Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
1854 - Manchester / Piscataquog / Amoskeag

Manchester, a city and one of the shire towns of Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, is situated on the left bank of the Merrimack river, at the junction of the Manchester and Lawrence, the Concord, and the Vermont Central railroads, 18 miles S. S. E. from Concord, and 69 miles N. W. from Boston. This town, like a number of others in New England, through the development of the manufacturing enterprise, has suddenly grown from a small farming community into a wealthy and populous city. Its site is on an elevated plain, 90 feet above the surface of the river. It is regularly planned ; the principal street, 100 feet broad, extends up wards of a mile from N. to S., with others of less breadth parallel to it, and to the river. These are intersected by others, running from E. to W. There have been laid out in different sections four public squares, some of which are handsomely ornamented. The eastern portion of the city is built almost exclusively of brick, while the western abounds in structures of wood, many of which are tasteful and elegant residences. The mills and boarding-houses occupy the slope between the western verge of the plain and the river. The principal public buildings are the new town house, erected in the place of the one destroyed by fire in 1842, and the churches, of which there are 12, of the various denominations. An Athenaeum was established in 1844, having a reading room and a library, which at present numbers about 3500 volumes. The system of public instruction comprises a high-school, 2 grammar schools, an intermediate, 6 middle, and 12 primary schools, be sides others not classed. Manchester contains 9 or 10 newspaper offices, 6 insurance agencies, and 3 banks, with an aggregate capital of $600,000. A gas company, for lighting the city, was incorporated in 1851, with a capital of $75,000.

The present prosperity of Manchester commenced about the year 1839, at which date the locality now occupied by the city contained no more than 50 inhabitants. The Merrimack here has a descent of 54 feet in the distance of a mile, called the Amoskeag falls, which are the most extensive through out its entire course. By the erection of a dam across the river, at the head of the falls, and the construction of canals, the stream has been made to furnish an hydraulic power sufficient to run several hundred thousand spindles. With these advantages for manufacturing, the place has increased rapidly in population and importance. Among the most extensive corporations in Manchester, may be mentioned the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, who have 4 mills, containing 62,846 spindles and 1665 looms. These are operated by 2100 females and 400 males, who daily manufacture 66,000 yards (37 miles) of tickings, denims, pantaloon stuffs, drillings, and sheetings. The machine shops connected with the above employ 500 hands, who annually turn out 60 locomotives, besides a vast amount of machinery of every description. The Sark Mills (3 in number) employ 1000 females and 200 males. These daily produce 17,000 yards of drilling, and 30,000 of sheeting, equal to 27 miles of cloth, besides more than 5000 seamless bags. One loom yields 40 substantial fancy striped bags daily, woven from top to bottom without a seam. The Manchester Print Works, burnt down in September, 1853, are now being rebuilt, and will be ready for operation by March, 1854. In these works 12,000,000 yards of delaines were annually printed. The cloth is manufactured by the Merrimack mills, at the rate of 38,000 yards (22 miles) daily. Besides the above, numerous other establishments in Manchester annually turn out a vast amount of various kinds of work. Several new companies have been incorporated the present year, (1853.) Among these may be named the Bloodgett Paper Company, (capital, $200,000,) intended to make 8000 rolls of paper hangings daily; the New Paper Mill, for the manufacture of all kinds of paper, at the rate of 8 tons a day ; the New Machine Shop, capital $1 00,000, and the New Brass, Copper, and Iron Foundry. Buildings for the above are now in course of erection, and will be ready for operation about the 1st of January, 1864. A new foundry has just been completed, with which is connected the building of freight cars, intended to employ 200 machinists. The Amoskeag Company are also laying the foundation of another mill, to be completed next year, in which 1500 operatives will be employed. Manchester received a city charter in 1846. By a late act the corporate limits have been extended, including the villages of Piscataquog and Amoskeag, (commonly called "Squog" and "Skeag.") Population in 1850, 13,032; in 1853, 20,000.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

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