaps murdered, near the
Washington Street school. He had been suffocated by chloroform, and
after an intensive investigation three men were tried for the crime in
1880, but were acquitted due to some strange aspects of the case,
including a suicide theory. This was not Keene's first murder. In November 1864 at "Ball Alley," behind the Eagle Hotel, Alfred A. Tolman was shot by a woman who later was imprisoned for the crime.
In August 1874 Allen A. Craig was found dead on Main Street, and
William A. McLaughlin was found guilty of manslaughter. The mysterious death of Martin Ahern in March 1869 was believed murder by
some, though the case was never solved. The old stone jail on Washington Street was removed in the 1880's and a new county jail was
built on land formerly the site of the window glass factory on upper
Washington Street (now Fuller Park).
The Keene Humane Society was organized in December 1875
and incorporated in June 1879. The first arrest for cruelty to animals
was made on April 25, 1 878 , when two men were fined five dollars
each for beating a horse. When the Ladies' Charitable Society was
incorporated under state law in 1882, the organization had already
seen 67 years of benevolent service in Keene. A private hospital operated by Dr. George B. Twitchell, a nephew of Keene's famed Dr.
Amos Twitchell, and Dr. Herbert Bridgman opened on Water Street
in June 1881. Some 550 citizens were vaccinated by Dr. Bridgman in
March 1 882. Three important bequests made it possible for the In135
valid's Home to move into larger quarters at No. 361 Court Street in
1885
Beaver Brook Lodge of the Odd Fellows organization marked
its 25th anniversary in March 1876, and moved its meetings from Ball's
Block to the Cheshire House Block in 1883; Unity Lodge No. 40 was
instituted in January 1878, and a canton of the Degree of Patriarchs
Militant was formed in 1885. Among the Masonic fraternity, St. John's
Council No. 7, chartered in 1872, was revived in January 1884, and
the several groups were active in local and state Masonic affairs.
Typical of fraternal social events of the period, the Odd Fellows enjoyed annual sleigh rides such as that of February 1879 from Keene
to Marlow, where a dance was held and a banquet served, followed
by a moonlight ride back to Keene.
A revived Keene Debating Club held regular meetings and in
June 1878 decided in favor of the proposition that the prohibition of
liquor had done more harm than good. Doubtless the Keene Temperance Reform Club, formed in April 1876, had other ideas. The Keene
Bicycle Club was organized in May 1886, and the Ancient Order of
Hibernians had a local chapter in Keene by 1876. This group sponsored one of the most unusual parades in local history. The St. Patrick's
Day event of March 1876 was held amid a heavy snow storm which
saw some 14 inches fall in Keene. Despite the elements, the Sons of
Eire formed at their hall in Ball's Block and accompanied by the Keene
Brass Band marched through town led by two snow plows!
The Keene Natural History Society, organized in 1872, maintained a mineralogical and zoological collection on public view in the
high school, and the Keene Scientific Association was formed in 1876
with similar exhibits at the school. The Keene Natural History Society
was given custody of three Indian skeletons unearthed on upper Court
Street in 1882, as well as several relics of the executed circus elephant,
Albert, in 1885. The Keene Commandery No. 90 of the United Order
of the Golden Cross was instituted in January 1880. January of 1882
saw the beginnings of Refuge Lod g e of the Independent Order of Good
Templars, another temperance group. On December 8, 1885, after a
period of inactivity, the YMCA was reorganized by 40 persons. William H. Symonds became the first paid secretary in August 1887, when
contributions for a new building were begun.
The Keene Light Guard Battalion, comprised of Company G
and Company H of the Second Regiment, New Hampshire National
Guard, was formed in 1877-78 at the armory on Church Street. The
Keene Brass Band of 18 pieces was uniformed as the Second Regiment
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Unit from Camp Natt Head, 1879
Band by the state in 1880. Its leader was Theodore J. Allen, a musician
with considerable professional experience. A musical group, Wheeler
& Maynard's Orchestra, of about five players, was formed in 1880; this
in addition to the military band and a cadet orchestra at the high school.
In November 1885 the Keene Horse Thief Detecting Society was
formed by a number of public-spirited citizens.
The Manchester and Keene Railroad extending from Keene to
Greenfield, N. H., was formally completed on December 1, 1878, with
the last spike being driven by Samuel W. Hale of Keene, near Eastern
Avenue on the short piece of railroad embankment running along that
street. The first cars ran over the line on November 30, 1878, the first
passenger train on December 2, and the entire line was completed in
September 1880. In 1884 the property was purchased by the Boston
and Lowell Railroad and operated under contract by the Cheshire
Railroad. Many of the road's wooden trestles were then replaced by
iron bridges. At this time the Cheshire Railroad had been enjoying
some of its best years; however, increased pressure from larger railroads began to be felt, and the Cheshire road was hard pressed to meet
this competition. Increased demands had brought larger locomotives
into use, 30 tons being the average weight in 1880. For several years
prior to 1885, economic conditions prevented expansion of the Cheshire Railroad, and the growing network of large rail corporations made
life more and more difficult for the Keene-based line.
The use of coal as a fuel for locomotives replaced wood in July
1885, and the picturesque balloon smokestacks of railroad locomotives soon disappeared. An engine house on Main Street just south of
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the railroad crossing was built in 1885 by the Ashuelot Railroad, supplanting the house of Dr. Amos Twitchell, formerly the tavern of
Aaron and Luther Eames. Steam heat in passenger cars replaced the
small and frequently uncertain stoves formerly used. The first Sunday
train into the city arrived on May 5, 1878, and the local post office was
first opened to the public on Sunday beginning in June 1886. The
adoption by the nation's railroads of standard time zones took place locally in November 1883. Railroad regulator clocks were reset to agree
with the new Boston standard, about 16 minutes slower than the old
standard. The Ashuelot Railroad was operated by the Cheshire Railroad from 1861 until 1877, when it passed again under the control of
the Connecticut River Railroad of Sprin g field, Mass.
The influx of immigration to this country was not greatly felt in
Keene, although the city welcomed a share of new Americans. Keene
people saw "immigration trains" filled with new arrivals as they passed
through the city on their way west or to Canada.
The character of the industries established in Keene in this period
reflects to a marked degree the change in manufacturing brought about
by the enlarged factory system in America. Faulkner & Colony continued as the leading textile business, operating an increasingly varied industry with new complex machinery. Nims, Whitney & Co. employed
50 people in the systematic manufacture of doors, window sash, and
blinds, and the chair industry was represented by the plants of George
L. Burdett, who moved to Keene from Nelson, N.H. in 1876 and employed about 30, and the Cheshire Chair Co. which hired nearly 50
men to make from 600 to 800 dozen chairs a month. Woodenware,
pails, and buckets were important Keene products, and a new firm. the
Impervious Package Co., established in 1881 as the Vulcanized Can
Co., commenced production of special kegs and buckets for paints and
oils. At Beaver Mills the Keene Furniture Co. produced about 200
suites of furniture every month in oak, walnut, mahogany and maple.
Aided by a number of tanneries, the local leather industry produced a
wide variety of shoes, boots, and harnesses. Encouragement to industry was offered by convenient transportation facilities and tax abatements for a term of as much as 10 years for many firms.
A Rural Improvement Association was formed in June 1886 "to
cultivate public spirit, to promote public health" and to "improve our
streets, public grounds and sidewalks." The society was responsible for
an interest in parks, and fostered such improvements as the move by
Miss Mary B. Dinsmoor in September 1886 to preserve the tract
known as the Dinsmoor Woods on Maple Avenue, and the gift to the
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city of the old West Keene fairground of 25 acres, presented by George
A. Wheelock in April 1886.
Concrete sidewalks for the east side of Main Street, the east side
of Court Street, and the north side of West Street were ordered in 1886,
the first such walks in the city. In 1882 Colonel George E. Waring, consulting engineer, presented a plan for a city sewerage system which had
been under study since about 1876. The project was adopted and put
into operation the following year. It was the first use of this particular
system in the state, and by 1890 it consisted of about 131/2 miles of
sewers. Woodward Pond was purchased as an additional water supply
in 1886, and the octagon reservoir and observation tower at the Beech
Hill reservoir site was improved. In 1877 a Milwaukee lithography
firm published a large bird's-eye view of the city as seen from West
Hill, with almost every building shown, an amazingly detailed prospect
of the community.
Stephen Preston Ruggles, inventor of a printing press and a raised
alphabet for the blind, was brought to Keene for burial in 1880. Samuel
W. Hale, Keene industrialist and railroad official, was elected governor
of New Hampshire in 1 882 and served one term.
Variety marked the entertainment for young and old during these
years. A 23-hour walking race was held in 1879 between Avery of
Boston and Higgins of Springfield; Avery finished first clocking 95
miles, and Higgins came in at 81 miles. Sanford F. Petts organized a
traveling minstrel company in 1882 called Pett's Keene Minstrels
which, complete with brass band, gave performances locally and elsewhere in the East, including Canada. Spaulding's Swiss Bell Ringers
proved a popular 1876 attraction, and a working model of the famed
Strasbourg clock was shown at Cheshire Hall in February 1879. John
L. Sullivan, more famous in the boxing ring, made a Keene appearance
in February 1886 with Lester Allen's minstrels, a road company whose
main attraction was the drawing power of the great John L. In March
1883 Mrs. Jarley showed her waxworks in Keene for the benefit of the
high school. Music for the occasion was furnished by the Cadet Orchestra. John B. Gough, a temperance pioneer, was a City Hall speaker in
the interest of liquor reform in January 1884. Other events included a
lecture series in 1885, featuring a number of well-known speakers on
the subjects of science, travel, and natural history. Wendell Phillips
lectured in Keene in May 1878, and glee clubs from Brown University
and Amherst College gave concerts in 1883 and 1884.
Among the sports popular in this period was archery which enjoyed a revival of interest about 1880 and several clubs were formed,
139
as had been done 40 years earlier. Bicycle riding was growing in popularity with the introduction of the safety bicycle, a major advance over
the dangerous high wheeler, and demonstrations of the sport, as well as
cycle outings, were in vogue. A roller skating rink opened in 1883 and
was especially popular with the teen-age set, parties and exhibitions
being held there frequently. The High School Cadets and various
school classes sponsored dances, hayrides, and °various other social
events. Football and baseball games with teams from other towns were
well attended, while croquet and lawn tennis were played on the broad
greens of Keene homes.
Novel election bets provided a good deal of fun and never failed
to draw a crowd. In 1872 an unhappy loser pulled the victor riding in a
light carriage from the old West Keene fairgrounds to the Square,
where both were greeted by a large crowd, the Keene Brass Band, and
units of the fire department. In 1880, following James A. Garfield's national victory, another loser carried a rooster in a crate at the top of a
pole from Marlborough to Keene, with a large sign reading "I bet on
Hancock and lost." The procession was accompanied by the winner
and a band.
By far the most popular event in the city was the circus, then enjoying its greatest years of success in America. Van Amburgh & Co.
Shows appeared in May 1877; in July 1880 Cooper, Bailey & Co.
Shows, equipped with some of the first electric lights seen in Keene, attracted a throng of 1,500 on regular and special trains; and Sanger's
Royal British Menagerie & Show also appeared in Keene in July 1880.
In July 1882 it was Jumbo, the world's largest elephant standing 12
feet high, that made Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson's Circus the high
point of the summer, and Bolivar, another celebrated elephant, appeared with Adam Forepaugh's Circus in July 1883 at the Driving
Park. A colorful street parade up Main Street and Washington Street to
High Street and back down Court Street was a special feature of every
circus. It was frequently so long that as the head of the procession reentered the Square the noisy steam calliope, which always climaxed such
a spectacular, was just entering Washington Street. However, no circus
season before or since in Keene has equalled 1885 for dramatic impact.
On July 18, 1885, Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson was showing at
Nashua when an elephant named Albert attacked and injured a
keeper, James McCormack, who died on the train that night as the circus approached Keene. When the circus arrived, news of the tragedy
had preceded it. Although the animal was valued at $10,000, owners of
the show agreed that Albert was showing signs of insanity and had to be
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put out of the way. Despite all attempts to prevent the news from
spreading, the whole city was alive with rumor and gossip. As the circus
was playing in the tent on Monday, July 20, a squad of the Keene Light
Guard under Captain Francis 0. Nims, and armed with U.S. 45-70
rifles, marched to a point on the east bank of the Ashuelot River between Appian Way and Appleton Street where a crowd of almost
500 had gathered. Albert was chained to trees, and bull's-eyes were
chalked in the rear of a shoulder and on his temple. When 30 rifles
spoke as one the huge beast died instantly. Circus men, mourning this
once-favorite of the ring, plucked hairs from his tail as souvenirs. The
Smithsonian Institution accepted the gift of the dead elephant, and
while elephant steak enjoyed a brief popularity at the Cheshire House,
the hide and skeleton of the animal were prepared for display in the
nation's capital. A marble marker was set in May 1886 on the site of
the execution and for a brief time became a circus shrine until, either
carried away by a souvenir hunter or lost while the river was being
diked in the area, the marker disappeared.
Keene enjoys a military review
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PART XII: 1887-1898
Among the favorite recreations for Keene citizens and visitors to
the city in the "Gay Nineties" were the Five Mile Drive in West Keene,
which passed in part through the unspoiled beauty of the Dinsmoor
Woods on Maple Avenue, and Horatian Park on Beech Hill, where a
wooden 35-foot observation tower was constructed and scenic drives
laid out by Horace L. Goodnow in 1890. Sunday afternoon rides to
Beech Hill and a climb to the top of the tower fast became a popular
pastime. Below was spread out a scene of busy prosperity: "In front
are the distant meadows, the amphitheatre of hills, and in the background, the peaks of the Green Mountains. On the right are the seven
church spires of the shady city, and the turrets of the high school building, court-house, city hall, and more distant jail. Obtruded upon one's
notice, also, are the tall chimneys of the shops and mills—Faulkner's,
Colony's, Woodbury's, Mechanic's, Railroad, Beaver, and new shoeshop, while a solitary chimney marks the site of Governor Hale's furniture shop. Still more to the right, under the hill, are the dark pines
which shade Woodland Cemetery."
Main Street and the growing network of avenues, "generally laid
out at right angles or parallel with Main Street, so that the street system
is symmetrical without being precisely of the checkerboard pattern,"
made the city a well-planned community.
Much of the orderly development of the city was due to the energetic and dedicated efforts of far-sighted men such as Samuel Wadsworth. A clever mechanic and watchmaker, as well as an ardent naturalist, Wadsworth served as city engineer during a formative period of
city planning. In 1887 he drew detailed sketches of every street and
public way for the purpose of assigning house numbers to assist postmen in the mail carrier service to be introduced on January 1, 1888.
Three carriers were to cover 25 miles daily. Some 1,400 numbers were
affixed to buildings on a plan that allowed for the growth and expansion Wadsworth believed would come to the city. Appointed in 1892 as
the city's first cooperative weather observer, he continued the record of
Keene's weather begun in 1886 by Henry S. Mackintosh.
Through the efforts of George A. Wheelock, Keene paid its first
serious attention to recreation, parks and public lands, and the preservation of the natural beauty of the city. The gift of park land was
among Wheelock's many civic contributions: in 1886 the old West
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Keene fairgrounds, the Beech Hill property called Children's Woods
in 1889, and Robin Hood Park in 1897. He was Keene's first park commissioner when that post was created in 1888.
In 1887 through the efforts of Miss Caroline Haskell Ingersoll,
who raised donations mainly from the ladies of Keene, a pine grove in
West Keene was preserved from destruction. The area was named
Ladies' Wildwood Park and added to the park system. A rustic arch
was constructed over the entrance in 1890, replaced by two Beech Hill
boulders in 1912. In memory of her brother Allan she contributed
funds for a fountain which was erected in Central Square Park in 1896.
The county commissioners added a pond to the upper Washington
Street jail lot in 1888, and in 1890 Henry 0. Coolidge donated Coolidge Park to the city (site of the Keene Junior High School on Washington Street) as well as a fund for recreational purposes.
Central Square Park was slightly enlarged in 1892, with concrete
walks and granite paving around it, though the street itself remained
unpaved, to the distress of all who had to cross it in wet weather. Municipal sprinkling operations were commenced in May 1895 as a means
of partial relief during the hot, dusty summer months.
The first granite paving stones were laid on Roxbury Street in
July 1889, and the first macadam pavement on Court Street in June
1891. West Street was so paved in August 1892.
In May 1888 Keene hotels were closed by their proprietors in protest against the rigid enforcement of liquor laws, and about 150 guests
were accommodated in private homes under sponsorship of the Keene
Temperance Union. The Women's Temperance Union was responsible for the barrel of water, iced in summer's worst heat, which was located near the bandstand at the head of Main Street and served by a
single tin cup attached to a chain.
Mercantile business in Keene was, on the whole, good, and cash
registers made their first appearance in local stores late in 1888. The
first overhead cash system was installed in William P. Chamberlain's
store in February 1889.
With the rest of the eastern United States. Keene shared one of
America's most famous storms, the "Blizzard of '88," in March of that
year. Snow, accompanied by gale winds, fell for almost three days and
drifted into banks 12 to 15 feet high. During the storm a citizen making
his way along West Street from School to Colorado Street was 10 minutes covering the distance. All roads were blocked and streets soon became impassable. Telegraph lines were down, and the railroad and
stage lines were stranded. Most trains began operations after three
143
days, but no mail arrived for five days. On the second day a city team
managed to open a narrow passage through Vernon Street and down
Court to Main Street, but little business was carried on until the snow
was removed. Some houses were isolated, and snow tunnels to front
doors were not uncommon sights. The great storm of December 1839
was reported to have been a blizzard of even larger proportions, but the
"Blizzard of '88" became the popular standard against which all later
storms were measured, as it passed into legend.
Other disasters included a serious Beaver Mills fire in March 1889
and another there in late 1893, total destruction of the Clipper Mowing
Machine plant at South Keene in June 1891, and a fire at the Impervious Package Co. works in January 1893. By far the most serious calamity was the boiler explosion at Beaver Mills on May 22, 1893, in which
five boilers were wrecked and three men lost their lives. Had it not
been the noon hour when many workers were away at lunch, a far
greater loss of life might have resulted. There was a serious fire at the
Keene Furniture Co. in June 1896 and one in Colony's Block the following March. A diphtheria epidemic struck the city in 1889 and 15
died before the disease had run its course.
The United Order of Pilgrim Fathers, Monadnock Colony No.
107, was established in March 1888. The Ancient Order of United
Workmen, an early labor organization, was formed in March 1889.
On March 27, 1888, Cheshire Grange No. 131 was organized with 45
members. Agricultural fairs were sponsored by this group at the Keene
Driving Park (now Edgewood), where parades of decorated floats
were among the prominent features. Prizes for livestock, vegetables,
and handiwork were awarded for a number of years at these exhibitions.
In this period the Rural Improvement Society sponsored the
planting of shade trees along Keene streets. In 1887 the Society supervised the setting out of 88 trees, and nearly 100 in 1894. It also led in
improving sidewalks and encouraged citizens to beautify their yards.
The Keene Odd Fellows organization moved their meeting place to
Lane's new building in 1895, and the Ashuelot Chapter No. 320 of the
Daughters of the American Revolution was organized with 12 members in January of 1896. Mrs. Simon G. Griffin was the first regent of
the local branch of this organization which, on April 21, 1897, dedicated a tablet to the memory of Keene's Revolutionary soldiers at the
old Wyman Tavern on Main Street. The Keene Board of Trade was
formed to promote the interests of the community in 1888.
Around this time bicycling was a popular sport, about 2,000
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wheels" being in use in Keene. The Cycle Club was most active, and a
local meet was held in July 1895. A bicycle factory was established
locally about this time. A cycle path was made along Court Street in
1897, and another from Pearl Street to Maple Avenue was constructed
in 1898
The Keene Toboggan Club was responsible for the first toboggan
slide in Keene, located on Grant Street and opened in January 1887.
The chute was 40 feet high, 12 feet wide, and 175 feet long.
In addition to the GAR post, the Union Veterans' Union Cornmandery No. 7 was organized in October 1890. Roaring Brook Lodge
of the Knights of Pythias became active in 1893, the Cheshire Fish and
Game League was also formed that year, while a local chapter of the
Companions of the Forest was organized in 1895, and a chapter of the
Foresters of America by 1897.
The Keene Country Club was established on April 12, 1897, and
during its early years leased Wilson Pond property. The group laid
plans for golf, croquet, and tennis grounds soon after its organization.
In 1896 a Good Roads Association was formed.
The Monadnock Club was organized in 1892 and incorporated in
1895. The Colonial Club was instituted in October 1896, and the
Keene Fortnightly Club was started in 1888 by a group of ladies who
met to read the works of Dickens and enjoy a social hour. Originally
known as the Reading Circle, the group took its later name in 1894.
The Granite Club was formed among ladies of West Keene in 1897.
The local chapter of the YMCA raised funds and erected a threestory building on West Street, one of the first "Y" buildings in the state.
The site of the new building was that of the old Richardson Tavern
built about 1773 and razed for the new construction. The cornerstone
was set on August 10, 1893. and the building was dedicated on September 28, 1894. Membership totaled nearly 300, and there were active programs of events, a reading room and library, and classes in penmanship, bookkeeping, business English, and associated subjects. In
addition to offering gymnasium facilities, the organization sponsored a
lecture series and concerts during the winter months. An attraction of
1891 was the Hungarian Gypsy Band.
