Boscawen is a town in
Merrimack County,
New Hampshire,
United States. The population was 3,672 at the 2000 census.
History
Street view c. 1905
The native
Pennacook tribe called the area
Contoocook, meaning "place of the river near pines." On
June 6,
1733, Governor
Jonathan Belcher granted it to John Coffin and 90 others, most from
Newbury,
Massachusetts. Settled in 1734, it soon had a
meetinghouse,
sawmill,
gristmill and
ferry across the
Merrimack River. A
garrison offered protection, but
guerrilla attacks during the
French and Indian Wars left some dead or carried into captivity.
On
April 22,
1760, Contoocook Plantation was incorporated as a town by Governor
Benning Wentworth, who named it for Lord
Edward Boscawen, the
British admiral who distinguished himself at the 1758
Siege of Louisbourg. With a generally level surface, the town provided good
farmland, and became noted for its
apple,
pear and
cherry orchards. Bounded by the Merrimack River and
Contoocook River, it also had abundant sources of
water power for
mills. Industries included one
cotton mill, one
woolen factory, nine sawmills, a gristmill, a
saw manufacturer and
machine shop, and a
chair and
match factory. A
mill town village developed at Fisherville (now
Penacook), which straddled the river border with
Concord. In 1846, the
Northern Railroad was built through Boscawen, opening the following winter.
Sometime around 1846, the town's postmaster became one of about a dozen in the country to issue provisional
postage stamps before the official issue came out in 1847. The stamps were an adaptation of a
postmark, simply reading
PAID / 5 / CENTS, typeset in blue on a yellowish paper. These are extremely rare; in 2003, the estimated price at auction was US$225,000.
The 1915 Boscawen Public Library was designed by noted
Boston architect
Guy Lowell.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water, comprising 2.68% of the town. The highest point in Boscawen is an unnamed summit near the town's northern border, where the elevation reaches approximately above
sea level. Boscawen lies fully within the
Merrimack River watershed.
It is drained by the Merrimack River and
Contoocook River.
The town is crossed by
U.S. Route 3 and
U.S. Route 4.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 3,672 people, 1,260 households, and 913 families residing in the town. The
population density was 148.5 people per square mile (57.3/km²). There were 1,295 housing units at an average density of 52.4/sq mi (20.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 97.74%
White, 0.57%
African American, 0.30%
Native American, 0.46%
Asian, 0.16% from
other races, and 0.76% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.
There were 1,260 households out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.0% were
married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the town the population was spread out with 22.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 29.2% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $42,524, and the median income for a family was $45,850. Males had a median income of $31,350 versus $23,375 for females. The
per capita income for the town was $18,732. About 5.4% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 9.8% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or over.
Site of interest
Notable inhabitants
