Keene was home to a railroad shop complex and two railroad yards. By the early 1900s all had been absorbed by the Boston & Maine Railroad. The Cheshire Railroad, Manchester & Keene Railroad, and the Ashuelot Railroad all met here. Keene's manufacturing success was brought on in part by its importance as a railroad city. An example is the Keene Public Library, which occupies a Second Empire mansion built about 1869 by manufacturer Henry Colony. The city retains a considerable inventory of fine Victorian architecture from its mill town era. Keene is today a center for insurance, education, and tourism. New England manufacturing declined in the 20th century, however, particularly during the Great Depression. In the early 1900s, the Newburyport Silver Company moved to Keene to take advantage of its skilled workers and location. Keene was incorporated as a city in 1874, and by 1880 had a population of 6,784. Keene became a manufacturing center for wooden-ware, pails, chairs, sashes, shutters, doors, pottery, glass, soap, woolen textiles, shoes, saddles, mowing machines, carriages and sleighs. After the railroad was constructed to the town in 1848, numerous other industries were established. The Ashuelot River was later used to provide water power for sawmills, gristmills and tanneries. Timothy Dwight, the Yale president who chronicled his travels, described the town as ".one of the prettiest in New England." Situated on an ancient lake bed surrounded by hills, the valley with fertile meadows was excellent for farming. Land was set off for the towns of Sullivan and Roxbury, although Keene would annex 154 acres (0.62 km 2) from Swanzey (formerly Lower Ashuelot).īoston and Maine railroad yard in Keene, c. Located at the center of Cheshire County, Keene was designated as the county seat in 1769. : 96 It was regranted to its inhabitants in 1753 by Governor Benning Wentworth, who renamed it "Keene" after Sir Benjamin Keene, English minister to Spain and a West Indies trader. : 79 Colonists fled to safety, but would return to rebuild in 1749. In 1747, during King George's War, the village was attacked and burned by Natives. When the boundary between the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire colonies was fixed in 1741, Upper Ashuelot became part of New Hampshire, although Massachusetts continued supporting the area for its own protection. : 21–22 Settled after 1736 on Equivalent Lands, it was intended to be a fort town protecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay from the French and their Native allies during the French and Indian Wars, the North American front of the Seven Years' War. In 1735, colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher granted lots in the township of "Upper Ashuelot" to 63 settlers who paid £5 each. The grocery wholesaler C&S Wholesale Grocers is based in Keene. It hosted the state's annual pumpkin festival from 1991 to 2014, several times setting a world record for most jack-o'-lanterns on display. Keene is home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England. The population was 23,047 at the 2020 census, down from 23,409 at the 2010 census. Keene is the only city in and the seat of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States.
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