Many of the products of Keene's growing industries were shipped
to different parts of the country as well as abroad. Chairs, wooden pails,
buckets, and cloth were among the best known items. Keene had become a trading center for not only other communities in this part of the
state, but for some of Vermont as well. Buildings "almost invariably
large, finely equipped, brilliantly lighted and highly attractive in ap145
pearance within and without" were doing a brisk retail and wholesale
trade on terms as favorable as those of any larger commercial outlet in
New England, and in 1889 a second post office was established at
South Keene.
When the old A. & T. Hall's store was being demolished to be replaced by the Buffum Block in 1890, Keene Light Guard equipment and
military stores were discovered; helmets, belts, and knapsacks dated
back some 100 years.
Statistics of Keene for 1890 show 23 industries and factories with
16 or more employees. The largest was the Cheshire Railroad, giving
work to 250. Between 70 and 90 in each firm were employed by the
Keene Furniture Co., Lancaster Shoe Factory, Beaver Mills, Woodbury's Pail Factory, and Faulkner & Colony's.
In 1889 Dr. William H. Eaton resigned as pastor of the Baptist
Church and was honored by the parish and community for his 17 years
of service.
The Bethany Hall Mission opened at the former Methodist Church
on Vernon Street on October 5, 1889, founded by Frank L. Sprague
and a committee of the Methodist Church. Elm Street was extended
through to Vernon Street in 1892, and the church building was turned
to face Vernon Street. Soon independent, the new church took the
A Saturday street auction in the 1890's
146
name Bethany Mission and was federated with the Union Evangelical
Churches. In 1897 under Sprague and S. W. Fessenden it united with
the Association of Pentacostal Churches in America.
The Sturtevant Chapel in Keene grew from a prayer meeting
group formed on March 10, 1894, at the home of George A. Hildreth,
No. 101 George Street. Under the sponsorship of Rev. William G. Poor
of the First Congregational Church and dedicated laymen, the George
Street Chapel was organized, and in 1897 moved to Washington Street,
where it remained for 16 years.
As a result of years of planning and work, including events such
as the church fair held at the armory in November 1889 at which the
Edison phonograph was a feature attraction, local Roman Catholics
erected St. Bernard's Church on Main Street in 1890. The substantial
brick building was dedicated on November 20, 1892, with imposing
ceremonies conducted by visiting clergy and parish officials. St. Bernard's was designed in Romanesque style by C. J. Bateman of Boston
and seats 800 persons. The two bell towers are 90 feet high and 16 feet
square. Parochial school classes and social organizations of the parish
were soon expanded.
St. James Episcopal Church commemorated 25 years in their
church building in 1889, and the vested choir first assisted in services of
worship in June 1891. Rev. Octavius Applegate Jr. was installed as
rector in 1896. Golf as a sport was introduced to Keene by Rev. Applegate, who had learned the game in England.
The Unitarian Club was formed in 1889, the first laymen's club of
its type in any Keene church. In 1892 the congregation purchased a
Washington Street lot and began the removal of its Main Street building in 1894 after more than 68 years in that location. The historic Revere bell was hung in the new church, the cornerstone of which was set
on July 11, 1894, and dedication services were held on January 24,
1895. The public clock from the Main Street church was placed in the
steeple of the church in Dublin. F. W. Woolworth's later built on the
former Main Street site of the church.
Although spiritualism was never an organized sect in Keene, it
had its followers, and a seance was held at Liberty Hall in Clarke's
Block in June 1889. Various communications from the spirit world
were claimed to have been received by the medium, but most people
looked upon it as public entertainment rather than a serious movement.
Frank P. Gleason was for many years a clairvoyant and trance medium
in Keene who, before his death in 1943, was credited with remarkable
abilities which he used to assist individuals and police authorities in the
solution of problems.
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In 1892 the Union School District authorized the erection of a
school, which was named in honor of George Tilden who had died in
1888. Tilden had come to Keene in 1817, where he learned the bookbinding trade and later established G. H. Tilden & Co., which is still in
business today (1967). Among his other civic offices and services,
Tilden had been a member of the school committee for over 40 years.
Former Governor Samuel W. Hale died in 1891. John T. Abbott,
once city solicitor and an attorney of note, was appointed by the federal
government to be minister to the Republic of Columbia in April 1889.
Dr. George B. Twitchell, who began practice in Keene in 1843, was
honored in November 1895 for his many services to the community,
including the establishment of Keene's hospital. Dr. Twitchell died in
1897, ending a long career during which he performed much of the surgery in southwestern New Hampshire.
Keene's 1890 population was 7,446, an increase of 660 from the
1880 report. A notable legal event in October 1889 was the trial for
libelous publication in the Cheshire Republican brought by Hamilton J.
Spofford, an ex-policeman and night watchman. It was alleged that the
newpaper's articles charging Spofford with improper conduct while on
duty were untrue, but a jury ruled in favor of the newspaper after hearing lengthy testimony. The Spofford libel case excited considerable
interest in the community.
At least two from Keene joined in the last American gold rush,
that to the Klondike in 1897; one of the men, J. Fred Whitcomb Jr., was
accidentally shot and killed and was buried in Alaska.
The New Hampshire Sentinel changed the size of its pages from
large folio to a smaller quarto form in January 1889. Keene's first daily
newspaper, the Daily Tribune, issued from a Church Street office by
Webster P. Huntington had a short life, from June 15, 1889, to September 8, 1890; the New England Observer ceased publication in January 1890, when it was purchased by and united with the Sentinel,
leaving Keene with only two newspapers, the New Hampshire Sentinel
and the Cheshire Republican. A third newspaper in the form of a daily,
the Keene Evening Sentinel, was launched on October 20, 1890, by the
Sentinel interests. This newspaper and printing firm moved in 1893
from the Bank Block to a new building on Main Street, just north of the
railroad station. The Howard Company street clock, erected at this
ti me in front of the newspaper office, became a fixture, running at one
point for 15 years without need of repair. Minor publications which
had short lives during this period included the Keene Blizzard issued in
1 48
View of Keene at the turn of the century
August 1890, and the Press and Printer published from 1887 to 1888.
The 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus
was commemorated in Keene schools and by the contribution of student work for display at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Textbooks were furnished free to students for the first time in 1890. At the
high school a student publication the KHS Enterprise was begun in
November 1895, and is still issued by undergraduates of Keene High
School.
The Bliss Business College was established in the Cheshire House
Block in September 1897 with an enrollment of 44. It became the
Keene Business College and later Tiffin's Business Institute.
Beedle's piano and music store was opened in 1892 by Charles
C. Beedle, and for three generations the Beedles have played an
active part in local musical affairs. Both Beedle's Orchestra, formed
in October 1891, and their military band, organized in 1899, became
well-known over a wide area. An original operetta by Karl R. Beedle
entitled "Pym" was staged on April 13, 1898, for the benefit of the
Monadnock Cycle Club. Another talented musician was William P.
Chamberlain, composer and professional performer in his youth,
but better known locally as a leading merchant with branch stores
located in three states. Composer and bandmaster Edwin Eugene
Bagley made Keene his home after 1893, and became associated
with local bands. His "National Emblem March" is among the most
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popular of American military marches. For some years Bagley was
the leader of the Keene Military Band, which was organized in 1896
to furnish music for parades, picnics, and other local functions.
A boy who grew up in Keene during this period and who later
achieved a leading position in American industry was Nathaniel
Leverone, chairman of the Automatic Canteen Co. of Chicago. Successful in one of America's great metropolitan centers, he has never
lost a love and appreciation for his native New Hampshire and his
alma mater, Dartmouth College.
The Elliot Community Hospital was established on April 7, 1892,
with the gift to the city by John Henry Elliot of the Elliot mansion
on Main Street. Funds for outfitting hospital rooms were raised among
individuals and the city's fraternal societies. Dedication of the 18-bed
facility was held on September 21, 1892. The Elliot City Hospital
was placed under its own Board of Trustees in 1895. The Hospital
Aid Society was formed in 1892 to assist in the work of the institution,
and a Men's Hospital Benefit Club was organized in 1898. In 1897
a horse-drawn ambulance was added to the hospital's equipment.
Five students graduated from the two-year nursing course inaugurated
a year after the hospital was established, thus beginning the history
of nurses' training in Keene. Local physicians formed the Cheshire
County Medical Association in 1889, led by Dr. George B. Twitchell,
who was also a moving force in the hospital enterprise and became
its first president.
Improvements continued to be made in the city water and sewerage systems, including storm drains on Roxbury and Water Streets,
and new iron pipes at various locations. A second steam fire engine,
built by the Button firm (their no. 216) was purchased in 1890. Jean
P. Howes made an automatic fire alarm register for the fire station
which was installed early in 1897. Weekly Saturday "test box" signals
were being rung for inspection of the nearly 20 boxes then in the
system. The mechanical alarm weight in City Hall tower fell into the
basement of the building in 1889, but fortunately no one was hurt.
Rev. Edward A. Renouf presented $500 to initiate a firemen's
relief fund in February 1888, and a Fireman's Relief Association was
formed soon afterwards. New and improved stable arrangements were
made at the fire station in 1894, with harnesses so placed that they
could be dropped into position more quickly in response to alarms.
The old Deluge Hose Company house was sold in 1892, and the
Neptune Hose house on St. James Street was sold by the city in 1894.
Operations of the department had been centered in one location since
the end of 1892.
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In 1890 the state erected a building for use as a fish hatchery
at the Beech Hill Octagon Reservoir Park, called City Park and now
a part of Robin Hood Park. Officers of the ni g ht watch on police
duty appeared in uniform beginning in March 1892. A police signal
light was installed at the lower side of Central Square late in that
year to be operated by the central telephone exchange. Main Street
was widened and improved in 1892, and again in 1894 and 1895.
West Street was widened 15 inches along its north side from the
Square to Colorado Street in 1893, and the South Keene Railroad
underpass was constructed in 1894 to avoid a dangerous grade crossing. A municipal dump on lower Main Street was established by city
authorities in 1894.
The Keene Gas and Electric Lighting Co. plant at Spragueville
on Wilson Pond was opened in 1895, and two additional generators
were placed there within a few years. In November 1895 the generating plant chimney, 85 feet high and weighing 150 tons, was
moved 200 feet without incident, a remarkable engineering feat. It
was moved again about 20 feet in 1897, also without difficulty. The
first commercial incandescent electric lights in Keene were installed
at Nims Brothers Market on West Street in August 1898, although
similar lighting seems to have been in use at Beaver Mills as early as
1891. The Keene telephone exchange was moved to Lane's new
building in June 1895, and the changing of 138 circuits interrupted
service for only a few moments. The exchange remained on the corner of Church and Main Streets until 1908.
Among the varied and increasing social events of Keene in this
period, perhaps the cat show of 1894 was unique. Held at the Winter
Street Armory in March, a total of 28 cats was entered in the event,
with prizes distributed liberally among proud owners. A rather notorious stage play was presented by a traveling company in 1887. "The
Black Crook," once considered scandalous and often censored, had
by this time earned a measure of toleration, although several local
clergymen issued dire warnings against witnessing the performance,
which probably did as much to fill the house as any of the advertising posters displayed on the Cheshire House and Elliot Building
boards.
Mme. Fanny Janauschek, the celebrated actress, played in "Meg
Merrilies" at City Hall in February 1890 before an appreciative audience, and a company of traveling glass blowers at the armory were
quite an attraction in the same period. John L. Sullivan, the former
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boxing great, made his second Keene appearance in March 1894 as
the star of the traveling show, "The Man from Boston," a poor play
badly reviewed and hardly advanced on artistic merits by the great
athlete.
The kirmess staged in June 1887 was among the most elaborate
local events of this or any time. The entire house and garden at No. 87
Main Street were transformed into exotic settings for a pageant and
costume party. Admission fees and receipts from booths went to the
local WCTU. Among the novel sights were leading Keene citizens
dressed in American Indian costume in a simulated frontier camp and
guides dressed as leading figures of history, literature, and the arts.
The affair attracted throngs to admire the colorful flags and lanterns
and shop at a Spanish mart, Turkish bazaar, gypsy camp, art studio,
and Chinese, Dutch, Swiss, and French booths. Refreshments were
served at a temperance café.
The circus continued to be a major professional show in the city
each summer season. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show played in Keene
upon a number of occasions. Famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley appeared at the Appian Way show grounds, along with Indians and
troupes of trick riders. Lecturers, singers, magicians, and musical
groups performed at City Hall while organ grinders, peddlers, and
medicine shows played in the streets for curious crowds.
The first motion pictures shown in Keene were exhibited by
North end of Central Square—late 19th century
152
Emmons Ball and Horace M. Wilson at City Hall on November 23,
1896, with Edison's "vitascope." The program featured a number of
short subjects only, with stage entertainment between the films. The
feature-length film had yet to make its entrance on the American
scene.
In October 1890 the Cheshire Railroad finally bowed to economic necessity and was consolidated with the Fitchburg Railroad Co.
Locomotives owned by the Cheshire Railroad were renumbered by
the Fitchburg line in their 200 series: the "Jaffrey," No. 17 became
No. 217; "Vermont," No. 7 became No. 207; the "Peterborough,"
No. 24 became No. 224; the "F. H. Kingsbury," No. 8 became No.
208, etc. Despite the fact that railroading had never enjoyed more
general acceptance and popularity, the growth of larger rail networks
was fast driving smaller lines, once found in every part of New England, out of independent business or into consolidation. During its
last years of service the Cheshire Railroad carried a total of 217,483
passengers and 859,384 tons of freight. Stone columns of the covered
railroad depot's doorways were replaced by iron posts in June 1895,
as larger freight cars experienced difficulty passing through the station. The railroad re p air shop, which constructed locomotives as well
as some passenger and postal cars after 1881, was one of Keene's
largest employers. Regular arrival of the payroll, either as a special
pay train or by pay agents, was an exciting event for many Keene
families, and the railroad was a major factor in the city's economic
life for almost a century.
In May 1895 the city accepted proposals for a history of Keene,
the first such formal attempt since Salma Hale's Annals. Author of
the work was General Simon Goodell Griffin, brigadier and brevet
major general, United States Volunteers, during the War between the
States. Born in 1824 in Nelson, N.H., Griffin made his home in Keene
after the Civil War. He represented the town in the state legislature
and served two terms as speaker of the House of Representatives. He
died on January 14, 1902. In June 1898 the Council voted to accept
the offer of the Henry Colony house on West Street as a public library
building. The donor was Edward Carrington Thayer, an industrialist
with varied interests and a benefactor of the YMCA, the hospital, and
a library in his native Massachusetts. His gift of one of the city's most
impressive homes for a library building was among the most significant public gifts Keene has ever received.
In 1887 the Keene Street Railway Co. was formed with proposed
horsecar Ines throughout the city, although no track was actually laid.
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Cheshire County Grange Fair Coaching Parade
Keene, September 7, 1898
Permission to locate electric trolley tracks was finally granted by city
authorities in 1896. Keene's first bus line was opened on December 1,
1896, by Fordyce L. Wood, with a closed horsedrawn vehicle which
could be switched to runners during the winter months. Lettered on
one side of the wagon was "Keene Street Car" and the seats ran
lengthwise. Regular trips around Keene along prescribed routes were
announced by a timetable, and the fare was 10 cents. The project
failed and service was discontinued in January 1897.
The first "horseless carriage" to appear in Keene was a marooncolored 700-pound Duryea exhibited as a part of Barnum & Bailey's
Circus on July 11, 1896. It was equipped with two three-horsepower
engines, had four speeds up to 20 miles per hour, and was steered by
means of a tiller, the up-and-down motion of which regulated the
speed.
The end of the era and, for all practical purposes, the end of the
19th century was signaled by America's first armed conflict since the
Civil War. The Spanish-American War was touched off by the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15,
1898, with the loss of 260 lives. On May 7 half the town turned out
to see the first company of the Keene Light Guards answer the call
for service. Under command of Captain Paul F. Babbidge, Company
H, escorted by city officials, GAR veterans, and school children carrying flags, marched from the armory to the railroad depot. The Keene
Military Band and the High School Drum Corps furnished the music.
Although the men were ordered to Cuba twice, and all were eager for
154
a part in the military action, their orders were canceled each time,
and hostilities ceased on August 12. The only battles the Keene unit
fought were those against typhoid, dysentery, fever, and the other ills
of the poorly equipped camps of the period; at least one Keene soldier died from the conditions that prevailed. On the evening of September 13 the return of the soldiers was greeted by 5,000 happy
citizens. Although the train was delayed, the crowd waited patiently,
losing none of its enthusiasm. Bonfires were lighted as a signal that
the train was finally arriving. Fireworks were immediately set off, and
before long the town was ablaze with light. The gaiety was climaxed
by a hot supper served at the armory.
Early 20th century, after the trolley tracks
had finally made their appearance
155
PART XIII: 1899-1914
The city proudly dedicated its first library building on February
28, 1899. Edward Carrington Thayer, the donor, having died the
previous July, the details of fitting the West Street mansion (formerly
the home of Henry Colony) for public use as a library were directed
by his widow and his niece. Control of the library was placed in the
hands of 12 trustees, 6 of whom were a self-perpetuating body appointed by Thayer; the remaining trustees were elected by the City
Councils. Miss Myra Southworth was appointed librarian, and the
collection of 11,000 volumes was moved into the building from the
former library rooms in City Hall. A new book stack, added in 1912,
was the gift from a fund left by Mr. and Mrs. John Symonds. Miss
Mary Lucina Saxton, who became librarian in 1911, devoted the
following 36 years to developing library service throughout the city,
and Miss Kate L. Tilden, one of the original trustees appointed by
Edward Thayer in 1898, set a record by serving as a trustee for over
50 years.
The city entered into a contract with the Keene Gas Light Co.
in July 1899 for 52 arc and 100 incandescent electric street lights.
Expanded programs of public improvement also included the appointment of the first plumbing inspector and highway commissioners, the
clearing of Beaver Brook, extension of the sewer system to West
Keene in 1906, and improvements to the Beech Hill Park lands in
1908. The population of Keene in 1900 was 9,165, and in 1910 was
10,065. In 1906 the city's center of population was located at the
corner of Washington and Spring Streets, just north of Central Square.
Underground telephone conduits at this time began to clear the
business district of the maze of poles and wires which had so quickly
sprung up to challenge the shade trees for space and attention. By
1900 electric power was being provided on a 24-hour basis, with new
equipment being added at the Swanzey Factory generating station as
demands for electricity increased. A second power company, the Citizen's Electric Light Co., was organized in 1905 with a Ralston Street
plant. The competitor was purchased by the Keene Gas Light Co. in
1908, becoming the Keene Gas and Electric Co. This firm supplied
power to the street railway enterprise after 1909, when the trolley
company gave up its own generating activities.
A water shortage was experienced early in 1900, and a steam
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fire engine was employed to pump Ashuelot River water into part of
the city system. However, near flood conditions followed a short time
later and produced some of the most serious high-water problems for
the low areas in many years.
The Keene Electric Railway opened for regular service in September 1900. The first day was a free-fare holiday on which the
public took full advantage of the opportunity to test the new trolley
system. Passengers packed the cars, standing three-deep inside, while
those who were unable to crowd into the vehicles watched from the
sidewalks. Dirt and gravel from the recent construction lay deep upon
the new rails and, as the wheels ground the stones, sparks flew in all
directions.
Open trolley cars during the warm weather and enclosed ones in
the winter became brief fixtures in Keene. Band concerts held in
Marlborough were a means of attracting business to the railway, and
special excursions on the line delighted all ages. Youngsters of the
summer park programs had an outing each season at the Wilson Pond
recreation area (called the "Rec"), climaxed by a ride on the electric
cars back through the Square to Wheelock Park, to Marlborough, and
return. A motorman of one of the first electric railway cars, Clarence
L. Wyman, became general superintendent of the road in 1909. In
1926 the road petitioned to substitute buses for the trolleys. This petition was granted and the first of the motor buses ran on June 29 of
that year. The last trolley operated over the July 4th holiday; the
next morning the buses took over full operation. In 1929 the Keene
Electric Railway was succeeded by the Cheshire Transportation Co.,
organized by Clarence L. Wyman and Louis N. Harper.
Two heavy naval cannon, gift of the government to the John
Sedgwick Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic, arrived in Keene
in April 1899, and were placed on either side of the Soldiers' Monument in Central Square. The "Walker" or "auction elm" at the head
of Main Street, site of Keene's traditional Saturday public auction
sales, was removed on October 19, 1900. Ornamental electric lights
were installed on the Common in 1912. The first "Clean-Up Week"
campaign was conducted in May 1914, sponsored by a citizens' committee.
The old bandstand at the head of Main Street had become somewhat dilapidated, partly as the result of repeated efforts over the
years to burn it as one way of celebrating the Fourth of July Eve,
and it was sold for one cent in 1900. Band concerts were given from
a temporary bandstand erected on the site in 1902, and some were
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Central Square winter scene showing the Ingersoll
Fountain under protective covering
given from the balcony of the Cheshire House. A covered bandstand
was built on the location of the old one in 1904, but was removed in
1913, the same year that the Ingersoll Fountain was taken down from
Central Square Common. The last bandstand in the Square was
located for a number of years in the Common, until traffic made concerts in the Square unfeasible, and the bandstand was moved to Fuller
Park, where Tuesday evening concerts during the summer months
attracted an audience that was able to enjoy the music from the comfort of their cars. At the end of each piece applause came from the
sound of automobile horns. In 1966 the Fuller Park bandstand was
taken down, and a new music shell was opened at Robin Hood Park.
