Alstead

Alstead
	Alstead
	Alstead
Basic data
Foundation :	August 6, 1763
State :	United States
State :	New Hampshire
County :	Cheshire County
Coordinates :	43 ° 6 ′ N , 72 ° 19 ′ W Coordinates: 43 ° 6 ′ N , 72 ° 19 ′ W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	1,937 (as of 2010)
Population density :	19.3 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	101.9 km 2 (approx. 39 mi 2 ) of; which 100.4 km 2 (approx. 39 mi 2 ) are land
Height :	454 m
Postal code :	03602
Area code :	+1 835
FIPS :	33-00820
GNIS ID :	00873529
Website :	www.AlsteadNH.org
	; The Shedd-Porter Memorial Library , listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Alstead is a parish in Cheshire County , New Hampshire , United States with 1,937 residents (2010 census).

geography

Geographical location

Alstead lies in the Connecticut River valley between the foothills of the White Mountains to the east and the Green Mountains to the west. It is heavily forested and uneven, but has no mountains; A multitude of small watercourses traverses the area west to the Connecticut River, the most important of which is the Cold River . In the area of the town there are, in addition to isolated homesteads, two settlement cores : Alstead Village in the extreme southwest of the area, and the smaller East Alstead , which is northeast of the largest lake in the town, Lake Warren .

Neighboring communities

All distances are given as straight lines between the official coordinates of the places from the 2010 census.

North: Acworth , 3 miles
East: Marlow , 7.1 miles
South-east: Gilsum , 5.6 km
South: Surry , 2.7 mi
West: Walpole , 6.4 miles
Northwest: Langdon , 4.8 mi

climate

The mean mean temperature in Alstead is between -7.2 ° C (19 ° Fahrenheit ) in January and 20.6 ° C (69 ° Fahrenheit) in July. This means that compared to the long-term mean of New Hampshire, the place is about 1 degree above the summer mean, but on average the winter. The snowfall between October and May is up to two meters, about twice as high as the average snow depth in the USA, the daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the range in the USA.

history

The history of Alstead, documented in writing, began in 1735 when the governor of Massachusetts, Jonathan Belcher , had a fort built here, which was one of a series of nine defenses against the native Indians. A piece of land around the fort was declared for settlement, which also happened on a small scale. Massachusetts was responsible for the settlement because at that time it had taken over the administrative tasks for the still dependent colony of New Hampshire. At the time, the area was unexplored wilderness inhabited by several tribes of the western Abenaki .

After New Hampshire became an independent colony in 1749, the colony was again released for settlement in 1752 under the name Newton by the new governor, Benning Wentworth , but was not sold to a group of 70 interested parties until August 6, 1763. Systematic settlement of the area began around 1764 but was slow to get going. For 1771, 24 families and 10 single men are documented as permanent residents of the area, nine other people were only resident here in the summer months to cultivate fields, but wintered in their home villages.

In April 1781, Alstead placed himself under the administration of the young Vermont Republic , which at the time was not part of the United States , which was founded in 1776 , but returned to the administration of the state of New Hampshire at the beginning of the following year after George Washington objected.

Alstead is criss-crossed by a multitude of small watercourses, which were suitable for the construction of all kinds of small mills, sawmills and water-powered workshops. In 1793, New Hampshire's first paper mill was built here, which lasted until 1880, but then burned down. They made Alstead widely known as the Paper Mill Village, which never became an official name. Agriculture remained by far the most important branch of income; maize production in particular was widespread.

With the construction of the Cheshire Turnpike Road from 1804, the area was connected to the emerging New Hampshire road network. The road connected Alstead to Keene and the neighboring parishes . Parts of the trail still exist today as part of New Hampshire Route 123 .

Two rubella epidemics in 1812 and 1814 in the vast area, particularly the settlements in the Connecticut River valley, claimed many victims. Both years show around 90 deaths; the annual average of the other years of this epoch is around 20 deaths.

In 1820 the establishment of an academy promoted the training of administrative specialists.

In 1909 and 1910 the Shedd-Porter Memorial Library was built and given to the village as a foundation. The founder, John G. Shedd, a son of the city, was the owner of the Marhall Field's Department store in Chicago. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2011 .

On October 8th and 9th, 2005, after heavy rains, the Cold River, which ran through the main town, overflowed its banks. The flooding destroyed homes and streets and washed cars off the country road that ran through the valley. There were four deaths.

Religions

Just a few years after the first permanent settlement, permanent religious communities formed in the town. In 1777 the First Congregational was founded, which still exists today, and from 1782 it was looked after by a permanent pastor. On November 20, 1788, the East Alstead Second Congregational was founded, which also still exists today. The Baptist congregation , who met in December 1790, and the universalists who started a congregation in May 1820, are no longer to be found in Alstead. Instead, there is a third congregational community, the Alstead Village Third Congregational.

Population development

Census Results - Town of Alstead, New Hampshire
year					1767	1773	1775	1783	1786	1790
Residents					130	233	317	---	943	1111
year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	1606	1694	1611	1559	1454	1425	1318	1213	1037	870
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	799	711	672	616	683	851	843	1185	1461	1721
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	1944	1937

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

There are no highways through Alstead; only two highways, the New Hampshire Route 12 and the New Hampshire Route 123 with its junction, the New Hampshire Route 123 A , connect the two main settlements to the road system. The nearest Amtrak passenger train station is in Bellows Falls , Vermont, about 15 km away . A public airport, Dillant-Hopkins Airport , is located at Keene .

Public facilities

With the exception of the library and the schools listed below, there are no other public institutions in the area. The nearest hospital is Cedarcrest in Keene, and the nearest emergency center is the Cheshire Medial Center .

education

The community has three public schools that offer all grades between kindergarten and 12th grade. The closest college is in Keene. There is also a private preschool in the community.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Titus Brown (1786–1849), politician and New Hampshire representative in the US House of Representatives
Salma Hale (1787–1866), politician and New Hampshire representative in the US House of Representatives
Allen Wardner (1786–1877), politician and Vermont State Treasurer

Personalities who have worked on site

Samuel Hunt (1765–1807), politician and New Hampshire representative in the US House of Representatives. Practiced here as a lawyer
John Curtis Chamberlain (1772–1834), politician and New Hampshire representative in the US House of Representatives. Practiced here as a lawyer

literature

John Farmer & Jacob B. Moore: A Gazetteer of the state of New-Hampshire . Concord 1823, p. 67 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Edwin A. Charlton: New Hampshire as it is . Tracy and Sandford, Claremont, NH 1855, p. 92 ( limited preview in Google Book search).