10 Historical Facts That Shaped Peterborough, New Hampshire

Nestled along the Contoocook River in Hillsborough County, Peterborough, New Hampshire, is recognized as a premier cultural capital of New England. It was first chartered as a frontier settlement, then grew into a prosperous 19th-century textile mill town, and ultimately transformed into an epicenter for the American arts. Famously serving as the real-world inspiration for Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town, Peterborough has long balanced rural tranquility with immense creative energy.

Old photo of a character in the Peterborough NH pageant, circa 1910

• The Original 1737 Land Grant: The territory was first granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1737 to a group of prominent businessmen. Permanent settlement was delayed by frontier conflicts, but by 1749, permanent homesteaders—mostly Scotch-Irish Presbyterian immigrants—successfully established roots. The town officially incorporated as Peterborough on January 17, 1760, named in honor of British Lieutenant General Charles Mordaunt, the 3rd Earl of Peterborough.

• The Baseline 1790 Census: After expanding its agricultural clearings and constructing its first central meeting houses, Peterborough stood as a thriving pioneer hub. In the nation's inaugural 1790 United States Federal Census, the town recorded a starting baseline population of exactly 1,348 permanent residents.

• The Cradle of the World's First Tax-Supported Library: Peterborough secured a historic place in global civic history on April 9, 1833. Driven by the progressive vision of Reverend Abiel Abbot, citizens voted at a legal town meeting to allocate a portion of the state's literary fund to establish the Peterborough Town Library. This landmark decision created the very first library in the world that was entirely free, supported by public taxation, and owned by a municipality from its inception.

• The Industrial Power of the Phoenix Mill: The rapid drop of the Contoocook and Nubanusit rivers provided immense water power, driving Peterborough into the Industrial Revolution. By the early 19th century, investors erected sprawling brick textile mills. The most prominent, the Phoenix Cotton Manufactory (built in 1820 and rebuilt after a fire in 1828), produced millions of yards of cotton cloth, anchoring the town’s economy for generations.

• The Founding of the MacDowell Colony: In 1907, Marian MacDowell established the MacDowell Colony (now simply known as MacDowell) to fulfill the dying wish of her husband, Edward MacDowell, America's first internationally acclaimed classical composer. This visionary artist residency provided secluded studios in the Peterborough woods where creative minds could work without interruption. It became a legendary incubator for American masterpiece art, hosting icons like Willa Cather, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Thornton Wilder.

Old photo of a participant in the Peterborough NH pageant, circa 1910

• The Spectacular 1910 Peterborough Memorial Pageant: Staged on August 16, 18, and 20, 1910, the Peterborough Memorial Pageant (subtitled "The House of Dreams") was an elaborate, open-air theatrical masterpiece staged in the pine woods on the grounds of the MacDowell Colony. Directed by legendary Harvard professor George P. Baker with lyrics by Hermann Hagedorn, the production featured hundreds of local townspeople acting out local history.

• The Pageant's Multi-Layered Visual Magic: The 1910 pageant explicitly dramatized the history of Peterborough—ranging from the early native tribes and the hardships of the Scotch-Irish pioneers to local soldiers marching off to the Civil War. The performance was precisely choreographed to the classical arrangements of Edward MacDowell, orchestrated by Chalmers Clifton. The striking visual imagery featured actors dressed as forest spirits, pioneers, and symbolic muses representing Tragedy, Comedy, and Dance navigating the natural forest backdrop.

• The Cultural Legacy of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town: The unique cultural charm of Peterborough directly shaped American literature. While working from his creative cabin at the MacDowell Colony in the 1930s, playwright Thornton Wilder used the daily rhythms, local characters, and historic architecture of Peterborough as his primary real-world inspiration to pen "Our Town." The fictional "Grover's Corners" directly mirrors Peterborough's layout.

• The 1938 Great New England Hurricane Disaster: On September 21, 1938, the town faced its most severe natural disaster. The historic Great New England Hurricane tore through the valley. It dropped torrential rains that caused the Contoocook River to breach its banks, washing away bridges and completely flooding downtown Main Street, while high winds leveled vast swaths of the town’s historic pine forests.

The Modern Cultural Preservation Pivot: As the textile mills shut down in the mid-20th century, Peterborough avoided economic stagnation by leaning into its artistic identity. Today, it stands as a vibrant, historic destination, carefully preserving its brick mill yard architecture, maintaining the oldest continuous summer stock theater in the state (The Peterborough Players, established in 1933), and strictly guarding its classic New England village charm.