I mprovement of Keene streets was not without incident. In 1901
the "Cooke Elm" on West Street, one of the largest trees in the city
and long considered a landmark, was ordered cut down in order to
widen the street, and although reprieved for a time, it could not be
saved despite efforts of the Rural Improvement Society. It was finally
cut down in May 1914 and the trunk was found to measure from
five-and-a-half to seven feet in diameter; it required the combined
efforts of the steam roller and electric railway cars to haul away the
tree's bulk. On West Street the bridge erected in 1837 was replaced
by an iron one in 1900; the Spring Street and Water Street bridges
over Beaver Brook were rebuilt in 1906; the Winchester Street covered bridge, built in 1851, gave way to a metal span in 1910. It
was noted that the city had well-nigh to 100 bridges in 1905, all of
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them slated to be replaced by iron structures when worn out.
A stone drinking fountain on Court Street was accepted by the
city in May 1901, the gift of Mrs. Edward C. Thayer. A steel bridge
connecting Greenlawn and Woodland Cemeteries was installed that
same year. The municipal water system was extended, with improvements added as needs increased; the meter payment system was
adopted in 1914. A new water main from Echo Lake by way of
South Keene was opened in 1902, and a new Woodward Pond dam
was constructed in 1910. The first garbage collection program was
inaugurated in 1905 under city auspices.
The fire alarm box system and the new Beaver Mills whistle,
installed in 1912, were improved and alarm equipment was expanded
in 1911. Facilities for the Highway and Water Departments were
erected in the rear of City Hall in 1913. Rural free mail delivery, as
well as house numbering, was extended to South Keene and Swanzey
Factory in 1902 and 1904.
Additional land was added to Ladies' Wildwood Park in 1909,
the gift of Mrs. Sarah Haile Dort, and attention was given to the
proper care and future protection of shade trees through projects of
trimming in 1913. The brown-tail and gypsy moth were first noted in
the city in 1910, supposedly brought by trains. Infected trees were
cut and burned in 1913. The Yale Forest tract in Keene and Swanzey
was established the same year, as an experimental and scientific preserve, the gift of George H. Myers and others to that Connecticut
university.
Paving Central Square
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During hot weather Central Square was sprinkled on Sunday
mornings before church services, and frequently during the week,
but interest in paving the area grew and this was finally accomplished
in 1910. The project caused considerable controversy, and opponents
dubbed it "Benton's brickyard," after the mayor who led in the enterprise. Laying of vitrified brick was commenced on June 24 and was
completed late the next month, despite labor troubles and public
criticism. About 6,700 yards of brick were laid on a five-inch concrete
cement foundation.
The New Hampshire Sentinel observed its centennial on March
22, 1899, with a special issue and reproduction of its first issue dated
March 23, 1799. The New Hampshire Art Press was established in
the city in 1904. The Keene Daily News was a short-lived publication
of this period, issued in 1905, while the Keene Free Press published
for a few months in 1910. This last newspaper joined with the Cheshire
Republican, but in 1914 this too was suspended after 121 years of
publication (sometimes under other names), first in Walpole and
then in Keene, the major Democratic party voice in Cheshire County.
Some citizens, unsure whether the 20th century began in 1900
or 1901, took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate twice; actually the new century arrived on January 1, 1901, and was greeted
with appropriate celebrations. At midni g ht a national salute was fired
and special services were held in the churches and at the Masonic
Early 20th century Keene and a slogan that is still pertinent
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Hall. Businessmen who met at the Cheshire House in November 1902
to honor the completion of John P. Rust's pail factory took steps to
reestablish the local Board of Trade. The Commercial Club was
formed in February 1903 to foster community interests. One of its
projects was the erection of a large billboard at the railroad station
with information about Keene, "a thriving community" in the "heart
of New England." Another large sign was erected atop Clarke's Block
on the corner of Washington Street and Central Square which proclaimed "You'll Like Keene."
Pioneer Community Chest activity may be seen in the 1905 formation of the Keene Associated Charities. The Elisha Lane Exchange
Block was erected in 1908, and the Nims Block on the corner of
West and Federal Streets was built in 1911. An extension of the
Cheshire County Court House on Winter Street was made during
1911
The city worked out special plans to celebrate the 4th of July
1903 as the 150 anniversary of the formation of a town government.
Keene was gaily decorated, and over 20,000 enjoyed the day's events
which began at sunrise with the ringing of bells and the firing of guns.
The city band of Rutland, Vt., presented a concert at the Keene
Driving Park, and the American Band of Claremont, N.H., offered
another concert in Central Square. Among other musical units participating in the celebration was the L. J. Colony Chair Co. Band of
Munsonville, N.H., "noticeable for its good playing and full quota
of instruments."
Over 1,300 participated in the parade, which also included 245
horses, and required a half-hour to pass a given point. Ceremonies in
Central Square featured music by school children and the Keene
Chorus Club, and an oration by Rev. Josiah L. Seward. A platform
had been erected at the north side of the park, and here a living
flag (on a tier of seats 25 feet high and 72 feet long) was composed
of boys dressed in blue, 45 of them holding white stars, and girls with
red capes and white dresses. In all there were 350 children in the
formation.
A baseball game between railroad shop teams of Keene and
Mechanicville, N. Y., played in the afternoon, was won by the visitors
20-15. The high school team met the Marlborough town baseball
team and lost by a score of 10-3. One game was held at the Keene
Driving Park and the other on a field fitted up off Island Street.
Horse trotting and other sports were also featured, as became the
custom at the early observances of Labor Day in Keene.
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The gigantic display of fireworks at the Driving Park in the
evening was witnessed by 7,000 spectators. One of the best pyrotechnic displays ever seen in the city, it was opened by figures in fire,
"1753 Keene 1903," and included hanging lights 100 feet long, pic-
in colored fire, and comic features. The electric railway opened
service to the area of the Driving Park on lower Main Street that
tures
same day and ran trains of four to seven cars to and from the Square,
yet hundreds had to walk in order to witness the spectacular.
Development of the Keene Driving Park into a residential area
was begun in 1913; the name Edgewood was suggested by Mrs.
H. H. Pease of Marlborough in a contest sponsored by the Keene
Park Corporation, managers of this pioneer Keene home development. One of the last uses to which the area was put before the housing development started was as an encampment for units of the National Guard in the summer maneuvers of 1911.
Looking west from Wilber Street—old
Lincoln Street school on right
School affairs in Keene saw the completion of a new Lincoln
School building in 1901. The first public school kindergartens were
established at the Tilden and Elliot Street Schools in 1903. Because
of crowded conditions in the schools, rooms in the Warren Block had
to be used for school purposes, but expansion became necessary and
negotiations for the acquisition of the Coolidge lot north of City Hall
as a site for a high school building were also begun in 1903. The
Franklin School was built in 1907, and an enlarged Symonds School
was finished that same year.
An appreciation of scientific progress was shown by a model of
an electric railway system and lights powered by a dynamo and water
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motor, which was constructed by Principal Robert Ray in August
1899. Greek and Latin remained fixed standards in the school program for college preparation. High school seniors began annual trips
to Washington about 1904 and continued the tradition for many years.
A friendly suit was brought to court in 1904 to determine the
city's title to the Washington Street property, gift of Henry 0. Coolidge in 1890. On this site a new high school building was erected
and opened for classes in the fall of 1912. The new building had
separate doors for boys and girls on the north and south and was of
fireproof construction throughout. There was a library room on the
first floor opposite the main entrance, and in Principal William H.
Watson's office a master clock controlled an automatic system of
clocks and bells. On the basement floor a room was provided for display of the Keene Natural History Society's collection of mounted
birds, shells, and minerals. Eight classrooms on the first floor seated
40 pupils each, and nine other classrooms were located on the second
floor with the auditorium, where the entire school met daily for opening exercises and prayer. Laboratories and scientific equipment were
arranged in special quarters on the second floor. The walls of the
auditorium were decorated with bas relief representations of Music,
Harmony, and patriotic subjects. The Dinsmoor property to the north
of the new school was leased in 1915 by trustees of the Academy
Fund to be used for domestic and mechanic arts courses.
In April 1902 the hospital trustees accepted a bequest from the
heirs of Edward Joslin to erect a nurses' home, which was opened in
September 1902 near the hospital. An alumnae association at the
nurses' training school had been formed in 1901. Aid for the hospital
was raised through a benefit performance of "The Old Homestead"
by Denman Thompson on May 2, 1903, at the City Hall. The Hospital Aid Society benefited in a similar manner through a performance of the "Ladies' Minstrel Troop" in January 1904. Englewood
Rest, a sanatorium, opened in West Keene in 1912; Whitebrook was
another rest home in the same area.
A significant advance not only in local education but state higher
education as well was made in 1909 with the establishment of Keene
Normal School, incorporated April 9. A need for more professionally
trained teachers in the state began moves to found institutions for the
purpose of teacher education, and Keene was finally selected as one
of the sites, aided by the city's gift of a valuable Main Street estate,
the Governor Samuel W. Hale property on the corner of Winchester
Street. With the assistance of the city, the new school also purchased
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the Thayer estate, where Miss Catherine Fiske had once conducted
her well-known young ladies' seminary. Jeremiah M. Rhodes of the
Emporia (Kansas) State Normal School was selected as the first principal when the institution was opened on September 28, 1909. The
original enrollment was 26; five young ladies, already experienced
teachers, were permitted to graduate at the first commencement on
June 28, 1910. The faculty numbered five, assisted by teachers of
Keene schools. Double the initial enrollment was received the second
year, and one faculty member was added. Wallace E. Mason succeeded Rhodes as principal in 1911, and expanded programs, lectures, and institutes were established. A need for dormitory and other
facilities was met in 1913. Summer sessions were inaugurated in 1914.
A one-year program of studies was replaced by two and three-year
programs after 1916, when new courses in home economics, commercial studies, mechanical arts, music, and art were added.
Private education in the city continued to be offered by the
Misses Laura B. and Kate L. Tilden, Ellen Perry, and a kindergarten
at St. James Parish Hall, as well as by the parochial school, and at
Tiffin's Business Institute.
Harvard alumni organized in Keene during 1902 and the men
of Dartmouth in 1911.
A serious fire in March 1899 and another in July 1900 destroyed a storehouse of the Cheshire Chair Co., and farm buildings
of Colonel Henry E. Clark burned in September of that year. Beaver
Mills suffered a serious fire later in September, and the Holbrook
Grocery Co. warehouse was damaged in July 1901. A fire at Giffin's
Mills in 1902 was the work of an incendiary who was soon apprehended; another firebug was sought by authorities in early 1903.
Clarke's Block at the head of the Square suffered two fires during
July 1903, and a South Keene brick mill was destroyed by flames in
1908. Unusually dry weather in 1911 was responsible for several
serious brush and forest fires in the Keene area. The fire station was
damaged by fire in May 1914.
There was some anxiety in Keene for the safety of Rev. and
Mrs. Frank M. Chapin, for 20 years missionaries in China, and not
heard from during the June 1900 Boxer uprising. The First Church
sponsored a missionary into the troubled area beginning in 1904. Aid
from the city was sent to sufferers in the Galveston, Tex., hurricane
and flooding of 1900, also to Indians. Flood victims in the West were
aided in 1912.
The shooting of President William McKinley at Buffalo, N. Y.,
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on September 6, 1901, and his death on September 14 were deeply
felt in Keene. The Keene Evening Sentinel published an extra,
flags were flown at half-staff, the city's bells were tolled, and even
the waitresses at the Cheshire House donned mourning. Black and
white rosettes appeared on the Keene Electric Railway trolley cars,
and a number of buildings were draped in black. All churches held
memorial services; symbols of mourning, portraits of the assassinated
President, and evidences of public grief were everywhere to be seen.
Business was suspended on September 19, the afternoon of the President's funeral in Washington, and special services were held at the
same time in several Keene churches.
Need for expanded post office facilities prompted the government in 1907 to purchase the General Griffin property on West Street
for a new federal building, which was erected in 1911. The old William Lamson house, built in 1804, was razed for the project, which
required extensive driving of piles to establish a firm foundation.
Lamson Street and part of Federal Street were laid out at this time.
The Citizens National Bank soon occupied the former post office on
the corner of West Street and Central Square.
Keene's first murder in over 20 years was that of Mrs. Louis
Castor on May 31, 1899, for which her husband was arrested. The
1904 trial and life sentence of Malachi Barnes for a Sullivan, N.H.,
murder were also of local interest. A serious outbreak of scarlet fever
early in 1901 saw 181 cases reported during its three-months' duration and 22 deaths from the disease. Schools were closed and church
services and public meetings were canceled during the epidemic.
Smallpox appeared in February 1901, measles in 1906, and scarlet
fever again closed schools for a short time in 1913.
William S. Briggs died in Montpelier, Vt., in 1901, and was
brought to Keene for burial. His newspaper writings on early Keene
are of great value to local historical researchers. General Simon
Goodell Griffin died in 1902. and the city voted to publish his History
of the Town of Keene, which had been authorized in 1895. This work,
issued in 1904, was the most complete Keene history up to that time
and included a compilation of events from 1874 to 1904 by Frank
H. Whitcomb, city clerk. In 1905 Whitcomb compiled Keene's vital
statistics in book form. The city report of 1907 contained a historical
sketch of the business district written by Samuel Wadsworth, city engineer and historian, who also prepared maps of the area as it appeared at different periods. The earliest proprietors' and town record
books were rebound and preserved for the city in 1910.
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Seventh Day Adventists formed a church (in August 1901)
composed of a small group. Public Christian Science services in Keene
had their beginning in the summer of 1908; private services had been
held in the city as early as 1898. The Full Gospel Mission was organized in 1907 under the leadership of Oscar H. Thayer.
The Keene Development Co., formed in 1912 to promote Keene
as an industrial site, was able to attract a number of firms to the
community, and helped establish a diversified business atmosphere in
Keene.
The Ashuelot Gas & Electric Co. was formed in 1911, and had
electric generating facilities outside Keene, leasing its properties to the
local firm for operation. The Keene-Vernon 66,000-volt transmission
line was constructed in 1911 enabling the firm to discontinue local
steam and water-powered generating activity. Soon electricity was extended to neighboring towns and the Cheshire County Farm by 1912.
A twin-state lodge and Knights Templar convention was held in
Keene in 1901, and Asteria Chapter of Eastern Star was formed in
January 1905. The Keene Lodge of Perfection and Keene Council
Princes of Jerusalem were chartered in March 1906. A local lodge
of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in July
1904, with its original meeting place in the Chamberlain Block. In
July 1915 the organization purchased a Roxbury Street house, formerly the residence of Rev. Edward A. Renouf, and in 1919 bought a
camp on the East Surry Road. Spanish-American War veterans established the Darwin M. Aldrich Chapter of their national association
soon after the turn of the century. It was named in honor of a Keene
soldier who had died in military service.
The Cheshire County Humane Society was founded in 1875 and
was incorporated under this name in 1914. Mrs. Jennie B. Powers,
who was named agent of the organization in 1903, devoted 30 years
to a one-woman crusade against cruelty to children and animals. Mrs.
Powers was as adept at rescuing kittens from trees as she was at
dispatching aged or wounded animals, and she cut a familiar figure in
her blue uniform, probably the only lady in town to "pack" a revolver.
She was relentless against the mistreatment of young children; few
dared disregard her warnings, and her ceaseless activity made the
Cheshire County Humane Society respected by all.
The Keene Council of the Knights of Columbus was organized
among Catholic men in May 1904, with 43 charter members. The
Fraternal Order of Eagles in Keene was instituted in March 1906
with 71 charter members. Career women founded the Business and
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Professional Women's Club in 1912 (some employers suspected this
was an effort on the part of all working women to get Saturday afternoons off). The initial idea of the Keene Woman's Club began in the
city on April 16, 1910, when representatives of the Fortnightly, Colonial, Tourist, Current Events, Froebel, and Granite Clubs met to discuss the formation of a City Federation of Women's Clubs. An organization by that name began on October 4, 1910, with Miss Laura
Tilden as its first president, and this association initiated measures of
public improvement, including the establishment of the public rest
rooms opened in the Chamberlain Block in 1912, the systematic collection of garbage in 1913, matters of juvenile crime prevention, and
other progressive programs in cooperation with municipal authorities.
The Ladies' Charitable Society celebrated its centennial in November
1915, still actively giving aid to the Bureau of Public Service and
various benevolent causes.
Women enjoyed few equal employment privileges with men at
this time, although an increasing number were being employed in
office and clerical positions. Working hours for women usually ran
from 8 A.M. to 5:30 or 6 P.M. six days a week. The organization of
working women in Keene was led by Mrs. Grace Tiffin, wife of the
owner of Tiffin's Business Institute. Lectures and some educational
programs were held and an annual dance was sponsored on St. Valentine's Day.
The Daughters of the American Revolution rededicated the old
West Keene Cemetery in 1900 and the former Boston Road (Baker
Street), the route taken by Keene soldiers when they marched to
Concord in 1775, in 1902. A tablet bearing the names of Keene soldiers in the Revolution was unveiled at the Keene Public Library in
1902, and in 1904 the DAR was responsible for moving 10 gravestones from the ancient Main Street Cemetery to the Washington
Street Cemetery, where they were marked. Decorative gates were also
installed at the Washington Street Cemetery.
The Heaton House, the oldest in the city . ( No. 500 Marlboro
Street) was marked in 1906, and the site of the Upper Ashuelot fort
on Main Street was noted by a boulder and tablet in 1909. Keene's
first meetinghouse site was commemorated in 1913. A chapter of the
Sons of the American Revolution was organized in February 1903.
The city participated in the erection of markers in August 1907
at the junction of Keene and Sullivan on the original line of the
townships, and at the 1733 "Statia" survey location off Silent Way
in 1902.
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Baker Street with marker showing route taken by
Keene volunteers in 1775
A local organization which won a high place in musical circles
was the Keene Chorus Club, begun in 1902. Conductor Nelson P.
Coffin set a high standard of achievement and for a number of years
the organization was recognized as one of the finest in the country.
The club's first public concert was given on February 20, 1902. Visiting artists who performed with the local chorus included some of the
nation's outstanding musicians, and the club's annual festival became
an outstanding musical event. Coffin led in the performance of programs representing classic and modern works of the first order.
The Boston & Maine Railroad assumed management of the Fitchburg Railroad and its Cheshire Division on July 1, 1900. The numbering of locomotives belonging to the Fitchburg Railroad was again
changed by the Boston & Maine. The old covered railroad depot on
Main Street was replaced in 1910 by a smaller building, and the old
station was eulogized by H. Adelaide Woods, a local poet, in "GoodBye, Old Depot." William C. Hall, ticket agent and local travel representative who worked under all three Keene railroad managements,
was honored for 50 years of service in November 1920. His daughter,
Florence Hall, in 1901 became one of the first women employed by
any New England railroad ticket office. She sold the last ticket from
the old covered station and the first from the new one. Mortimer
"Morty" Riordon, who retired from railroad service in 1900, had
spent 37 years of his life in the baggage room, where he had worked
from early morning until 10 P.M. daily, without a vacation or a day
out for sickness. He also attended to the 10 station stoves and esti168
mated that he had, over the years, wheeled some 22,000 cords of
wood to keep them supplied with fuel.
The Trinity Cycle Co. on Church Street commenced the manufacture of automobiles at the turn of the century. The firm had been
experimenting with machines under its manager, Reynold Janney. His
pioneer product used kerosene as fuel and managed a top speed of
eight miles an hour. An engine constructed along different lines from
any then in use was devised for the automobile made in the Keene
factory. The firm was purchased by a Delaware corporation in 1901,
but that soon ran into financial difficulties.
Janney's son, Russell Janney, in later years was a press agent,
theatrical manager, and author of the best-selling novel The Miracle
of the Bells. As a boy, young Janney had his introduction to the
theater delivering handbills for shows in Keene's City Hall auditorium.
The Trinity automobile was not the first locally-owned horseless
carriage. Several pioneer inventor-mechanics constructed automobiles, including Leonard A. Wellington, who appeared on the streets
in a small motor wagon in October 1899. It weighed only 150 pounds,
and the frame was of light metal and tubing equipped with bicycle
wheels and a small gasoline engine of about three-quarters of a horsepower. The car was built by Wellington while he was employed in
Winchendon, Mass. It attracted considerable attention as the first
automobile owned by a Keene resident. Harry T. Kingsbury of the
Wilkins Toy Co. also made an automobile at his shop late in 1900.
The motor of this machine was mounted on the front axle itself and
had two cylinders and three speeds.
The newspaper of July 25, 1900, noted two automobiles in the
Square during the noon hour; "Keene is getting to be quite up-todate." Frank Thompson of West Swanzey had driven an automobile
all the way from Tarrytown, N. Y., earlier in June, a considerable
feat. William Hall of Bellows Falls drove one of the two cars noted
by the local paper, and had made the journey to Keene in 1 hour
and 15 minutes. Reynold Janney brought a machine to Keene from
Tarrytown, N. Y., in August 1900, probably the first "boughten" car
owned in Keene.
The first automobile garages and dealers were listed under the
directory heading of bicycle repairers and suppliers in 1905, and included the Keene Auto-Cycle Co., the Maxwell dealership, and Robertson & Bennett, who offered the first rent-a-car agency in town.
