Towns in our Neighborhood
Amherst
FOUNDED: 1760
CURRENT POPULATION: 11614
POPULATION AT FOUNDING: 2,369 residents in 1790
TOWN ZIP CODES: 03031
DESCRIPTION: Amherst is primarily a bedroom community located in Hillsborough County, about 10 miles west of downtown Nashua. Most of its commercial and retail businesses are located on Route 101A. The town has a population of approximately 11,500 citizens, which continues to grow each year, as people are attracted to its well-regarded school system. Souhegan High School is a unique and different place that has been working since 1992 to provide the best possible education for the students of Amherst and Mont Vernon.
The town prides itself on preserving its colonial flair, the centerpiece of which is the village green in the center of town. This village green is the most notable landmark in town. The area is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and also is protected by a local historic district. The town center is filled with colonial homes.
HISTORY: This town was first chartered in 1728 as Narragansett No. 3, later called Souhegan No. 3. In January 1760 it was chartered as Amherst, named for General Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. The town boundaries were much larger then. Amherst provided a strip of land in 1750 to form Merrimack. Half of the now-defunct town of Monson was added to Amherst in 1770. In 1794, Amherstâs Southwest Parish became Milford. In 1803, its North Parish became the town of Mont Vernon. Always an independence-minded place, about 80 Amherst men fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and 27 died during the Civil War.
Amherst was the first seat of Hillsborough County, so named when the counties were formed in 1769. The central village contained the courthouse, complete with jail, pillory and whipping post. All aspects of county government had moved to either Manchester or Nashua by 1879 and the courthouse became the Town Hall.
Horace âGo west, young manâ Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune and Republican candidate for president in 1872, was born in Amherst in 1811. His house on a back road still stands. It is indicated by a state historic marker.
Daniel Webster also gave his first speech as a trial lawyer in the town of Amherst. The Farmerâs Cabinet, predecessor of the weekly Milford Cabinet, was founded in 1802, one of several newspapers that once circulated in town, including the âUnitarian Controversy.â Without a major source of waterpower or a railroad in the main part of town, Amherst remained an agricultural area as towns closer to the Merrimack, Nashua and Souhegan rivers grew up around it.
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