Keene, New Hampshire
| Keene, New Hampshire | ||
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| City | ||
Central Square in downtown Keene
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| Nickname(s): Elm City | ||
 Location in Cheshire County, New Hampshire |
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| Coordinates: 42°56′01″N 72°16′41″W / 42.93361°N 72.27806°WCoordinates: 42°56′01″N 72°16′41″W / 42.93361°N 72.27806°W | ||
| Country | United States | |
| State | New Hampshire | |
| County | Cheshire | |
| Settled | 1736 | |
| Incorporated | 1753 (town) | |
| Incorporated | 1874 (city) | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Kendall W. Lane (R) | |
| • City Council | Janis O. Manwaring Stephen L. Hooper Mitchell H. Greenwald Carl B. Jacobs David C. Richards Terry M. Clark Robert J. O'Connor Robert B. Sutherland Philip M. Jones Thomas F. Powers Randy L. Filiault Bettina A. Chadbourne Jay V. Kahn George S. Hansel Gary P. Lamoureux |
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| • City Manager | Medard Kopczynski | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 37.5 sq mi (97.1 km2) | |
| • Land | 37.3 sq mi (96.5 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.7 km2) 0.67% | |
| Elevation | 486 ft (148 m) | |
| Population (2010) | ||
| • Total | 23,409 | |
| • Density | 628/sq mi (242.6/km2) | |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | |
| ZIP codes | 03431, 03435 | |
| Area code(s) | 603 | |
| FIPS code | 33-39300 | |
| GNIS feature ID | 0867823 | |
| Website | www |
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Keene is a city in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,409 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cheshire County.
Keene is home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England, and formerly hosted the state's annual Pumpkin Festival.
The community was granted as "Upper Ashuelot" in 1735 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher to 63 settlers who paid five pounds each and whose properties were assigned by lot. Settled after 1736, it was intended to be a fort town protecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay during the French and Indian Wars. When the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was fixed in 1741, Upper Ashuelot became part of New Hampshire.
In 1747, during King George's War, the village was attacked and burned by Natives. Colonists fled to safety, but would return to rebuild in 1749. 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. Located at the center of Cheshire County, it became county seat in 1769. Land was set off for the towns of Sullivan and Roxbury, although Keene would annex 154 acres (0.62 km2) from Swanzey (formerly Lower Ashuelot).
Timothy Dwight, the Yale president who chronicled his travels, called the town "...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. The Ashuelot River provided water power for sawmills, gristmills and tanneries. After the railroad arrived in 1848, numerous other industries were established. 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. It also had a brickyard and foundry. Keene was incorporated as a city in 1874, and by 1880 had a population of 6,784.
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Wikipedia