This pioneer service center also offered the Stoddard-Dayton machine, Stanley Steamers, the Jackson, and the first Ford cars in the
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city. A separate directory listing for automotive service did not appear
until 1913. Among the many early motor names with Keene dealerships were Overland cars and trucks, Chalmers, Reo, Hupmobile,
Metz, Saxon, Oakland, Franklin, Hudson, and Grant. Others included familiar names still associated with the industry.
The Common, early 20th century, showing
the latest in automotive design
The Robertson Motor Co. began in April 1904, when George B.
Robertson drove a Stanley Steamer from Boston to Keene and opened
a dealership with Frank J. Bennett. The firm offered the first dump
trucks in the state. Keene's first automobile show, the first such exhibition in the state, was staged in 1907. Despite fears for the safety of
the floor, the machines were displayed in the auditorium of City Hall
without incident, while an airplane hung from the ceiling.
A bystander on a Sunday morning in 1911 counted 208 teams,
188 bicycles, 88 automobiles, and 9 motorcycles in the Square. In
1914 the Keene Evening Sentinel commented on enforcement of traffic regulations in the Square, and while willing to admit their necessity as a means of protection on the open road where automobiles
were run at "considerable speed," could see little need for strict regulations in the Square itself, "where there is lots of room and which is
a stopping place for a large proportion of the vehicles." However,
traffic regulations were adopted by the City Councils in June 1914.
Motion picture entertainment became established in Keene with
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the opening of the Majestic Theater on Church Street on January 9,
1905, as the "Nickel Theater." Keene's second movie house was the
Star Theater, located in a vacant store at the head of the Square. It
opened in April 1908 and became the Bijou shortly afterwards, though
it did not last long. The Dreamland Theater, opened in 1909, was
located on Roxbury Street. Vaudeville bills, as well as silent pictures,
were featured, the Dreamland advertising an entire change of program daily with admission at five cents. The Majestic proudly announced that almost two miles of film were shown at each performance and suggested that Keene citizens "get the habit," which they
did.
After the Dreamland closed it was followed by another motion
picture house which became an established local institution for over
50 years. The Scenic Theater at No. 106 Main Street opened on
March 2, 1914. It boasted 550 seats downstairs and 250 in the balcony. The fireproof curtain of asbestos was decorated by a Boston
artist, and a pianist and drummer established a musical background
for the silent "flickers." Films changed daily, the vaudeville acts
varied twice a week, and admission was now 10 cents.
The first exhibition of talking pictures was held at City Hall on
September 10, 1913. The invention was that of Thomas A. Edison,
a system linking the phonograph with the motion picture projector by
means of black thread running to the screen, called the kinetophone.
The Dreamland showed these pioneer "talkies" in October.
Dreamland Theatre
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A number of traveling shows played Keene during these years.
An annual dramatic production by the Keene Light Guard, assisted
by the ladies of the city, was a Memorial Day tradition, and the
People's Institute lectures and cultural programs, organized in 1914,
brought a measure of educated entertainment, as did the famed
Chautauqua programs inaugurated in Keene on July 21-27, 1914.
Organized under the direction of the Chautauqua Association of
Pennsylvania in cooperation with more than 200 cities and towns,
Chautauqua brought some 30 events to the city each year, held in
a tent at the rear of the Washington Street high school building. John
Philip Sousa's Band appeared at City Hall in May 1906 on one of
its tours of the United States.
The circus was a spectacular welcomed each summer. The Elks
carnival on the Island Street grounds in July 1912 was one of the
largest such shows in the city. Playing in more than 30 tents, the
freaks, performing animals, and flea circus captivated every viewer,
while a huge carousel, Ferris wheel, balloon ascension, and parachute jump made a lasting impression and brought its share of adventure, color, and suspense.
A baseball field was laid out off Island Street at this time, where
some carnivals and sports events were also held. The names of the
streets, which were located near the site of the former baseball field
( Hooper, Cady, Cobb, Speaker, and Wood), honor baseball greats,
some of whom played exhibition games in Keene.
Radio was a form of home entertainment introduced to Keene
in 1912. The first set was owned by Reginald F. Howe, who journeyed to the Charlestown Navy Yard to take examinations for a radio operator's license. News arrived in Keene by means of the wireless
much faster than it had ever been received before, and Sentinel reporter Don J. Williams sat with Howe to take down the list of survivors of the Titanic disaster when that shocking news was flashed
to the world. The latest news from Washington and the world was
relayed to Keene by early radio operators who had constructed their
own sets, and formed a Wireless Club of "ham" enthusiasts.
Soon after the advent of the "air age" Keene shared the growing
interest in the novelty of flight. Harry B. Brown is given credit for
having flown the first airplane over Keene in the fall of 1912. The
first take-off of an airship from Keene occurred that same year. It
had been shipped in parts by rail and assembled for a demonstration
at the Keene Driving Park. Though the machine did take off, it landed
in the top of a nearby tree soon afterward, convincing many that
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there was nothing to this new craze. Rugged New Hampshire terrain
was not the most inviting territory for the pioneers of flight, although
Harry M. Atwood flew from Waltham, Mass., to Manchester, N.H., in
1912. Balloonists were common enough as attractions at fairs and
carnivals, but more ambitious projects had to wait for the development the First World War provided.
Labor unions organized about 1905 with the formation of Local
132 United Garment Workers of America at the Brattleboro Overall
Co. plant in Keene. The machinists had an earlier organization, and
protective associations had been formed as beneficial societies around
the turn of the century. Union organization of printer and pressmen
crafts, the carpentry trade, and painters followed within 10 years.
Labor relations were generally good, although strikes did take place,
such as that in January 1903 at the C. B. Lancaster Shoe Factory,
for which special police details were organized.
Keene as a city was by this time an industrial community, but it
served a large rural area, and interest in agricultural affairs was important to the city's economy.
Keene's first municipal Christmas tree, a 50-foot spruce, was set
up on the Common in 1913. It was surrounded by smaller illuminated
trees, and the whole Square was decorated with lights and evergreens.
Carol singing and distribution of gifts to needy children attracted a
large crowd. The event was sponsored by the city, its churches, and
various civic groups. George M. Rossman, who was largely responsible for this municipal program. coordinated most of the activities, including a chorus of 1,000 school children, band music, and the distribution of gifts in all parts of the city. "As a whole, Christmas Eve
was more generally celebrated throughout the city than ever before,"
the Keene Evening Sentinel reported. There was caroling at the hospital, the Invalid's Home, and elsewhere, and decorations and Christmas lights were displayed on a scale never before known in Keene.
An event long remembered was the visit by President William
Howard Taft on October 10, 1912. It was the first time the city had
played host to a Chief Executive while in office. Motoring through
Keene on his way to Dublin for a short vacation, the President, with
Mrs. Taft and an official party, was expected to make a brief stop
about 5 P.M. The party became victim to one of early touring's hazards, inadequate road marking, and became lost outside of Newport,
N.H. After short stops in Marlow and Gilsum, the group arrived in
Keene two hours behind schedule. Some 8,000-10,000 people were on
hand in the Square to cheer the President and hear his short address
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from the balcony of the Cheshire House. A testimony to Taft's speaking ability and vocal powers was the fact that his remarks on American prosperity and foreign trade and its effect on the national economy
could be heard as far away as the railroad tracks. An official reception committee headed by Mayor Charles G. Shedd extended the
hospitality of the city, and later sent to President Taft in Washin g ton a
leather-bound copy of the city's 1912 report containing an account of
the visit.
Others of renown to visit Keene included Clarence S. Darrow, the
noted defense lawyer, who spoke at City Hall in November 1910 in
support of liquor license interests. Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn
composer, lectured in the YMCA Bible series at the Court Street
Congregational Church in October 1903, and Elbert Hubbard spoke
on "Roycroft Ideals" and a new approach to craftmanship in April
1902. Sam Walter Foss, the poet famous for his "The House by the
Side of the Road," was a guest of the Current Events Club about
1910.
Hetty Green, "the richest woman in America," spent a few hours
in the railroad station waiting room of the city in August 1905 and
attracted the attention of the curious. Carrie Nation, the lady with the
ax, whose famous war on saloons has become legendary, passed
through Keene on September 12, 1902, on her way to Bellows Falls,
Vt., for a lecture engagement. Upon the arrival of her train, someone
who had recognized her stepped off the platform and directed the
attention of bystanders to the window of the day coach where she was
sitting. One young man, knowing that her hatred of tobacco was almost as great as her hatred for liquor, pulled a package of cigarettes
from his pocket and handed them around to the group which had
gathered. Soon all were puffing with exaggerated gusto, and the wag
held up the package as if to offer the enraged lady a smoke. She
tried without success to open the train window, but the cars pulled
out, and her advice to Keene in its ways of sin is lost to history. As
the train moved out of the station, the delighted group struck up the
popular tune, "Good Morning, Carrie," sending the famed reformer
off with what must have been a very dim view of Keene manners
and morals.
By far the most unusual visitor to the public scene in this period
was "Minnie," the elephant which formed a part of the traveling road
show, "The Chimes of Normandy," given at City Hall on September
23, 1913. The troop numbered about 80, including musicians, and
they gave a performance which was enjoyed by the largest audience
174
ever assembled in the city for such a production. The elephant, weighing some 6,000 pounds, played in one scene on the stage, and was
taken into the hall by way of the main stairs. Between the acts
"Minnie" was allowed to step down from the stage and walk about
the aisles. She was so tall that her back scraped against the balcony,
much to the delight of the audience.
Central Square, showing the Cheshire House (1837-1934)
which was renowned for the plain art of good food
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PART XIV:
1 915-1928
For many years one of Keene's most famous institutions, and
among the most renowned in New England, was the Cheshire House.
The fine art of good plain food, established by host Morgan J. Sherman in the 1880's, was carried on by Judson A. Reynolds after the
turn of the century. Thomas A. Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey
Firestone were among the celebrities who enjoyed the matchless fare
of this Keene hotel. Another patron of the hotel was President Calvin Coolidge who, with his party, passed through the city on July 1,
1925.
To the rear of the massive mahogany desk of the hotel was the
maroon-tinted dining room where sturdy square tables, the sheen of
soft linen, and heavy china set the scene of an older, more leisurely
life with its solid, substantial New England fare. The traffic along
Main Street and the noise of the Square were for g otten here, where
steaming dishes and the clatter of heavy silver created an oasis from
a hectic world.
The menu over the years reflected the uncompromising appreciation of quality: tomato juice, cherrystone clams, choice of cold
tomato bouillon, beef broth or vegetable soup to begin a meal, and
no less than 25 various fish dishes. While the art of cooking fish was
highly refined, New England boiled dinner, corned beef and cabbage,
boiled calf's head with brain sauce, sirloin steak smothered in onions,
or roast native veal with dressing proved adventures in good eating.
The breakfast menu, described by the New Yorker magazine as the
longest in the world, offered a variety of standard fare plus venison,
pickled pigs' feet, and duck.
Upstairs there were parlors with comfortable furniture, flowered
carpets, and high ceilings, and the annex had a ballroom and banquet
hall. The building was three stories high with a double range of attics
in its gable and it was topped by a cupola as big as a house. Another
feature of the Cheshire House was its population of 40-50 cats who
mounted guard from its vast cellars over extensive stores of food.
George R. Miller came from Boston to work in the Cheshire House.
Later he became manager of the Latchis Theater and has served
there for over three decades.
Storm clouds of the war in Europe cast their shadow in Keene,
and funds for Belgian children were collected at Christmas time in
176
1914. The New Hampshire League for National Defense was formed
in August 1915 with public meetings and programs held at City Hall,
and citizens followed news from abroad with increasing dread.
Supporters of Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall for the
offices of President and Vice-president in 1916 proudly displayed
campaign buttons reading "War in Europe, Peace in America, God
Bless Wilson." However, the United States could not long remain neutral. After war was declared against Germany in April 1917, Keene
young men registered for the army in June, and New Hampshire men
were mobilized at Camp Devens, Mass., on September 19. More than
600 people from the community served in the war "to make the world
safe for democracy," and 25 died. Private First Class George Dilboy
became a Congressional Medal of Honor winner by the heroic sacrifice of his life at Belleau Wood in northeastern France on July 18,
1918.
The first military action involving Keene soldiers on foreign soil
was not the war in Europe, however. In answer to President Wilson's
call in 1916 for the National Guard to serve in Mexico, where a longsimmering border problem had boiled over, the First Infantry Regiment New Hampshire National Guard left Keene in July amid patriotic ceremonies and prayers. Mayor Orville E. Cain notified the
aldermen and city councilmen of his intent to be absent from the city
to serve with the troops on the border. About 70 men from Keene saw
service at this time, and the returning soldiers were given a grand
welcome on February 19, 1917.
The First Infantry Regiment New Hampshire National Guard
entered federal service on July 25, 1917, and a majority of its personnel was transferred to the 103rd Infantry Regiment in August.
It was redesigned as the First Army Headquarters Regiment in February 1918 at Camp Green, N. C., and was demobilized at Camp
Devens in June 1919.
Most Keene factories geared for the war effort. Faulkner & Colony produced not only uniform fabrics, as they had done for the government since before the Civil War, but also fuse cloth which was
used in high explosive shells. At the Brattleboro Overall plant uniforms were produced for the armed forces. The nation's railroads
passed under federal government control during the war, including
the Boston & Maine's Cheshire Division, with restrictions and regulations imposed on unnecessary travel.
During the war restrictions were placed on the use of automobiles, and "gasless Sundays" in September 1918 became a voluntary
177
patriotic response to the U. S. Fuel Administration's appeals. Rationing was not imposed, but certain foodstuffs became scarce, including
flour. Barrels for collections of valuable scrap and peach stones were
set out in Keene during war-time drives. Liberty Loan bond campaigns were conducted and received enthusiastic support. The War
Chest Association was formed in 1918, and when the Disbursing
Committee was disbanded in May 1920, it reported outlays of
$75,182.70.
The news of peace on November 11, 1918, was greeted by 5,000
people in the Square. Ex-Mayor Charles G. Shedd, returned from
the war, addressed 1,200 at City Hall on November 12. Servicemen
coming home to Keene were greeted by a temporary war memorial
erected near the railroad tracks on Main Street and set up in April
1919. Atop a wooden column was placed the historic gilt eagle, once
the sign for the Eagle Hotel and carved around 1827 by Amos Holbrook for Colonel Stephen Harrington.
On May 27, 1919, 30 veterans joined in the formation of an
American Legion post, which was named Gordon-Bissell Post No. 4 in
honor of the first Keene men to give their lives in the conflict, James H.
Bissell and Grant H. Gordon. Joseph B. Saunders was chosen as the
first commander. The organization received its charter on June 29,
1919, and was incorporated in October with 357 members. In 1921, it
secured the Gerould property at No. 43 West Street for use as a headquarters. Funds were raised at a field day held by veterans on November 1, 1919, at which the governor was a special guest. The Post
was assisted by the Keene War Chest, the Elks, other social and
fraternal groups, and the city. Renovations of the West Street building
took place in 1925.
The Cheshire County Voiture of the 40 and 8 was formed in
June 1924 by 19 legionnaires. The American Legion Auxiliary was
organized in 1920 with 166 charter members, and in 1940 this group
gave the honor roll tablet which is located in front of the American
Legion building. The city dedicated a flagpole as a war memorial at
the head of Main Street on November 9, 1924, amid impressive ceremonies. Armistice Day in 1925 was celebrated by a crowd of 10,000,
and the next year on November 11, 1926, a captured German cannon
was installed as a memorial at Fuller Park. The same year the state
erected an armory at the upper Washington Street location. It was
dedicated on November 11, 1927. The former Winter Street armory
was fitted up for commercial purposes and occupied by stores.
Municipal authorities had taken over not only the direction of
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the Fourth of July celebrations, making the "Safe and Sane" 1915
parade the largest in the city's history, but also other public festivities.
The annual Christmas tree and "Bridge of Joy," with gifts for needy
children, were sponsored by the city with the help of civic groups.
Public playground programs were inaugurated in the summer of 1915,
and in August 1920 some 2,000 children were entertained at Wheelock Park. Concerts in the Square, along with street dancing, became
popular beginning about 1916, and in 1928 Charles A. Jones left a
fund for the continued support of organized band concerts.
The perambulation of city boundaries, carried out every seven
years, was made in 1920. In 1923 Miss Mary B. Dinsmoor gave a
13-acre area (the Dinsmoor Woods) on Maple Avenue to the city
for public use. Land was also given by the Faulkner & Colony firm
for public and recreational use. John A. Drummer's bequest of 135
acres of pasture and woodland, which was placed under the park
commissioner in April 1920, created a fund to aid the city's aged.
Fuller Park was purchased and developed in 1925, and furnaces once
used at the glass factory on the site were uncovered during work
there in 1928.
Cement sidewalks were laid. road construction continued, and
bridges rebuilt. A city-owned incinerating plant was erected in 1916.
The city purchased street-paving equipment in 1928, and operated a
quarry as a part of its expanding street improvement program. A new
bridge over the Ashuelot on Island Street was authorized in 1920, and
the City Hall, sometimes called the Opera House, was redecorated
with new scenery and stage equipment in 1922.
Motorized highway and water department trucks began to appear by 1919. Eugene B. Riley, who became the first paid permanent
fire chief in 1922, spent 44 years in the service of the department,
24 of them as chief.
When the Keene fire station burned on Sunday morning, March
14, 1926, the disaster canceled nearby Baptist Church services at
which Rev. W. Douglass Swaffield was to have preached his farewell
sermon. The station, rebuilt with improvements, including a circuitbreaking regulator clock for the alarm system, opened again in May
1927.
To combat pine blister rust an appropriation was made of city,
state, and federal funds in April 1919 and spraying operations to
control the elm tree beetle were also carried out. A new water main
on Marlboro Street was laid in 1924, and 14,179 feet of pipe
cleaned in programs of the growing water system. Water storage res179
ervoirs and filters were constructed in 1925 and pipe extensions laid
to more sections of West Keene. In 1926 there were 2,587 meters in
service by the water department throughout the city. Zoning ordinances were adopted which took effect on January 1, 1927.
One of the city's greatest municipal celebrations was held on
Armistice Day, November 11, 1925, with the inauguration of a new
street lighting system, "the White Way," and the occasion was marked
by a parade, band concert, speeches, and prizes offered by merchants. A throng of 10,000 witnessed the christening of the new illumination, heralded by whistles and church bells. Officials of the Westinghouse Co., which installed the new lights, declared no city in the
country had a similar system, and there was no better illuminated
civic center in New England. New York's Broadway had nothing over
Keene that night as crowds moved about the business district and
attended a special midnight theater showing at the Latchis Theater
which included 10 vaudeville acts and an au g mented orchestra.
A serious railroad shop fire in 1918, labor problems, a sixmonths' strike in 1922, and changing management conditions threatened the industry, and most of its activities were transferred to shops
at Billerica, Mass. Damage to the rail line was caused by the floods
of November 1927, but Keene escaped the ravages widespread along
the Connecticut River. Aid to flood sufferers in Vermont was sent by
the American Legion and other Keene groups.
Local organizations flourished in the second and third decades
of the 20th century. In October 1915 the Cheshire County Farmers'
Association for boys and girls held a convention and exhibition at
City Hall, and the State Grange convention was held in December.
The annual convention of the state Firemen's Association was an
event of September 1917, and among other gatherings in the city was
that of Union veterans in September 1925. The Odd Fellows and
Shriners were greeted by gala decorations, ceremonies, and parades
in October of that same year. The New Hampshire Horticultural Association staged lectures and exhibits on October 25-27, 1916, and
an organization of farm women was begun that year. The county's
first agricultural agent was Floyd N. Darling, and an office in Keene
was opened about 1920. The Cheshire County Fish and Game Club
was formed in 1923 with 30 members, and programs to combat water
pollution, promote safety, and improve fishing through stocking lakes
and ponds in the area were inaugurated.
Revival meetings, by the celebrated evangelists J. Wilbur Chapman and Charles M. Alexander, were conducted during May and June
180
of 1916 in a tabernacle erected on Roxbury Street at the corner of
Norway Avenue and seating 2,300. During the period of these union
evangelical meetings regular Sunday church services by many Keene
congregations were omitted.
On December 20, 1920, the Cheshire Royal Arch Masonic organization took possession of the former Henry Pond West Street
house, built in 1859. The cornerstone of a Masonic Hall was set, with
appropriate ceremonies, on May 29, 1924, and the remodeled building was dedicated on April 13, 1925. Among the additions was the
memorial gift of an Estey pipe organ.
A new country club site was opened in 1924 at West Keene
where a clubhouse was dedicated on August 1. Boy Scout troops,
associated with several churches and sponsored by the American Legion, continued to expand their work, and Girl Scouting began with
12 girls in 1915, sponsored by the Park Department. In 1922 a group
was organized under the leadership of Mrs. Oscar L. Elwell. and a
troop at the Unitarian Church was formed in 1927. Camp Takodah in
Richmond was begun as a project of the Cheshire County YMCA in
1918. Oscar L. Elwell became the county "Y" secretary in 1921.
Court Josephine. Daughters of Isabella, of Keene was formed by
50 women in June 1917. In 1921 it joined the Catholic Daughters of
America organization, and in 1927 the state convention of the society
was held in Keene. The local chapter was named Court Josephine
in honor of Sister Mary Josephine, first Superior of the local Convent
of Mercy in Keene.
The American Red Cross organized locally in April 1917 with war
work activities. This Keene branch of the state organization withdrew from the New Hampshire society to become a separate chapter
under the New England Division of the national society in October
1917. The Keene Woman's Club was formally organized in the spring
of 1920, and became actively associated with municipal Christmas
programs, the setting out of shade trees, hospital work, the improvement of local motion picture programs. and other community projects.
A drama workshop was formed in 1922, a music department in 1923,
and the Fresh Air Children sponsorship was begun in 1924. The
Keene group was the largest club in the state federation in 1926.
Women achieved full political status in 1920, and became an
increasingly vital force in civic, social, and political affairs. Five city
council chairs out of 15 were occupied by women in 1920, and the
superintendent of cemeteries chosen that year was a woman, Laura
E. Mason.
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The Keene Rotary Club was begun in 1922 by 25 business and
professional men under the sponsorship of the Claremont organization. The club raised money for the hospital, crippled children, scouting, and youth work. It also assisted Keene High School's band, which
was formed about 1925.
The most serious epidemic in Keene for many years was that of
Spanish influenza which had broken out in 1918. Local health officials
were on the alert because of its serious proportions in Massachusetts,
but in spite of all precautions the disease struck Keene on September
16. Despite a quarantine, the epidemic spread rapidly, especially
among young people, and in a week's time 100 cases were reported.
Stores soon closed for lack of clerks, telephone service was affected by
lack of operators, and within 10 days schools were closed. Churches
gradually suspended their activities, and all meeting places were
closed. To keep the air clean, bonfires of leaves were forbidden in the
city. The public was urged to observe strict sanitation and to stay out
of crowds.
Due to the war and to priorities placed on coal and wood, many
homes were improperly heated during the duration of the contagion
which followed. Two weeks after the outbreak of the disease the hospital was filled, its staff unable to admit more patients. A special hospital was established at Fiske Hall on the campus of Keene Normal
School, and volunteers aided the overworked medical teams. Government medical and public health advisers touring the state's epidemic-gripped communities visited the city and gave officials such
help as they could. In October the turning point was reached, and
while 300 cases of influenza remained, deaths from the illness were
less frequent. St. Bernard's Church held an open-air Mass, other
churches resumed activities, schools opened on November 5, and the
emergency hospital closed. People began going back to work, bans on
meetings were lifted, and community life was resumed. During the
11 weeks of the epidemic there had been thousands of cases reported,
with 153 deaths in the city.
A milder influenza epidemic hit Keene at the end of January
1920. Public meetings were canceled and measures taken to combat
the disease. Heavy snows and a blizzard hampered transportation and
also made the work of doctors and nurses more difficult. An emergency hospital was opened in the Elk's Home on Roxbury Street, and
volunteer helpers were requested. Over 200 cases were reported by
mid-February, and 12 deaths resulted from the epidemic, which had
reached its peak by the middle of March.
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During the crisis the Board of Health itself was torn by dissension, and members resigned over differences in matters of policy.
Since no one could be found who was willing to serve, the resignations were not accepted, but a new Board of Health was organized
soon afterward. Keene learned the value of modern health measures
and was willing to aid the hospital in its expansion efforts. It also
supported regulations on sanitation, quarantine, and all matters pertaining to public health. A municipal health officer was appointed in
1 921 to assist the Board of Health, and the Keene District or Visiting
Nurse Association was formed in March 1920. It received its own
automobile in 1921. The local hospital was renamed the Elliot Community Hospital in 1921, and after a successful building drive erected
an addition in 1922. The older building was remodeled in 1924 and
1 925. A clinic for the detection of tuberculosis was organized in 1920
through the efforts of Dr. Ira J. Prouty, and the Visiting Nurse Association began sponsorship of a Well Baby Clinic. The Cheshire County
Dental Society was formed by a group of dentists in 1925.
Parent-Teacher groups developed out of Mother's Clubs, which
had been formed about 1915, and the PTA was established in most
of the city's schools by 1924. The country club lands on Arch Street
were sold to an alumni group of Keene High School, and Alumni Field
was established there in 1924. Games once played at the grounds
located off Emerald and Island Streets shifted to West Keene, and an
avid football rivalry with Brattleboro brought high excitement to students and all Keene as well. In May 1928 700 cadets of the University of New Hampshire ROTC unit held an encampment at Alumni
Field.
Basketball as a regular team sport was established at Keene
High School in 1924, organized by Harold F. Drew of the faculty and
coaching staff, although it had been played for years on an informal
basis. The addition to the Washington Street high school building was
dedicated in 1925, and included not only more classrooms but also a
gymnasium, where Arthur D. Mulvaney was soon turning out basketball teams of merit. An Athletic Club for the encouragement of winter sports was formed in 1923, and soon attracted an enthusiastic
membership.
At the high school a senior class annual yearbook, the Salmagundi, was established in 1924, and a high school band was organized
with the aid of Karl D. Beedle and the Rotary Club about 1925.
Robert T. Kingsbury, mayor of Keene for three terms, became a.
member of the State Board of Education in 1927. This organization
183
had direction of Keene Normal School since a reorganization of the
state's education department in 1919.
The first male student at the Normal School was accepted in the
fall of 1919, and Blake House was added to the campus in 1923. This
historic 1833 brick residence occupied the site of Keene's first log
house erected in 1736 by Nathan Blake, and was acquired from his
descendants. By 1925 the enrollment of Keene Normal School had
climbed to 568. Spaulding Gymnasium was dedicated in 1928. Several buildings and cottage dormitories were added to the campus, and
the school's progress was determined with expanded study opportunities, organized athletics, the formation of two fraternities, and increased student activities. A dining hall was opened in 1916, Huntress
Hall was dedicated in 1926, and vocational arts, commercial studies,
manual training, and home economics were incorporated as regular
programs. The four-year course for preparation in high school teaching was inaugurated, and its first graduates were awarded the Bachelor of Education degree in 1928.
The first transcontinental telephone call from Keene was made
to California on June 30, 1916. The event took place at City Hall
before a group of invited guests. It was the first such call in New
Hampshire history. In February 1920 William E. Wright attached
wires to City Hall tower from his jewelry store below and was able
to receive wireless time signals from Arlington, Va. In 1928 he vacated
the store he had occupied for 52 years, and City Hall was remodeled,
the stores being replaced by city offices. At this time also public rest
rooms were installed, and the sidewalk canopy was removed from the
building.
The Colonial Theater Block was built on Main Street in 1923
replacing the Peleg Sprague house which had been on the site since
1795. When the new theater opened in January 1924, about 6,000
people were entertained at free premieres. The Latchis Theater,
with a seating capacity of 1,070, was opened on November 21, 1923,
by Demetrius P. Latchis. The Scenic Theater suffered a fire in 1927,
but was rebuilt. The Majestic Theater on Church Street closed and
was finally torn down in 1937.
The circus continued to visit the city. Ringling Brothers, Barnum
& Bailey Circus was especially popular and played its last local engagement as late as 1940. The major summer event, however, was
the Chautauqua, which brought a week of lectures, concerts, plays,
and youth programs popular with all citizens. The 1924 offerings, for
example, included light opera, a Shakespeare play, and junior Chau184
tauqua each morning. These annual events came to be a tradition in
Keene.
The Commercial Club suggested that the name of Main Street be
changed to a more distinctive title. Columbus Avenue, Barstow Avenue, Broadway, Ashuelot Boulevard, and Dinsmoor Avenue were
suggested, but Main Street it remained.
In 1921 an interesting pothole stone, drilled through by the action of water in the long geologic past, was brought to Keene from
East Sullivan and set up in front of the high school building. An
Ascutney boulder, known to have been brought from Vermont by the
glacier, was also placed in the school yard. This geological relic had
once been displayed in the yard of the Winter Street school building
but was buried after a child broke an arm while playing on it. It was
exhumed through the efforts of George A. Wheelock for display at
the high school.
The Repertory, a publication on local history, was issued by
Clifford C. Wilber from December 1924 to June 1927. Its articles included the Abner Sanger Revolutionary diary and writings of the late
William S. Briggs. It also offered pictures of Keene and its citizens of
the past. This was the first significant local historical publication since
Griffin's History, and the first by one of the city's most prolific historians. Wilber, Frank B. Kingsbury, and Mrs. Ella E. Abbott were
instrumental in the formation of the Historical Society of Cheshire
County in June 1927. Samuel Wadsworth was the first president of
the organization, which took over some of the objectives and collections of the older Keene Natural History Society.
An indication of the development of the automobile was the
levy of a city auto registration tax authorized by the state in 1919,
and the establishment of motorbus service to replace the electric railway in 1926. The electric car tracks were removed late that year, but
the ties remained and created rough rides for motorists driving over
their asphalt coverings. A public information booth in Keene was
visited by the occupants of 14,000 automobiles in 1927, and 15,000
in 1928.
Aviation came to Keene after World War I, when returning servicemen, some with flight experience, promoted the new sport. Charles
A. Lindbergh, the "Lone Eagle" who fired imaginations with his solo
flight from New York to Paris in May 1927, flew over Keene, circled
several times, and dropped greetings on July 27, 1927. He gave added
incentive to local aviation progress, and airport facilities were soon
planned. The first Keene airport, in West Keene near the Wyman
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Road, opened on September 21, 1928, on the 175th anniversary of
the granting of Keene's charter, and was attended by 15,000 interested, curious, and enthusiastic onlookers. Stunt flying was shown by
navy and marine aviators, and the state's first aviatrix, Dorothy
Putnam, was on hand to give a demonstration. A Ford tri-motor airplane, one of the largest then made, offered many people their first
experience with flight, and an official predicted, "Keene will become a
major link in the system of national defense." Tragedy soon came to
the activity, however, when a training plane of the Granite State Flying School crashed in November killing its student pilot.
Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall was a Keene guest in April
1916 when he gave a lecture for the People's Institute in City Hall.
While Rudyard Kipling was living at "Naulahka" near Brattleboro, it
was his custom to take the train to Keene regularly on Saturday for a
plate of baked beans at Marion's Restaurant, now the Crystal Restaurant.
A native of Keene whose research discoveries won for him a
place in American industrial history was Carleton Ellis. His interest
in science was fired when as a small boy he received a gift of a
si mple box camera. Valedictorian of Keene High School's class of
1896, he studied at MIT and entered independent research. In 1913
Ellis received a patent for a method of making a cheap but good
oleomargarine, far superior to any then known, which became the
basis for the margarine industry today. The research work carried on
by Ellis in New Jersey, and his service as consultant for oil companies, brought him 753 patents, the third largest number awarded to
any individual. He was the author of several books and many articles
on chemistry.
Author Sewell Ford, who made Keene his home for many years,
produced humorous writings including the "Torchy" and "Shorty McCabe" series, several stories which were made into motion pictures,
and a number of popular articles. He died in 1946.
Describing Keene of the late 1920's a tourist folder stated,
"There seem to be more huge elm trees in Keene than anywhere else
in the world; these and the spaciousness of the main street impress the
visitor at first. Keene is a city of 13,000 people most of whom own
their homes and are proud of it. An economist would be interested in
the widely diversified industries of the city by which labor troubles
and business depressions are avoided." The Chamber of Commerce
proudly pointed out that Keene had almost 100 miles of streets, 12.08
miles paved; a fire department of 5 men, 60 on call, and 7 pieces
186
of apparatus, 9 men on the police force; 8 church buildings; 10 parks
and playgrounds; an 80-bed hospital; assessed valuation of $20,517,222 and tax rate of $25.60, and the world's widest paved main street,
172 feet from curb to curb. "You'll like Keene," the Chamber confidently announced.
Some of the trees that established Keene as the Elm City
West Street, looking west
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PART XV: 1929-1938
Beer went on sale in Keene on May 23, 1933, New Hampshire
joined in repeal of the 18th Amendment of the United States Constitution on June 20, and the Prohibition Era came to a close. The state
liquor store on Roxbury Street was established in 1934.
Problems of the Great Depression were felt in Keene although
the city did not suffer its effects as seriously as did other less diversified industrial centers. On March 6, 1933, all banks in Keene, as
across the country, closed by order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and on March 11 there was no cash for payrolls for the first
ti me in the history of the city. Local banks reopened on March 15
after the bank holiday.
To combat the depression federal assistance was begun, an employment agent was assigned to Keene, and highway projects, as well
as other public works and improvements, were inaugurated. A CCC
camp was established in Swanzey, and in November 1933 the city
applied to the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works for
loans. A water extension and sewerage disposal project was undertaken in 1934, and park improvements, as well as other developments
under federal auspices, were carried out. The various city departments charged with highway, water, and maintenance were combined
in 1938 as the Public Works Department of the City of Keene.
With state aid, cement surfacing on the Chesterfield and Concord Roads was laid in 1929; the last bucket of cement on the Concord Road project was poured by Mayor Forrest L. Carey in November. The Dartmouth College Highway was a 1930 project, jointly
sponsored by city and state, and the Marlboro Road was another in
1933.
The city received funds from the Lane family in 1934 for beautification of Keene, playground equipment, and welfare purposes. The
cultural life of the whole region was greatly enriched through programs made possible by the Fuller-Bartlett Fund, the earlier bequest
of Mrs. Helen Bartlett Bridgman in memory of her grandfather, John
H. Fuller, and her brother, Theodore Bartlett. The income from more
than $100,000, administered by the Union School District, at first
brought outstanding speakers, musical talent, and cultural programs
to Keene. Currently (in 1967) the income is being used for Keene
High School scholarships and assembly programs. Mrs. Bridgman was
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an author and world traveler, the granddaughter of a Keene merchant, railroad official, and industrialist, John H. Fuller, for whom
Fuller Park was named.
A reservoir pond was authorized in City Park adjoining Robin
Hood Park on Beech Hill in June 1929, and a wading pool at Wheelock Park in 1931. Swimming facilities were popular with children
and a main feature of the summer park and recreation program. The
octagon reservoir at Robin Hood Park was cleaned and seeded for
use as an amphitheater and site of music concerts in 1935. A cement
water main from the North Cemetery to Sylvan Lake (as Goose Pond,
the city water supply, was sometimes called) was replaced by iron
pipe, and construction of the Dakin Reservoir and Babbidge Dam in
Roxbury was undertaken in 1931. The latter project was named in
honor of Paul F. Babbidge who was superintendent of the water department from 1888 to his retirement in 1938.
Keene's first traffic signals began operating in Central Square on
December 12, 1929. The problem of parking beyond "a reasonable
time" was discussed in 1937 and began to be a concern in the business district and nearby areas. Street snow plowing operations were
inaugurated in 1937; sidewalk plowing had begun in 1935.
Former City Engineer Samuel Wadsworth, who died in 1931,
left a significant historical manuscript which was published by his
children for the benefit of the Historical Society of Cheshire County.
Historical Notes With Keyed Map of Keene and Roxbury covered
land and owners in a large area of Keene, Roxbury, Gilsum, Marlborough, and. Harrisville, and represented a major achievement in
research.
The mayoralty election of 1930 was a close one, won by John J.
Landers with a plurality of only 275 votes. In 1935, on the other
hand, Mayor George F. T. Trask was the candidate for reelection,
nominated by both parties. Arthur R. Jones, three times mayor, was
chosen president of the New Hampshire Senate in 1931. A nine-man
Planning Board was formed in Keene in 1939, one of the first in the
state, with responsibilities to create a master plan of municipal development and to promote city interests. Other community programs
were continued by the Chamber of Commerce and the Keene Development Co. which helped to bring many and varied industries to
the city. Interests of the wider Monadnock Region were organized in
1933 by 24 area communities which joined the Monadnock Region
Association. This was further strengthened in 1937 with full-time
executives. More than 20,000 people visited the Monadnock Region
exposition held in Keene in August 1938.
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St. Joseph's Parochial School on Wilson Street was opened in
1930. A mechanic arts building was added to the high school in 1929.
In 1930 Frank A. Wright left a full-tuition college scholarship fund
to enable a deserving graduate of Keene High School, who is also a
resident of Keene, to attend a college of his choice. This award is
made every four years to an outstanding student who might otherwise
find it difficult or impossible to continue his education. A new Fuller
School was erected in 1936 replacing a much older wooden structure
at the corner of Elm and Spruce Streets. Enrollment in Keene schools
in 1931 was 2,914. In May 1935 the Keene Teachers' Association
was formed and the first president of the group was Elwin Damon,
a veteran Keene High School teacher.
At Keene Normal School a library in the former Ball house on
Main Street was dedicated on June 14, 1930. The three-year course
of studies became obligatory for all new students in 1934 as preparation for elementary school teaching certification, and the local school
was accredited by the American Association of Teachers in 1931.
Clarence H. DeMar, famed seven-time winner of the Boston Marathon and Olympic runner, taught printing at Keene Normal School
for some 10 years, beginning in 1929. The institution was described
in 1937 as one of New England's largest state normal schools and
had an enrollment of some 400.
Mrs. Doris Foote gave land adjoining Ladies' Park in May 1931
as a memorial to her father, Dr. Burton C. Russell. At Wheelock Park
a monument honoring the memory of Adolf W. Pressler was unveiled
in 1937, and an award cup was named in his honor by the American
Legion in 1936. Pressler's work with Keene youth inaugurated several programs associated with the recreation activity of the city and
included a junior fire brigade equipped with a hand-pumped fire engine. Hickey-Desilets Park, at Winchester and Island Streets, was
dedicated to the memory of two Keene soldiers who died in World
War I. City officials and members of the American Legion joined in
the ceremonies on Armistice Day 1939.
Sunday sports were a subject of controversy after Mayor Forrest
L. Carey ruled baseball on the Sabbath illegal in 1930. An old ordinance was unearthed to test the law, under which Mayor Carey himself was arrested for riding in an automobile on Sunday. A statute
relating to Sabbath activities was passed by a vote of 1,643-863 in
1931, making many sports lawful in the city on the Lord's Day. Motion pictures, lectures, concerts, and theatrical performances were
allowed only after 6 P.M. on Sunday.
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A new Sentinel building on West Street was occupied by the
printing and publishing firm in the spring of 1930. The GAR Hall
on Mechanic Street was opened in 1929. A new City Hall heating
plant was installed in 1932, and a sprinkler system was added to the
building in 1934.
Keene's first murder in many years took place on December 20,
1930, when storeowner Paul C. Kazanas was shot and killed during
a Marlboro Street robbery, the sixth in a series of armed robberies in
about an hour's time. Although rewards were offered for the capture
of the criminals, they were never apprehended.
The Cheshire House closed in 1934 and its fixtures were sold at
public auction. The historic building, dating from 1837, was torn
down in March 1934 (except for the wing on Roxbury Street). Stores
replaced the hotel in a unit called the Cheshire House Block.
A marker was placed on the post office in 1930 by the Historical
Society of Cheshire County to commemorate the site where Deacon
Josiah Fisher was killed and scalped by an Indian in July 1745. From
March 1935 to December 1937 Clifford C. Wilber conducted a daily
newspaper column, "The Good Old Days," of historical information,
answers to questions, and sketches from local history. The Historical
Society of Cheshire County published its Collections from April 1930
to July 1931, and in 1937 the organization was presented by John P.
Wright with a portrait, hung in the public library building, of Sir
Benjamin Keene, for whom the city was named. The Hampshire Press
"Old Timer" calendar was inaugurated in 1933, featuring each year a
scene from the Keene of former days.
Automobile traffic through Keene increased as touring became
more popular, turning New Hampshire into a resort mecca. On July
21, 1931, some 2,800 automobiles from out-of-state passed through
the city within a few hours. In 1938 a tourist information booth was
established in the center of Main Street, just south of Emerald Street.
National championship motorcycle races were a Keene event on July
14, 1935, as hill-climbing contests of the machines had been at Cole's
pasture on Beech Hill in November 1924.
Mrs. LaFell Dickinson, a leader in many projects including the
first cancer-detecting clinic in Keene in 1937, served as president of
the State Federation of Woman's Clubs in 1930. A Keene Woman's
Club Chorus was organized in 1929, and a Garden Club was formed
in 1934. The Fortnightly Club gave aid to a Normal School student
fund, and became sponsors of the National Honor Society at Keene
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High School in 1933. In 1934 it became associated with the state
federation. The Keene unit of Business and Professional Women
joined the national federation in 1923, and aided various civic causes,
making crippled children's drives their special charity. The Keene
Emblem Club, a women's affiliate of the Elks, was organized in March
1930. The Keene Lions Club was organized by 20 charter members
in August 1937, sponsored by the Lebanon Lions. The club became
active in aid to the blind, eyesight research, and sight programs for
the schools.
The Woodward Home, a private home for older residents of
Keene, was established on Maple Avenue in West Keene by the bequest of Harry S. Woodward who died in 1924. In 1932 the Home
was incorporated and eight years later purchased its present residence
on Court Street.
In 1929 the work of the Keene YMCA was combined with that
of the Cheshire County "Y" organization, which had been formed in
1913. Under the leadership of Oscar L. Elwell programs in Keene and
at Camp Takodah were expanded and youth services strengthened.
American Legion activity in Keene included sponsorship of a
drum and bugle corps, formed in October 1929, and the national
motorcycle races which were held in 1935 and 1936. During times of
disaster the Legion assisted those in need. In 1934 it presented an iron
lung to the Elliot Community Hospital. The Keene Post Veterans of
Foreign Wars was established in 1936 with 15 members. The Keene
Girls' Drum and Bugle Corps, Boy Scouts, and various public service
projects became part of their work, which also included aid to veterans' hospitals. John Kononan was the first commander of the or g anization, which purchased the former Fuller School building on Spruce
Street as its headquarters in 1943. The VFW Auxiliary was established and became active in hospital and other service projects. A
fun group, the Military Order of the Cootie, was formed among 18
VFW Post members in 1947.
Interest in aviation continued to spread in Keene. Jimmie Laneri
established a field and flew passengers from a meadow called the
Granite State Flying Field Park (now Monadnock View Cemetery
and the site of Winding Brook Lodge). Colorful aviation figures Roy
Ahern, Mal Dixon, and "Kitty" Barrows operated their box-like biplanes and World War I vintage machines at a field across from the
Barrett Stone House and from another field at the corner of Bradford
Road and Arch Street. In those days airplanes could be operated
from almost any meadow. Flying was also established off Marlboro
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Street (where Keene Industrial Park is now located) and at other
points in the city's outskirts. Probably the first flight from the present
site of Dillant-Hopkins Airport was made by Ray Bolster. Richard L.
and Sidney W. Holbrook, who were interested in the commercial possibilities of a new airport, persuaded George G. "Scotty" Wilson, a
New England "barnstormer," to become manager of their venture,
Twin State Airways. Many Keene citizens had their first flight after
1929 with Wilson at the controls. Wilson and the Holbrooks helped
inaugurate many of the airports that were springing up in northern
New England. The depression put a stop to much aviation activity,
and progress among the flying fraternity was slowed for a number of
years.
Summer theater in Keene was launched in 1935 when the Repertory Playhouse Associates of New York changed the location of its
summer activities from Putney, Vt., to Keene. Professionals began
annual summer productions under the direction of Herbert V. Gellendre in the large barn adjoining the Bradford Inn. Royal Beal, a
Keene resident, who became well known to theatrical and television
audiences, brought his professional skill to the first year's ventures.
Beatrice and Alfred Colony, who were associated with the enterprise,
became "regulars" over the years as performers, directors, teachers,
guides, and champions of Keene dramatic performances. Mrs. Colony,
a descendant of John Wilkes Booth and one of the nation's most celebrated theatrical families, came naturally by her interest and talent.
The summer theater was located in the barn of the Colony home, Captain Daniel Bradford's elegant residence dating from the early 19th
century. World War II brought a cessation of activities after the 1941
season until 1946, when for more than a decade longer the summer
theater brought Broadway productions to Keene. The Keene Chorus
Club continued until 1931. For several years there was also a munic i pal orchestra in the city, the Keene Orchestral Society.
A total eclipse of the sun took place on August 31, 1932, visible
for the first time in many years in Keene. There was an earthquake on
November 1, 1935.The flooding of March 1936 which caused considerable damage, cutting rail and bus lines and interrupting electric and
telephone service, was one of the worst in Keene's history. Local
churches sheltered 250 refugees, and recovery efforts were aided by
Red Cross and American Legion units. The Nashua branch of the
Boston & Maine Railroad, inoperative since 1934, was so completely
washed away that it was never rebuilt, and soon afterward the rails
were taken up.
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The worst natural disaster in local history was the hurricane
which visited much of the Northeast on Wednesday, September 21,
1938. Preceded by several days of rain, high water had already given
credence to fears of the worst flooding since 1936. Several landslides
caused by the rains blocked rail lines into the city, and soon practically
every road was closed by high water or washouts. Bridges were out at
several points, and Keene became virtually isolated by noon of September 21.
The Red Cross Disaster Committee, headed by Homer S. Bradley,
swung into action, and an American Legion emergency unit promptly
followed suit, as electric power lines, gas, and telephone service faltered. As the rain fell, so too did the barometer whose readings were
so low that many residents suspected their instruments were faulty. By
late afternoon the wind was rising and southeast gusts swiftly gained
momentum. Flying slate broke windows, roofs tumbled, and trees
toppled. By 5 P.M., as workers were finding their way home, the wind
increased until it averaged 90 mph. At the height of the storm the
spire of the First Congregational Church crashed through the roof,
barely missing the pipe organ.
Throughout the storm the Red Cross, American Legion, and
other volunteers continued their rescue work, forgetting the danger
to their own personal safety. Beaver Brook and the Ashuelot River
had risen so quickly that they flooded adjacent areas in a matter of
hours. Many sections of the city were rapidly inundated as the wind
swept with a fury none living could recall. By 9 P.M. it had ended.
Local sightseers flocked to Main Street, while the work of rescue continued throughout the night. Many families in low areas were evacuated by boats and were housed temporarily in churches and private
homes.
Keene lost nearly 1,000 elm trees; homes were damaged by falling branches and other debris. Water flooded houses and caused heavy
loss at manufacturing plants and shops. In West Keene the Country
Club was heavily damaged, as was Wheelock Park. The Dinsmoor
Woods on Maple Avenue were mowed down, leaving none of the
giant pines which once completely shaded this section of the Five Mile
Drive. No part of the city was spared wind and water. Keene probably
suffered greater damage than any city or town in the region, the worst
in its entire history.
The combined efforts of all were mobilized in the huge recovery
program launched under the direction of Mayor Richard L. Holbrook.
Street clearing operations began the morning following the storm.
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Carey Chair Mfg. Co. hurricane damage
Printed signs warned against fires, unboiled water and milk, and the
clogging of streets by automobiles. Blankets and other bedding were
urgently requested. For nearly two days after the hurricane Keene was
marooned and completely isolated. David F. Putnam installed his short
wave radio at the high school and, powered by the generator of Laurence M. Pickett's sound truck, sent messages to the outside world,
including an appeal for aid to the President of the United States from
Harry C. Shaw. chairman of the Keene Chapter, American Red Cross.
News from outside came into Keene via battery-operated radios broadcasting from the steps of the Sears Roebuck store in Central Square.
Railroad lines were soon repaired, but passenger service was not
resumed until October 7. The Sentinel staff rigged up a washing machine motor (operated by a gasoline engine) to a small commercial
press and issued, on Friday, September 23, a tabloid-size two-page
newspaper, the type set entirely by hand. The following day a power
lawnmower engine was pressed into service to publish a four-page
paper.
Almost all telephone lines were down over a wide area, and crews
arrived from as far away as Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota to restore them. More than two weeks elapsed before electricity
was returned to the majority of homes. In the meantime flashlights,
candles, and kerosene lamps were at a premium, and owners of oil
ranges and cookstoves suddenly found themselves popular nei g hborhood figures.
Storm damage was estimated at about $1,000,000. Nearly 1,800
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shade trees along the streets were destroyed, and in the city's parks the
havoc was staggering. John E. Coffin's review of the damage wrought
in the region was published shortly afterwards, and its pictures of the
disaster area emphasized the title, it Did Happen Here!
Street Superintendent Arthur A. Wallace and his crew performed
nothing short of a miracle in the wake of the disaster. Less than two
days after the hurricane all principal streets and roads were open. As a
direct result of this hurricane and the floods of 1927 and 1936, control
studies were carried out by army engineers, and measures were taken
to prevent any recurrence. Surry Dam was authorized, begun in 1939,
and completed in 1942, as a major check of the drainage in an area of
some 100 square miles. Another dam on the South Branch was recommended in the plans which brought protection against flooding for the
first time in the history of the community.
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PART XVI: 1939-1952
Keene's recovery from the 1938 hurricane occupied months and
saw measures inaugurated to cope with such disasters in the future.
Damaged buildings, businesses, and public services soon were restored, and hundreds of young trees were planted throughout the city
to replace the century-old giants that had fallen in the hurricane. A
duplicate steeple of the one lost by the First Congregational Church
was erected in September 1939. Keene builder Glenroy W. Scott offered his services without cost as supervisor of the work, and reconstruction of the spire from the bell level upwards was undertaken by
Roy 0. Leonard of Framingham, Mass., who repaired 35-40 New
England church steeples toppled by the storm.
In 1939 the Public Service Co. of New Hampshire began construction of a new building in the Square at the corner of Washington
Street to replace the 1880 Clarke Block; the work was completed in
1940. The top floor and the sidewalk covering of the 1828 Wilder
Building, or Ball's Block, on the corner of Court Street, were removed
in a 1939 modernization. On the west side of Central Square the
Whitcomb Block was renovated in 1947. The sidewalk canopy which
was removed from the 1825 building had been the last one remaining
in Keene's business district. Also in 1947 the mortar and pestle drugstore symbol was removed from in front of the Central Pharmacy,
perhaps the last old-fashioned trade sign left in the city which had once
boasted cigar store Indians, striped barbers' poles, huge gold watches,
and spectacles as symbols of tradesmen and merchants. Another bit
of the vanishing past, stone-made watering troughs on Roxbury and
Arch Streets and Park Avenue, disappeared in 1950.
The city supervised snow removal to provide skating facilities at
Cummings Lower Pond (located at the junction of Elm and Court
Streets), the brickyard on Appleton Street, the West Keene Community Club rink, and at Robin Hood Park in 1940, and for several years
a winter carnival was sponsored by the city and local ski club at a ski
jump constructed on Beech Hill near Eastern Avenue. Following World
War II a Keene Youth Center was opened at the high school, indoor
swimming was sponsored at Spaulding Gymnasium, and support was
given to the Twin-State Baseball League. In 1946 skiing, with a tow in
operation, was featured at Drummer Hill, and ice skating rinks were
constructed in the rear of the high school and at Symonds School.
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The Public Works Department was formally organized in 1939
with Arthur A. Wallace as its first superintendent. Modern equipment
purchased included snow-removal machines added after World War
II. The City Planning Board, created in 1939, was organized in January 1940 and charged with the responsibility of development planning
for the city. After World War II industrial development, zoning regulations, and the projected growth of Keene became subjects of renewed
study as the city embarked on an era of rapid expansion. Steps were
taken to improve the appearance of the Common as civic improvement
programs were organized.
A popular youth program in the city was sponsored by the police
department during the war years. More than 300 youngsters were enrolled in the Junior Police organization under Officer William T. Bridgham. A Junior Police Band and Drill Team in colorful uniforms
became frequent participants at civic parades and other events in New
England. Police Chief Joseph L. Regan attended FBI training sessions
in 1946, and in 1949 his force was responsible for the capture of
William F. "Blackie" DeRosa, an escaped Massachusetts murderer
who was apprehended in Keene. Chief Regan resigned in 1950 to head
the Nashua police force; he has since become director of the New
Hampshire State Police. For a short time Keene's police were under
the leadership of Thomas J. Qualters, a former FBI and Secret Service
agent and personal aid to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A new name and status were given to Keene Teachers College in
1939 when all students were enrolled in a four-year program leading
to a Bachelor of Education degree. Before the Second World War
enrollment averaged about 350 students, and faculty numbered about
50. Postwar expansion necessitated for the first time housing units for
married students. These were at a Marlboro Street location.
The old overhead railroad bridge on Eastern Avenue, once a part
of the Nashua line, was removed to a Walpole location in 1940. The
railroad repair shops, an established industrial complex for almost a
century but relatively inactive in later years, finally closed in 1940,
and work was transferred to Concord. A state law protecting local industry had to be revised and a referendum vote taken before the
buildings could be occupied by the New England Screw Co., bought
by the Central Screw Co. in 1947.
Following the war, streamline train service through Keene was
inaugurated with "The Cheshire" in 1945, cutting the journey from
Boston to 1 hour, 56 minutes. Steam locomotives disappeared within
a few years in favor of diesel engines, with signals entirely different
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from the shrill whistles once so familiar. Centennial anniversary celebrations marking an historical event that changed the destiny of Keene,
the introduction of rail service, were held in May 1948, and a bronze
plaque was placed on the railroad station.
A significant addition to Keene came in 1940 with the establishment of the city's first radio station, WKNE, which had begun on June
2, 1927, in Springfield, Vt. Its first call letters were WNBX, and the
first broadcasts came from a church belfry, carrying the sermons of
the minister. It increased its power and changed ownership in 1931. It
joined the Columbia Broadcasting System network in 1937, and came
to Keene with a power of 5,000 watts, broadcasting at 1290 on the
AM radio frequency. A dedication banquet was held to welcome the
station, "Voice of the Monadnock Region," on January 11, 1941, at
the Masonic auditorium. Perhaps the personality longest associated
with station activities was Osborn C. "Ozzie" Wade, for 30 years an
announcer known for his ad lib and ready wit, and who was also a
talented trumpeter. Radio broadcasting studios were established on
Dunbar Street with transmitting facilities in West Keene as this new
medium brought valuable public service programs, farm reports, contests, and local entertainment into every home. FM broadcasting was
considered and approved in 1945, although not put into operation
until 1964.
It was through radio that Keene and the nation first heard the
electrifying news of the attack on Pearl Harbor, on a quiet Sunday
afternoon, December 7, 1941. WKNE did its share of special programs
for bond drives and wartime campaigns, including a coast-to-coast
pick-up of a local program, "Women in the War," an aid to WAC recruiting. After the war, a series by Howard E. Wheelock, "Monadnock
Region Reveille," dedicated to community service and appreciation of
the American way of life, won for the station numerous commendations.
Even before war was declared Battery G, 197th Coast Artillery,
New Hampshire National Guard was activated, and on September 16,
1940, Keene men once again marched down Main Street to the railroad station under the anxious eyes of friends and relatives. This unit
was among the first to reach Australia early in 1942. Local Selective
Service Board No. 11 registered 1,656 young men for military service
in October 1940.
Military activities in Keene during the war consisted of flight
training carried on in cooperation with government agencies, and civilian pilots and combat flyers were trained at the local airport. Lee
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Bowman, who had moved to Keene in 1940 to take charge of airport
operations, established a flying school under the auspices of the Civil
Aeronautics Administration to prepare civilians for possible defense
roles. Some 650 navy pilots were trained under his direction. George
"Scotty" Wilson inaugurated and became first commander of the
Keene Squadron Civil Air Patrol in December 1940.
Home front war programs included intensive Red Cross and
other relief work, victory gardens, war chest, USO, and civilian defense activities. Auxiliary fire and police units were formed, air raid
wardens were appointed, and numerous blackout and air raid tests
were held. Supplies of food were stocked in schools, where pupils were
fingerprinted and instructed in evacuation procedures.
On December 9, 1941, Chief Air Raid Warden Ronald P. Bach
and Deputy Alpheus B. White issued printed cards containing air raid
and blackout instructions which were delivered to every household in
the city. The signal for an impending air raid on Keene was to be a
series of short blasts of the fire signal. Citizens were to take cover,
keep away from windows, and turn off water, gas, and electricity. "If
caught in the open," the instructions read, "throw yourself to the
ground, using any protection available, such as a ditch, trench or
gutter." Instructions further included information on how to deal with
incendiary bombs, and most attics were soon equipped with pails of
sand for smothering such threats. During blackouts, lights in the city
were turned off or screened. The signal for a blackout was one extralong blast of the fire whistle. "We in Keene will be expected to obey
blackout orders when received," Wardens Bach and White told householders, "A successful blackout depends wholly on your absolute cooperation." Airplane spotters were on duty and identification of various
aircraft became a popular hobby. Security regulations were imposed
on essential industry, and measures were taken to screen suspected
aliens.
War bond drives had the enthusiastic support of the entire community. Among special features of such drives were the display in
Central Square of a captured miniature Japanese submarine, a special
guest appearance by film star Dorothy Lamour, a navy air show, and
a mock battle staged at Alumni Field. Workers joined in contributions
to buy planes, tanks, and other equipment, as did school children, who
also contributed funds to help launch a supply ship named the Monadnock. The city sent to each man and woman in service a booklet
containing hometown news and features; 1,200 were mailed out at
Christmas time in 1944.
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Collections of scrap metal more than filled a huge container
placed at the head of Central Square Park; tin cans, aluminum,
toothpaste tubes, tinfoil, paper, and oils and fats were among the
principal items sought during the numerous drives. The city's old
1883 Amoskeag steam fire engine was brought out for the cause but
escaped the fate of being scrapped. It found a place in a Manchester
collection of historic fire-fighting equipment. Many fine old cast-iron
gates, fences, and decorative iron lawn ornaments were less fortunate,
however. Among familiar features of the city which disappeared in
the drives for war material in September 1942 were the octagon reservoir observation tower and Fuller Park's World War I German cannon.
In local industry work was carried on under government contracts and security regulations. Army-Navy "E" awards for production were won by several plants for outstanding achievement. Faulkner & Colony produced 14 different types of cloth, including uniform
material for French, Russian, and Norwegian troops, as well as navy
and coast guard blanket material. The peak employment in the firm's
long history, about 500 men and women, was reached during the war
years. At Kingsbury Machine Tool Co. machines for the production of
military fuses, aircraft engine parts, gun components, and M-1 rifle
parts were turned out in day and night shifts. Precision bearings used
in aircraft navigation, bombsights, radio and radar equipment, and
many delicate scientific instruments were important Keene products.
The M. S. Perkins firm employed 450 people in its manufacture of
ti me fuses and bomb parts. Feldspar and mica from the GoldingKeene Co. mines became valuable when foreign supplies were cut
off.
Rationing was begun early in 1942. Roy M. Pickard, Edward
H. Lord, and Henry A. Frechette, the original ration board members,
first met in Lawyer Pickard's office to issue tire certificates. Pickard
served as head of the board until May 1946, when Rolfe Floyd Jr.
of East Sullivan became chairman. Frechette was the first clerk, but
additional help was soon needed, as well as more space for the expanding work of the board which came to include all of Cheshire
County. About 35,000 people were served from the Keene office before the end of the war. Temporary quarters were made available in
the Court House, and regular offices were opened in the Museum
Block on Court Street in September 1942. Volunteers from the National Grange Mutual and Peerless Insurance Companies gave aid,
but regular clerical help eventually numbered 15, as rationing was
extended to gasoline, fuel oil, automobiles, tires, shoes, meat, coffee,
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sugar, some canned goods, and certain items of clothing. Price control
was also placed under the ration board, which was run during the
war by 35 persons serving without pay.
Ration books in four "editions," tokens, and gasoline stamps
were issued with the help of school personnel, and auxiliary boards
were established in neighboring towns to save trips to Keene for routine matters. Visitors to the office brought a continual flow of questions, appeals, and complaints. One week in April 1945 saw 1,257
people calling for various reasons connected with the rationing program. Most rationing stopped with the end of the war, but clerical
duties and price control matters occupied the office into 1946.
Many products not actually rationed became scarce, including
meat, cigarettes, canned foods, and silk stockings. Rumor of the arrival in some store of a sought-after item was enough to trigger a
"run" on the place, but shortages were taken with good grace in the
interest of the war effort. City Hall was closed to public meetings due
to limited supplies of coal, and some churches combined services to
conserve fuel.
Each loss at the battle front was felt by all in the community. A
home front disaster was the Cocoanut Grove Restaurant fire in Boston
on November 28, 1942. One of America's worst such tragedies, 491
people died in the blaze, including Keene residents Fred P. Sharby,
his son Fred Sharby Jr., and Clyde C. Clarke and his wife Mabel.
Service flags appeared in Keene homes, gold stars bearing mute
witness to the supreme sacrifice required of some families. Probably a
record for any one family was that of Mr. and Mrs. William H. Dennis
of Pearl Street, who had seven sons in uniformed service. A huge
service flag was flown over Main Street in 1943, and an honor roll
was erected in the Park and dedicated on July 4, 1944. Noted among
Keene men and women who saw military action on every front were
the names of 50 who died for their country. A War Records Committee headed by Dr. Lloyd P. Young set about gathering data and
service information for a permanent record of the city's contribution
in World War II.
Then at last it was all over. Victory celebrations on August 14,
1945, were a spontaneous outpourin g of emotions pent up for years.
Every church bell and factory whistle sounded, a huge throng gathered in the business district to cheer, the soldiers kissed the girls, and
a harried theater manager begged his 20 or so patrons to go out and
join the celebration so that he might go too. Returning servicemen
soon adjusted to civilian life, although for some this was easier than
202
for others. One Keene soldier, discharged on a Saturday afternoon,
returned to spend a quiet Sunday at home, and reported to his old
job on Monday morning. Some who came back in 1947 were the
war dead, brought for burial in their native New Hampshire hills.
After the war Keene contributed tons of clothing for refugees,
as it had previously given tons of scrap for war use. In 1948 aid was
sent to a Greek "sister" community.
Keene's airport, located in North Swanzey, dates from the war
years. Aided by federal funds, the tract was purchased in 1942 and
dedicated on October 31, 1943, with 5,000 people in attendance to
hear addresses by civilian and military officials, including Governor
Robert 0. Blood, U. S. Senators Charles Tobey and Styles Bridges, and
Mayor Richard L. Holbrook. The facility was named Dillant-Hopkins
Municipal Airport in honor of Thomas David Dillant of Keene and
Edwin Chester Hopkins of Swanzey, who had given their lives in the
war.
A steel hangar was erected at the airport in 1945, and operations
were moved from West Keene to the new location. Lee Bowman became manager of the airport and also conducted a flying school. A
major step in the transportation history of Keene, regular air service
was begun on November 1, 1946, by Northeast Airlines. The first
flights made one stop at Springfield, Mass., on their way to New York.
The first air mail flown from the city was a part of the inauguration
ceremonies; 2,600 letters stamped with a commemorative cachet were
handed to the crew of the DC-3C Skycraft by Postmaster Carl D.
Roche. Along with its 11 Keene passengers the plane carried a fresh
apple pie, the gift of Keene's Mayor James C. Farmer to New York's
Mayor William O'Dwyer.
Air service was at first curtailed from two to a single daily flight
and was suspended briefly in January 1948. Service was resumed in
May, and air freight was added to the operations of Dillant-Hopkins
Municipal Airport. Lighting of the airport runways was installed in
1948-49, and in 1951 signal beacons were added. Several Keene industries maintained private airplanes for business purposes as the air
age became an established fact. In 1952 an estimated 200 airplanes
a month made use of the Keene airport facilities.
The most distinguished visitor Keene had entertained in many
years was Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the nation's First Lady, who
gave an address before the Keene Community Forum on April 10,
1945. Mrs. Roosevelt, the first member of a Presidential family to
spend a night in the city, was the guest of LaFell and Lucy Dickinson.
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Mrs. Dickinson, who became president of the General Federation of
Woman's Clubs in 1944, represented that national group at conferences and on a tour of Russia in August 1946. She was honored at a
Keene reception in 1947.
Among the events of Mrs. Roosevelt's visit were a dinner at
Keene Teachers College, an appearance before high school students,
and an interview over a state-wide WKNE broadcast. The First Lady
spoke before the Forum on the subject "Education in the Post War
World." It was originally planned that Mrs. Roosevelt should return
to New York via the East Northfield train, and she had expressed
an interest in the Keene version of the famed "Toonerville trolley,"
but plans were changed to include a scenic drive to Springfield and a
connection there to New York.
The Keene appearance by Mrs. Roosevelt was almost her last as
First Lady, and her address here was her last public speech as the
wife of the President. Franklin D. Roosevelt died at Warm Springs,
Ga., two days later. Memorial services and other public mourning
activities were conducted in the city, as throughout the nation and the
world. A new President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, was
sworn into office by Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone, a native of nearby
Chesterfield.
In 1 948 presidential hopeful Harold Stassen made a Keene appearance durin g_ primary election activities, as did several political
leaders in 1952.
Monadnock View, a tract of 76 acres that was one of Keene's
early air fields and a popular golf course in West Keene, was purchased in 1946 and plans for its development as a new municipal
cemetery were drawn in 1947. The city made repairs to the Goose
Pond water supply source in 1946, and laid larger water pipelines in
1949-50. A new overhead street lighting system was introduced into
the business district in 1947. Parking became an increasingly difficult
postwar problem, and parking meters were installed in 1947; by 1949
there were 281 in use.
Traffic flow studies were carried out and one-way driving was
established at several points near the Square in 1950. Many streets
were widened and improved, including Marlboro and West Streets in
1950-51. Proposals for a bypass route were studied beginning in the
1950's. Keene continued itsfight against Dutch elm disease in 1947,
but a control of the menace could not be found. Around this time the
city added the first radio-equipped Public Works Department trucks
in New England.
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The first professional recreation director, Charles S. Farrar, was
appointed in 1947. An arts, crafts, and hobby show staged at City
Hall, formation of a Golden Age Club for senior citizens in December
1948, and a Children's Theater were among the new programs inaugurated. Forrest L. Carey gave a five-acre tract of land to Keene
Girl Scouts in 1946, which became known as Camp Carey, a focal
point of varied summer scouting activities. A covered grandstand was
constructed at the baseball diamond at Alumni Field in 1948, and
Little League baseball became a popular youth program sponsored by
Keene business and industry.
The years following World War II saw many changes in Keene
residential livin g . Areas of Park Avenue, including Aspen, Birch, and
Balsam Streets, upper Court Street at Pako Park, Green Acres, Fox
Circle, Kendall Green, and other developments were incorporated
into the fabric of community life. Building, aided by government veteran programs and loans, progressed at an unprecedented rate; in
1950 nearly 100 new homes were built, double the 1949 figure for
new buildings.
Important civic government changes took place in this period. In
line with progress in municipal administration across the country, a
professional city manager was proposed in 1947, creating a division
of opinion and discussion for some time. Henry F. Goodnow of Pontiac, Mich., was the first to hold the new post in 1948, with Robert B.
Weiss as administrative assistant. The new form of government
brought Keene some of its most spirited election campaigns; in 1949
there were 52 candidates for city council seats, the largest number in
city history. The city manager plan was approved in referendum voting in 1949, but experienced difficulties and continued opposition. It
was defeated in 1951, following one of the hottest mayoralty campaigns ever known in Keene. Mayors Frederick D. Mitchell and Laurence M. Pickett provided administration under a new charter which,
in 1950, had replaced the two-chamber city government with a single
council of 15 members and a mayor. While the city manager question
seemed to occupy the center of attention, tax assessment and property
evaluation was also the subject of considerable discussion, and revisions provided fuel for controversy. In 1949 Keene celebrated its
75th anniversary as a city with a banquet which five of its seven living
ex-mayors attended.
Keene's last surviving veteran of the Civil War, Frank E. Amadon, who had served with Company I of the 18th Regiment of volunteers in 1865, died in 1945 at the age of 99. A familiar figure at
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Memorial Day school exercises, he was among the state's last Civil
War soldiers and the last member of GAR Post No. 4 of Keene.
Desire for a permanent war memorial led to consideration of
several models before 1948. A memorial in the form of a carillon was
advanced, the project to be aided by funds left to the city in 1881 by
John Symonds for such bells. The proposal was adopted and the
Methodist Church was selected as the site because its bell was not in
use. A two-octave electronic bell system was dedicated on May 27,
1951, fitted with an automatic playing mechanism and a keyboard
located near the church pipe organ console.
Following the war the city's schools became a major civic consideration as the population grew. In 1946 the school board voted to
change to the 6-3-3 grade system. Mrs. Howard W. Kirk became the
first woman school board chairman in 1947. Keene's population rose
from 13,832 in 1940 to 15,638 in 1950, and school building needs
were studied and sites for expansion surveyed. Additions to the Symonds and Wheelock Schools were made in 1951, and the Dickinson
property on Roxbury Street was purchased for use by the high school.
A new junior high school was authorized in 1950 and an Arch Street
site was obtained. The cornerstone of the new building was set in May
1952.
The K.H.S. Enterprise, a prize-winning literary magazine pubKeene Industrial Park—incorporated 1951
206
lished by high school students, observed its 50th anniversary in November 1946. Forrest J. Hall, a veteran educator who had served on
the publication's first editorial board, contributed to the anniversary
issue along with other former editors.
The Keene Regional Industrial Development Foundation, incorporated in 1951 with Edward Ellingwood as director, began attracting
new industry to Keene, and developing sites for manufacturing plants.
An appreciation of organized planning for the growth of Keene became one of the distinctive features of postwar activity in all phases
of community life.
The Keene Clinic was formed in 1948. An association of doctors
with facilities near the hospital, this institution has brought medical
service to the entire region on a scale never before available. The
organization of a blood bank, visits by the "bloodmobile," and inoculation against polio were part of the progress in medical affairs.
The Keene Light Opera Co. was launched by a group of local
singers. Among the operettas they produced in the early postwar years
were "H.M.S. Pinafore," "The Sorcerer," "The Mikado," and "Robin
Hood." "Eyes-A-Poppin!" (a Lions Club annual benefit production)
was launched in 1951, and the Community Concert series, dating
back to 1937, continues to bring outstanding soloists, ballet, orchestras, and choral groups to the city.
A Soroptimist Club of women in professional and executive positions or owners of their own businesses was organized in September
1947, and the League of Women Voters was formed in May 1952.
The Cheshire County Numismatic Society, organized in 1950, until
1962 was the only coin collectors' club in the state. The Monadnock
Stamp Club was organized i n 1 925 and is still active in 1967. The
Keene Mineral Club was formed by 12 persons in June 1948 to study
and collect minerals. An amateur astronomy group was formed in
October 1957, incorporated in May 1960, and works with Keene
Teachers College, scout groups, and the schools in programs of astronomical observation.
One of the city's most beloved musicians, William "Bill" Nye,
made the singing of "The Palms" an Easter season tradition. His bass
voice was also heard in the Swanzey revival of "The Old Homestead,"
beginning in 1939.
A new form of public entertainment was offered in 1950 with the
opening of the Keene Drive-In Theater, the first of its kind in the
city and located off Marlboro Street, where the circus and carnival
had once performed.
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The First Baptist Church celebrated 70 years in its Court Street
building with a pageant and special programs in 1945. St. George
Greek Orthodox Church of Keene purchased the Mary Faulkner estate on West Street in 1941, and added to the building two years
later. In 1947 the Jewish Congregation Ahavas Achim acquired the
Red Cross chapter house on Court Street for use as its synagogue. The
same year Keene's Christian Science organization moved to Washington Street. A modern convent of the Sisters of Mercy was erected on
the corner of Main and Davis Streets in 1946-47, replacing the former building at the rear of St. Joseph's School.
The Keene Evening Sentinel's 1 50th anniversary edition of some
80 pages, issued on March 23, 1949, was the largest ever published
by the paper and contained numerous historical articles, pictures, and
features. In the interest of preservation and genealogical research, the
Cheshire County land records through 1859 were filmed by teams
of members of the Mormon Church in 1952. The Keene Shopper, a
weekly advertising newspaper, was begun in March 1959 by Gabriel
M. and J. Barbara Shakour. With a controlled Monadnock Region
circulation, its format was enlarged in 1961 and in 1965. It is now
known as the Keene Shopper News.
Dorothy June Smith, daughter of former First Congregational
Church pastor, Rev. Willis E. Smith, enjoyed a motion picture acting
career under the name of June Vincent. Mrs. Roger B. White represented Keene and New Hampshire in a national radio contest over a
period of about a month shortly after the end of World War II.
Horatio Colony of Keene wrote several works, including A Brook of
Leaves, Birth and Burial, Young Malatista, Bacchus and Krishna,
and Demon in Love. Keene was brought into public notice in 1948
with the publication of William L. White's book Lost Boundaries.
Also a widely-read magazine feature and a prize-winning motion picture, the story was that of a local physician and X-ray specialist, Dr.
Albert C. Johnston, and his family who, although Negro, had lived in
Keene since 1940 "passing" as white. The fact might not have become known had the doctor not volunteered for the navy during the
war. One of the hospital's most respected specialists, Dr. Johnston
made Keene his home until 1966 when, after 26 years of service to
the community, he and Mrs. Johnston moved to Hawaii. Keene lawyer
and jurist John R. Goodnow was named to the bench of the New
Hampshire Supreme Court in 1952.
One of Keene's most famous sons, and one who always remembered his native place with warm regard, was the artist, Barry Faulk208
ner. Born in Keene in 1881, and educated at Phillips Exeter Academy
and Harvard, he studied in Rome with several outstanding painters,
including George De Forest Brush and Abbott H. Thayer, a distant
cousin who also painted in the Keene area. Faulkner became one of
the nation's outstanding muralists, decorating rooms at the National
Archives Building in Washington, the State Capitol at Salem, Ore.,
Radio City in New York, the John Hancock Building in Boston, the
University of Illinois at Urbana, the Eastman Building in Rochester,
N.Y., the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Building at Ottawa, Canada, and the State Capitol in Concord. He also painted murals for
American service cemeteries in France and Italy. Faulkner painted
his first Keene murals at Elliot Community Hospital in 1943, depicting Central Square as he remembered it. Other local murals include
those painted for the Keene National Bank in 1950, three panels
portraying distinguished visitors to Mt. Monadnock, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Abbott H. Thayer, and Henry David Thoreau. At the
Cheshire County Savings Bank in 1955 Faulkner depicted Main
Street at the time of the arrival of the first railroad train on May 16,
1848. Sketches for his murals in Concord, showing Daniel Webster,
General John Stark, and artist Abbott H. Thayer, hang in the Juvenile
Department at Keene Public Library. Faulkner, who summered in
Keene and visited the city whenever possible, was active as a trustee
of the American Academy in Rome, the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, and the St. Gaudens Memorial in Cornish.
Other contributions to Keene made by Barry Faulkner were his
early encouragement of city planning, his concept of a park bordering
the Ashuelot River to preserve the natural beauty of the area, and
efforts in behalf of Keene history and art.
Barry Faulkner returned to Keene as a resident and died late
in 1966. The Keene Evening Sentinel said of him, "No matter how
widely he traveled, Faulkner never lost touch with his native city and
region. He spent his summers here whenever possible, and thus renewed body and spirit by contact with people and places he loved so
dearly. Barry Faulkner will be deeply missed—as an artist of international stature, and as a distinguished citizen of this community and
state."
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PART XVII: 1953-1967
Keene marked 200 years under its New Hampshire charter on
June 28-July 5, 1953. Mayor Laurence M. Pickett named City Councilman Don W. Cook as chairman of the proceedings. Special events
included exhibits, a street dance, an historical pageant, an air show,
and a gigantic parade.
Youth Day, June 29, featured a road race around the Five Mile
Drive, various other sports events, and a fireworks display at Alumni
Field. Arts, crafts, and industrial exhibits were arranged in City Hall
auditorium. An outdoor square dance was held on Main Street, with
the assistance of Ralph G. Page of Keene, an authority on American
folk dancing and a widely recognized writer on the subject. A special
Bicentennial March composed by Karl R. Beedle was performed in
honor of the celebration.
An historical pageant, "The Happy Valley," directed by Mrs.
Dorothy C. Drew and narrated by her husband Harold F. Drew, was
staged at Alumni Field on Thursday and Friday, July 2 and 3. Among
its 18 scenes was a reconstruction of the Upper Ashuelot fort, tableaux from Keene's past, highlight events and personalities of local
history, and a guest appearance by Neva Jane Langley, Miss America
in 1953. A number of Keene's historic homes were opened to visitors
for the celebration, a poster contest was held, and the air show at
Dillant-Hopkins Municipal Airport brought Air Force and Navy flying teams to the city for special programs and demonstrations.
The Fourth of July Bicentennial Parade, the largest parade ever
held in the city, featured marching units, elaborate floats, and 28
musical organizations, among which was Barrett's Band, a re-creation
of a well-known local marching band formed near the turn of the
century. Some 100,000 people were on hand for the parade and an
equal number attended the air show on Sunday afternoon.
A copper time capsule, a cylinder 30 inches high and 8 inches in
diameter, containing items of historical significance, was buried in
Central Square Park during the festivities, to be opened in 2053, and
a Bicentennial Tree was planted. Laurence Henry Russell 3rd was the
"Bicentennial Baby," born in Keene at this time and given special
honors.
The Keene Police Department added women officers to its force
beginning in 1953. Mrs. Myrtle Jennison was the first, assigned to
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traffic duty in West Keene at the Symonds School. In 1961 Mrs. Ruth
Petrin became a regular officer in the department. Chief of Police
William T. Bridgham served on a special honor guard at the inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States in
Washington in 1957. Albion E. Metcalf was named the city's first
Deputy Police Chief of the force which numbered 15 in 1965. Following Chief Bridgham's resignation in 1967, Metcalf became head
of the department. The police force was cited in 1963 for its work in
connection with the capture of Boston jail escapee Norman Porter.
Keene District Court, as a part of a state system, went into operation
in July 1964, replacing the former Police Court.
The Keene Business Bureau was revitalized and became the new
Chamber of Commerce in 1953. Among its programs, and in addition
to promotional literature and information about Keene, studies of
parking facilities were made in 1954, a slogan contest was held in
1957, investigations of community needs were made in a survey called
"Operation Discovery," housing code studies were carried out, and a
neighborhood analysis was undertaken.
In 1960, when Keene's population stood at 17,527, a traffic circulation study was submitted by the Keene City Planning Board and
Central Square in the 1960's
211
the New Hampshire State Planning and Development Commission. It
was estimated at that time that the city attracted between 2,800 and
3,200 vehicles a day from surrounding towns and that proposed
Keene bypass routes then under study would not harm local business,
as some feared.
Through state programs of public relations, 6 1/2-year-old William C. Barrett of Keene was named "Chippa Granite," a promotional
figure in 1956. Mrs. Pauline Kendall, a Keene housewife, represented
New Hampshire in the Mrs. America contest held in San Diego, Cal.,
in 1967. In October 1967 Keene was chosen for community achievement honors, with special coverage by Boston's WNAC-TV, the first
New Hampshire community so honored.
The Otter Brook Dam project on Beech Hill was begun on October 17, 1956, with ceremonies led by Keene's Mayor J. Alfred
Dennis. Carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it was
completed in April 1958. The flood control project created a reservoir
with storage capacity of 18,300 acre feet and a dam with a height of
133 feet and length of 1,288 feet. It required relocation of a part of
Route 9 on the Concord Road hill in 1954, a first step in major
highway construction around Keene. The site was promoted as a state
park location and was dedicated in May 1960.
Veterans' memorial swimming pools in honor of Keene servicemen were dedicated at Robin Hood Park and Wheelock Park on July
4, 1964. A gift of land from Edward J. Kingsbury in 1960 started
community activities to preserve the natural beauty of some 46 acres
along the Ashuelot River. With a "parkway" drive, picnic areas, and
other recreational facilities, the planned Ashuelot River Park will
eventually extend from the West Street dam to the Arch Bridge off
upper Court Street. Clearing in the area was undertaken by civic
groups, and this cooperative effort won a Sears Roebuck Improvement
citation for Keene and its new park.
A new water supply for part of West Keene was added in 1953,
and new mains were authorized in 1957. The need for additional
water led to drilling wells and erecting pumping stations in 1962 and
1964. A Beech Hill storage tank was also established in the expanding water service programs of the city. Problems of the lower Main
Street city dump location increased, and a new site on the Summit
Road was opened in 1957. Major Ashuelot River channel improvements were undertaken between Keene and Swanzey in 1954, and
drainage of Ash Swamp was proposed in 1954. This project was completed in 1962, reclaiming 1,580 acres of land.
212
•
In 1953 the new Arch Street junior high school opened with an
enrollment of 700. Total school enrollment in Keene in the fall of
1953 was 3,450 pupils. In 1960 Keene High School was moved to the
West Keene facility, while the junior high school pupils transferred to
the high school's former Washington Street buildings. The old Central
Junior High School building on Winter Street, erected as Keene High
School in 1875, was torn down in 1956. The old Academy House bell
from its tower was given to the Historical Society of Cheshire County.
In April 1959 the New Hampshire State School Science Fair was
held in Keene, with 78 prize-winning displays and demonstrations,
representing all sections of the state. "Dollars for Scholars" to provide
scholarships for area high school students was begun in 1963. In
1965 Keene High School had between 75 and 78 courses, an enrollment of 1,314, and special classes and programs to meet varying educational needs of youth. A number of additions to school facilities
were made with aid from the Academy Fund, including business machines, mechanic arts tools, scientific instruments, reading aids, and a
modern language laboratory named in honor of William H. Watson,
once principal of Keene High School and trustee of the Academy
Fund.
The Keene Adult Education program of evening classes was
launched in 1951, a service offering a number of educational courses,
crafts, and skills to the whole community. Summer classes for high
school students were instituted in 1960 for additional study opportunities. The physical education department of Keene High School
was selected by the New Hampshire Department of Education as a
pilot project to encourage the development of health, physical education, and recreation. Experiments in independent study by high
school pupils were inaugurated in 1967, and Dartmouth College began
a computer program with the high school's mathematics department
the same year. Connection to the computer in Hanover by telephone
and teletype permits the solving of complex problems and experiments in new approaches to technical education. The total school
population in 1965 numbered 3,975, when approval was sought for
another school, the first new elementary school in some years, to he
located on Maple Avenue. Site studies were made in support of new
elementary schools in the east section of the city, and major building
renovations and expansion were considered.
Keene Teachers College postwar growth brought needs for expanded facilities. Authorization for a new men's dormitory on Winchester Street was given in 1953, and the cornerstone of Monadnock
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Hall was laid in 1955. From designs by John R. Holbrook of Keene
the construction included the unusual feature of raising whole floors
in sections from the ground level. A need for more buildings was
further recognized in 1957 as the school curriculum and enrollment
continued to grow. In 1959 the 50th anniversary of Keene Teachers
College was observed with special programs and ceremonies; the enrollment was then 770 students. Art displays at the college became a
new feature during the summer of 1957; one of the first showed works
by Keene's artist Barry Faulkner. In July 1963 the college joined in
a major New Hampshire education reorganization to become Keene
State College, a division of the University of New Hampshire, and
trustees of the University of New Hampshire held their first meeting
on the Keene campus in December 1963. Among new programs of
Keene State College were expanded extension and evening classes,
regular summer sessions, and the development of curriculums in the
liberal arts and sciences, leading to Bachelor of Arts and graduate
degrees. There were some 140 courses offered at the college by 1965.
The new library building, dedicated in June 1965, was named in
honor of a former college president, Wallace E. Mason. Housed in
Mason Library is the Thorne Art Gallery, a gift of Mrs. Beatrix Sagendorph of Dublin, N.H., which has become a focal point of college
and regional displays and programs. George Rickey's kinetic freemoving sculpture was added to the library's facade shortly after completion of the building. In September 1964 the Lloyd P. Young Student Union, named for a former college president, was opened. In
1960 Dr. Young had acted as a consultant in Africa on educational
matters and after his retirement accepted a post in Peru to aid that
country's ministry of education. A new, women's dormitory was dedicated in May 1967, named in honor of the recently retired dean of
women, Mrs. Dorothy A. Randall. The new dining hall, opened in
1966, won special recognition for its architectural design. A new gymnasium, an industrial technology building, and dormitories were
planned as part of a $4.9 million building program. Construction of
the science and art building was launched in 1966 to house the departments of mathematics, science, foreign languages, and social
studies. In 1967 the campus includes 35 acres, 8 academic buildings,
4 dormitories, and 5 auxiliary service buildings.
An endowment association was organized for Keene State College, and in 1967 the school received the gift of a 400-acre tract in
Nelson and Hancock, the Louis Cabot Preserve, for use as a natural
laboratory for educational programs in outdoor recreation and re214
search studies in the natural sciences. The Alumni Association was
founded by Sprague W. Drenan, head of the English department at
the college, in 1950. It now numbers over 5,000. A full-time alumni
secretary was appointed in 1965. Since 1963 the alumni have had
representation on the Board of Trustees of the University of New
Hampshire.
The Southwestern New Hampshire District Mutual Aid System
of fire department protection in the region was organized in 1953 and
inaugurated in 1955. The Keene fire station was enlarged to house
the radio communications center for the system in 1962. Fallout shelters in the city were designated in 1961 with a capacity of 1,023 persons. Civil defense programs were reactivated in Keene in 1950 and
included airplane observation and test alerts in 1954-55. Keene became one of 500 American cities in a national air raid warning system in 1962. Heading the Keene Fire Department as well as a Civil
Defense organization, Chief Walter R. Messer also served in fire and
defense organizations on the state and national level.
The department added several new pieces of modern firefighting
equipment, including a Ward La France pumper with a capacity of
750 gpm, in 1959, another in 1965, and in 1967 added a pumper
with a 1,000 gpm capacity. In 1966 Rev. Gerard J. Vallee, chaplain
of KSC's Newman Center, was appointed chaplain of the Keene Fire
Department.
One of the city's oldest industries, Faulkner & Colony, closed in
1953. Dating back to 1815, it was the second oldest woolen mill in the
nation run by the same family at the same location. In 1954 the
former factory buildings were used by several industries, and the mill
pond was filled in during 1955.
Keene young men participated in the Korean conflict, as they
had in every national call, and are now serving in the Vietnam area;
a number have given their lives in these two conflicts.
The city received nationwide recognition in 1960 when it united
in a program to aid Korean orphans, called "Operation Orphans." Six
tons of food, clothing, and supplies were airlifted to an orphanage in
South Korea in an effort which involved participation of the entire
community.
In 1954 it was necessary to close the auditorium of City Hall and
upper portions of the building. The tower was removed in 1955, and
the cast steel bell installed in 1868 was presented to the Cathedral
of the Pines in Rindge for its memorial bell tower. Public Works
Department buildings at the rear of City Hall were removed in 1954,
215
and new lower Main Street quarters were occupied. Studies of the
need for modern municipal office space resulted in major renovations
to the City Hall structure in 1960. Remodeling, removal of the top
stories, and extensive interior alterations changed the whole aspect of
the building into a modern municipal center with expanded offices,
council chambers, and police department quarters. In 1967 county
officials began studies for improvements to the Cheshire County Court
House, considering renovations, additions to the 109-year-old structure, or an entirely new building.
Another new building project was begun at Elliot Community
Hospital with a 1954 drive for funds. This was aided by the Charles
C. Abbott Trust Fund in 1955. The hospital saw the addition of a
wing, expanded capacity, and an X-ray facility in 1957. With a staff
of some 40 doctors and 175 nurses, the hospital began studies of future expansion, and Edward J. Kingsbury offered his property on
Upper Court Street as a gift to the hospital. A vote to relocate the
facility was passed by the trustees late in 1967.
In 1954 the Keene Evening Sentinel was sold to James D. Ewing
and Walter C. Paine, though the Prentiss family retained ownership
of the commercial printing firm established in 1799 by John Prentiss,
who also founded the newspaper that same year. The weekly edition
of this paper, the New Hampshire Sentinel, ceased publication on
August 28, 1957. The Sentinel won several awards for the typographical excellence of its pages and editorial citations for public
service in the fields of cancer information, safety, and community
improvement. It was commended on the floor of the U.S. House of
Representatives by New Hampshire Congressman James C. Cleveland early in 1967. A new 24-hour news service over Keene cable
television, Channel 12, was inaugurated in February 1967.
The Keene Shopper News, in its 8th year of publication, was
awarded top honors in June 1967 by the National Association of Advertising Publishers as the most improved paper in its field. The Keene
weekly was chosen from among nearly 300 papers submitted to a jury
of distinguished authorities in the field of advertising.
State Civil Air Patrol headquarters were moved from Keene to
Grenier Field, Manchester, in 1954 after being located in Keene for
six years.
Northeast Airlines launched air freight service at Dillant-Hopkins Municipal Airport in 1954, and Mohawk Airlines proposed to
include Keene in its service that same year. Wiggins Airways lost its
battle to stay in business with service to Keene in 1953, yet the city
216
became the first in the state to be served by two airlines in April 1954,
with flights to New York, Boston, Albany, Lebanon, and points north.
Airport runways were extended in 1956, night lighting and other
i mprovements were added in 1958, and further additions were made
in 1962-63. Keene became the third airport in the state in passenger
service and the second in freight service during the latter half of 1958.
Mohawk proposed to replace its DC-3's with Convairs, and a 54passenger Convair 440 was one of the largest airplanes ever to land
in Keene, in May 1961.
In September 1966 Northeast Airlines began turboprop service
to Keene. A Fairchild-Hiller 227 turboprop seating 48 arrived from
the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City in 50 minutes. About
500 persons, including city officials and airport personnel, greeted this
new service. The Federal Aviation Administration early in 1967 recommended airport improvements to cost $1.8 million, including extended runways, better buildings, a control tower, and other facilities
made necessary by greatly increased airport activity, and a capacity of
nearly 24,000 itinerant aircraft operations per year. Both airlines
serving Keene began study of routes west in 1967, with flights to
Chicago seen in the near future.
Keene Public Library inaugurated its audio collection in 1950,
and became one of the first public libraries in the state to circulate
phonograph records. In 1954 it began the circulation of framed pictures, in 1957 started the loan of films, in 1959 added slides to its
audio-visual services, and in 1961 first circulated filmstrips. In 1957
microfilming of the New Hampshire Sentinel and Keene Evening Sentinel files from 1799 to date was completed. The Wright Room, housing a collection of works on the local history of New England and
presented by John P. Wright, was opened in 1958. The Library was
named a service center for the area by the New Hampshire State
Library Commission in 1966. A new workroom addition to the building was completed in 1967.
New and improved roads and highways in and around the city
continued to be major projects from 1954, when the first section of a
proposed bypass was begun, the largest such project in the state up to
that time. Lumen mercury vapor street lamps were installed along
streets in downtown Keene in 1953, and the original number of 79
was increased in 1954 and 1956. In 1957 a Main and Marlboro
Street traffic circle was proposed, but was rejected in favor of preserving the unique character of Keene's Main Street. Winchester, lower
Main, and West Streets were widened in 1957. A house was moved
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View of Main Street-1960's
from the corner of Marlboro Street during the work, and a new office
of the state department of employment security was erected. Major
West Street construction and replacement of the Ashuelot River bridge
were carried out during the summer of 1967. The first overpass in
the city was opened over West Street on Route 12 in 1967, and an
impressive view of Mt. Monadnock became a feature of this new highway through what had been, since colonial days, Tenant Swamp.
Keene voters returned the city manager and council plan of city
government in the 1955 elections. Donald E. Chick was named to the
post and was cited as "Man of the Year" by the Keene Chamber of
Commerce in 1961. After seven years in Keene Chick resigned in
May 1963, and was succeeded by Frank R. Saia, who came in September 1963. Saia resigned in June 1965, and James C. Hobart was
named city manager the following December.
The city saw 114 new homes built in 1955 and 140 in 1956. Development projects played an important part in the rapid growth,
especially at Pako Park on Court Street in 1956, and a new area on
Maple Avenue in 1959. Keene adopted a Housing Code in Septem218
ber 1963 as part of its civic planning and zoning programs.
Keene City Band observed its centennial at a concert in 1955,
directed by veteran Keene musician Karl R. Beedle. In 1966 the
regular summer concerts were transferred from the bandstand at Fuller Park to a newly-built music shell at Robin Hood Park. Because of
its dilapidated condition the Fuller Park bandstand was taken down
and burned under the watchful eye of city employees. The American
Legion Band, formed in 1945, represented New Hampshire at National American Legion conventions and was judged a championship
band at several state conventions. It has won frequent awards.
In September 1955 Better TV, Inc. established the first cable
television service in the city. It grew to become the largest such system in the state, New England Video of Keene, with 4,500 subscribers
in 1967. It is now a subsidiary of American Cablevision Co.
A new telephone building at No. 64 Washington Street was opened
in 1956, as the city changed to dial telephones; Keene's telephone exchange received the code name Elmwood and became 352 under the
later all-number dialing system of the telephone company.
In 1956 the Edgewood Civic Association and Edgewood Club
turned over to the city park system the "common" at Edgewood,
given to them in 1945 by the Keene Forestry Association, and formerly a part of the Keene Driving Park. The Rural Improvement
Association again became active in 1952 and 1956 in matters relating
to civic beautification. Flooding of Beaver Brook each spring prompted
formation of the Beaver Brook Sewerage and Drainage Association
in 1959 to seek improvements in the area of the stream. Studies led
to proposals in 1962 for a dam, and further investigations were carried out by city and army engineers in 1963. Work on the brook in
some measure improved the situation, but a dam project was recommended as a future need.
The Keene Forum was organized by eight citizens in 1956 to
sponsor outstanding lecturers and speakers. The Keene Art Festival
was begun in 1958, and from this came the Keene Art Association,
formed in 1963. A Senior Citizens Center was organized in 1957 and
opened in the former Washington School building. In 1960 activities
were moved to Mechanic Street, and two years later to No. 70 Court
Street in a house first built in 1828 by John Prentiss for Rev. Thomas
R. Sullivan of the Unitarian Church. YMCA supporters began raising
funds in 1957, and purchased the Roxbury Street property formerly
the headquarters of the Odd Fellows fraternity, and in August 1958
broke ground for an addition which would include meeting rooms, a
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swimming pool, and gymnasium. The new headquarters of "Y" work
were dedicated on September 20, 1959. Programs for all age groups
were instituted and included swimming, evening meetings and classes,
and Wakonda, a summer day camp.
The Boston & Maine Railroad began curtailing passenger service
through Keene in 1954 with the removal of several trains of their
Cheshire Division. The end of an era was marked in the late spring
1958, when the last passenger train from Boston arrived in Keene.
With little ceremony, train No. 659 with 2 engines and 11 cars, one a
combination baggage and passenger coach, ended 110 years of service on the railroad line. The arrival of this train in the late evening
with only 23 passengers was a contrast to the celebrations which
greeted the first train on May 16, 1848. The city purchased the railroad station and had it torn down in 1958. Transportation services
now include the Vermont Transit Co. and People's Bus Line, as well
as the local Cheshire Transportation Co., Ideal Taxi Service, Inc., and
Callahan's Taxi Service.
In 1961 New England industrialist F. Nelson Blount began oldtime steam excursions on the railroad between Keene and East Westmoreland, and in 1962 "Steamtown U.S.A.," a steam railroad museum, was proposed in Keene. Although the steam train rides operated for a short time and proved popular, and the museum concept
attracted much attention, the project failed to gain the necessary
state approval and support. Blount moved Steamtown to Bellows Falls
and the former Rutland Railroad line.
A new state armory on Hastings Avenue was dedicated in September 1959, and the former upper Washington Street armory became a recreational center in 1960.
A second Keene radio station was established in 1959. WKBK,
the Monadnock Broadcasting Corp., an independent station with a
power of 10,000 watts at 1220 on the AM dial, went on the air during daylight hours beginning May 30, 1959. The new station pioneered broadcasting of local news twice each hour, a transmitterequipped mobile unit, and a popular music program format.
The other local station, WKNE, moved to new Stanho p e Avenue
studios in 1965. It had begun FM broadcasting late in 1964 with a
power of 18,500 watts, more than three times its AM power, at 103.7
on the FM dial. New studios included facilities for broadcasting during national emergencies. A loc television station, UNF-TV, operating in conjunction with WENH-TV, Channel 11, was projected for
operation in 1968.
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Mayor Richard P. Gilbo was feted by the city in February 1960
with "Gilbo Day." He died in office in May 1960, and Gilbo Avenue,
a new street west from Railroad Square, was named in his honor.
Also paying tribute to the late mayor, the Knights of Columbus established a second group named the Richard P. Gilbo Council in April
1963.
Elections in 1961 were spirited. Robert L. Mallat Jr., who was
elected mayor, also served on the state Executive Council in 1964.
Keene was a successful candidate in 1964 for the All-America
City award of the National Municipal League and Look Magazine
becoming, in 1965, the first New Hampshire city so honored. The
Citizens Committee that prepared the comprehensive presentation for
the All-America City contest were Robert M. Clark Jr., general
chairman; Robert L. Mallat Jr., Keene mayor; Frank R. Saia, city
manager; Kenneth F. Zwicker, assistant publisher, Keene Evening
Sentinel; Richard W. Clarke, Chamber of Commerce president; Ernest L. Bell III, attorney, and William W. McGowan III , Chamber of
Commerce managing director. Some of the achievements which
earned for Keene the title of All-America City included the adoption
of a non-partisan mayor-council-manager form of government, the
formation of the Keene Regional Industrial Foundation which fostered local industrial growth, a revitalized 300-member Chamber of
Commerce which helped bring about the lowest unemployment rate in
New Hampshire, flood control projects in cooperation with federal
authorities, improved automobile parking facilities, modern air service, active civic and community organizations, cultural events of a
high character, and programs of assistance to the needy, aged, and ill.
For years Keene citizens have played hosts to more than 100
New York Fresh Air children each summer. They have also invited
United Nations delegates to their city and their homes and introduced
a citizen exchange program with Bolivia. The Community Chest campaign, established in Keene in 1952, is conducted annually and various social service agencies benefit from this drive.
The Monadnock Area Family Service agency was opened in
1961, established on the work begun by the Cheshire County League
of Women Voters in 1957 and a merger with the Bureau of Public
Service and the Keene Mental Health Association formed in 1957.
Thomas E. Dwane, a professional social worker, became the first
executive director. The Monadnock Children's Special Service Center
opened in 1967 to provide special help for handicapped school children of the region.
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Moves to amend the city charter were considered by a commission appointed in December 1963 under authority granted by the
legislature's act in that year permitting communities to revise their
own charters. In 1965 the city had 11 representatives in the legislature from its five wards. Leading the city government, Mayor Richard
E. Bean was elected to a second two-year term in 1967.
The Court Street Congregational Church voted in 1963 to join
with the First Congregational Church, from which it had been separated almost a century earlier, and the new combination became the
United Church of Christ in a denominational unity movement. The
Lutherans organized a church and erected the Keene Chapel, Lutheran, on Arch Street in 1955. Nearby a second Roman Catholic
Church, St. Margaret Mary, was built in 1956. Unitarians joined
with the combined Unitarian-Universalist denominational reorganization and erected an educational wing to their Washington Street
church.
Ecumenical movements in the city brought together groups of
various denominations in projects sponsored by the Cheshire County
Council of Churches, the Roman Catholic Churches, and the interdenominational University of Life. Richard Cardinal Cushing was one
of the University of Life speakers in February 1966, and others included lay and church leaders discussing a variety of subjects associated with the growing movement of cooperation. The Festival of the
Arts, sponsored by church groups, featured art displays, music, poetry,
and plays beginning in the summer of 1966.
Area churches united in sponsoring a campus ministry for Keene
State College, where Rev. Fay L. Gemmell, formerly pastor of Grace
Methodist Church, was installed in 1963. A new center for the Roman
Catholic Newman Club was opened at the college in 1966 under the
direction of the chaplain Rev. Gerard J. Vallee.
Through cooperation with the Experiment in International Living of Putney, Vt., students from foreign lands are brought to Keene
for extended visits, where they share the home life of local citizens,
and students in the community are sent abroad as "ambassadors" to
foreign countries as part of this program.
The city has played host over the years to a number of national
athletic contests. In 1963 the national finals of the American Legion
Little League World Series were played in Keene before 23,000 spectators, including the baseball great, Ted Williams. In 1965 Keene was
host to the National Horseshoe Tournament, with participants from
all over the nation.
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The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November
22, 1963, shocked Keene as it did the entire world. The Sentinel published an extra before the afternoon was over, and special services
were held in Keene churches of every faith. Keene residents remembered a visit paid to the city by Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, the slain
President's mother, when she spoke at Keene State College during the
1960 primary campaign in support of her son.
The murder of 26-year-old Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a student
at Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Mass., slain in
Hayneville, Ala., while engaged in civil rights work in the summer of
1965, brought international attention to Keene. Born here in 1939,
Jonathan, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Philip Daniels, spent a part of his
childhood in the South, where his father was stationed as a medical
officer during World War II. Undoubtedly some of his early impressions concerning the racial problem surfaced again when he left Keene
to attend the Virginia Military Institute, where he became valedictorian of the class of 1961. Young Daniels was buried at Monadnock
View Cemetery on August 24, 1965, his funeral attended by nearly
1,000 persons with an overflow crowd standing in respectful silence
on the sidewalk outside St. James Church. Many faiths were represented, as were the city and state governments. Messages of sympathy came from the President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, Governor and Mrs. John W. King of New Hampshire, from senators and congressmen and from people in all walks of life throughout
the country. A delegation from Selma, Ala., paid its respects, and
memorial services, Masses, and sermons in churches of many faiths
responded in a truly ecumenical spirit to Jonathan's "ministry of reconciliation" and supreme sacrifice. A fellowship was established in
his name for work in areas of continuing social concern and for the
strengthening of theological education. Statuary was given in his honor
to the Trappist Monastery at Gethsemani, Ky., and to the Episcopal
Theological School in Cambridge, Mass. A building was named in
honor of the martyred civil rights worker by Keene's St. James Episcopal Church. This was dedicated in 1966 by the Rt. Rev. Charles F.
Hall, Bishop of New Hampshire. The City of Keene sent eight tons
of food and clothing to Mississippi Negroes and renewed its support
of civil rights.
The welfare programs of the city won commendation from President Johnson in 1964. A "Neighborhood Analysis," conducted by the
Keene Housing Authority, the Planning Board, and a citizens' advisory committee was authorized in 1964 and completed in May 1966.
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A resolution for 100 units of housing for the elderly was adopted by
the city in November 1966 and for 90 units of low-income housing
in February 1967.
A need for expanded post office facilities and office space led to
consideration in 1966 of a site at the intersection of Main and Marlboro Streets for a new post office and federal building. The plan to
locate the building at some distance from the Square created opposition and reconsideration of the project; however, architectural drawings for a post office on the Marlboro Street site were submitted in
1967.
The Historical Society of Cheshire County observed its 40th
anniversary in 1967, as plans were being formulated for a societysponsored museum, the Wyman Tavern at No. 339 Main Street, a
building of local historical and architectural importance.
Interest in a revised history of the city led to the formation of a
citizens' group in December 1965. Kay Fox, City Library director
since 1952, was named chairman of the Keene History Committee,
and funds for publication of the work were voted by the City Council.
Representing the city on the project were Councilmen Arnold F. Shea,
Don W. Cook, and Thomas P. Wright.
In July 1967 Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey made a brief
stop in Keene as he arrived by air to attend a Vermont concert. Some
200 people were on hand to greet him at Dillant-Hopkins Airport.
One of the city's most persistent problems, Dutch elm disease,
continued to cost the city many trees each year. Some 90 trees were
condemned in 1963 and 88 were felled in 1964. The threat became
so serious that plans for new trees and a landscape design for Central
Square Park were drawn early in 1967, and planting programs were
carried out in the city; 100 trees had been planted in May 1966. All
but two trees in Central Square Common were felled in June 1967,
and were replaced by more disease-resistant varieties. At the same
ti me the tourist information booth, located in the Common for some
years, was moved to the corner of Main and Marlboro Streets.
City observances of Christmas include the annual municipal tree
in Central Square and decorations in the business district. The Chamber of Commerce sponsors a house-decorating contest and programs
for the needy. Harlan Barrett played Santa Claus for more than a generation of children at these affairs. In 1953 a living Christmas tree
was planted in the Common as a symbol of peace. An annual Christmas parade to usher in the holiday season has been revived and features floats, marching units, bands, and, of course, Santa Claus. The
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city also sponsors an annual Halloween party for children, with a
parade and prizes for costumes, and a window-decorating contest.
Two writers of Keene who have had books published in recent
years are Marzieh Gail and Charles H. Hapgood. Marzieh Gail,
Boston-born daughter of Persian-American parents (her father was
Persia's chief diplomatic representative to the United States under
Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson) was the first woman employed on a newspaper staff in Persia. In addition to writing and lecturing, she has translated works from the Persian. Her published
books include Persia and the Victorians, The Sheltering Branch, and
Avignon in Flower: 1309-1403. Hapgood, a professor at Keene State
College, has made history and science lifelong studies. His Earth's
Shifting Crust, a Key to Some Basic Problems of Earth Science was
published in 1958, and Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, Evidences of
Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age in 1966.
A coordinated program to improve the appearance of the business district was launched in 1966, and under it a number of alterations have been made. In 1967 municipal leaders began a determined
evaluation of long-range community goals. Among aspects studied are
technically-oriented manufacturing plants, now dominant on the industrial scene, and the future of the city as a shopping, banking,
medical, educational, and transportation center.
"This is Keene, New Hampshire. Keene, a community of people
working for people. . . ."
"widest paved main street in the world"
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