Information for this page was obtained from "Concord on Foot: A Walking Tour
of Downtown," a publication of the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce. Text
researched and written by Elizabeth Durfee Hengen and R. Stuart Wallace. All
photographs courtesy of the Concord Public Library or the New Hampshire Historical
Society.
 Historical Landmarks dotted along the Main Street area remind
travelers of past times.
The buildings and streets of downtown Concord reflect a community steeped in
tradition, yet well-adapted to change. In 1803 the First New Hampshire Turnpike
opened, linking Concord with Portsmouth and thereby assuring the town's position
as an important trading and transportation center. Concord's central location
within the state led to its designation as state capital in 1808 and secured
the community's role as the heart of political and social life in New Hampshire.
In 1842 the railroad arrived in Concord, and the city entered an era of major
growth and prosperity, as Concord became the gateway to northern New England.
New Hampshire State House
North Main Street
The New Hampshire State House, with its guilded dome, is the focal point of
downtown Concord. The State House was ready for occupancy in 1819, eleven years after
Concord had been officially designated the state capital. The State House acted as a
magnet, drawing businesses and residences to Main Street, thus creating the beginning
of a true downtown area. Designed by architect Stuart Park, after whom Park Street is
named, the building was initially only two stories high. It was built of local granite,
quarried by prisoners housed at the nearby
New Hampshire State Prison.
In 1866 the State House was remodeled with a mansard roof, enlarged dome, and
granite portico, all financed by the City of Concord. In 1910 the third story
and west wing were added. The present New Hampshire State House is the only
state capitol whose legislature still sits in its original chambers--no small
feat, since the 424-member New Hampshire General Court is the largest state
legislative body, and the third largest legislature among English-speaking peoples.
Open to the public.
118-158 North Main Street
This group of four brick buildings at the north end of the business district
was built in the mid-to-late 19th century. Note the ornamental brickwork and
the great variety of window sash, particularly at 136 North Main Street. The
southernmost building, the Sheraton Building (118 North Main Street),
is the former New Hampshire Savings Bank. It was built in 1885-86 and is the
first of three buildings on this tour erected by that bank. The bank was established
in 1830 as the fourth savings bank in the state. When it moved into this building,
the bank occupied the first floor, and the upper floors were divided into elegant
apartment units, said to rival any in Boston. The four-story building is faced
with pressed brick and trimmed with sandstone, giving a rich texture to its
walls. In 1927 the bank vacated this building for a new granite building across
the street.
Eagle Hotel
110 North Main Street
A downtown landmark for nearly 150 years, the Eagle Hotel hosted important
local gatherings and guests from all parts of the country until it closed its
doors in 1961. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison
all dined here, and New Hampshire's only president, Franklin Pierce, spent the
night here before departing for his inauguration. Other well-known guests included
Jefferson Davis, Charles Lindbergh, Eleanor Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Thomas
Dewey. Strategically located directly across from the State House (its name
purportedly was derived from the eagle atop the State House dome), the hotel
was a vital center of political activity, as legislators, lobbyists, and dignitaries
discussed their business here. The original pitched roof was removed in 1890
and replaced with the fifth story seen today.
School to Warren Street Block
At one time nearly all the buildings contained on this block were associated with the
Hill family. James R. Hill had a flourishing harness-making business, among the more
significant of the many local industries that spun off from the Abbot-Downing Concord
coach manufacturing enterprise. Both the Gold Rush and the Civil War created a huge
demand for harness equipment, and Hill was among the first to take advantage of these
and overseas markets. Among the better known of his customers was Barnum & Bailey's
Circus. At the time of his death in 1884, Hill was the largest landowner in Concord,
and many of downtown Concord's commercial blocks had been erected by him.
He built the State Block on the corner of North Main and School Streets in
1862 on the site of his family residence and leather shop. The mansard roof was then the
latest fashion. Many of the cast iron storefronts on the ground floor are original;
others were replicated in a major restoration completed in the mid-1980s.
The adjacent James R. Hill Building (now part of Capital Plaza) was built by
Hill's children in 1902. It stands on the site of Hill's manufacturing and retail shop.
For over 80 years, this building, with its colorful, fanciful facade, housed F.W.
Woolworth's on the ground floor. (The ground floor is now an open arcade.) Hill also
built the Centennial Block, which stood immediately to the south, until it was
replaced in 1984-85 with a well-designed infill building (69 North Main Street) that
uses traditional materials and maintains the proportions and setback of the street scape.
The next building south is the Morrill Brothers Building (55 North Main Street),
completed in 1876 and whose parapet proclaims the goods once sold within: watches, clocks,
jewelry, and solid silverware. The three-dimensionality of the facade, with its
incised leaf-like carving on the window caps and sculptural brackets at the eaves,
adds interest to the street.
The last older building in this group is the former Concord National Bank
Building (47 North Main Street). It is also the city's oldest and first two-story
brick commercial building. From the time it was built in 1808 until 1958, a bank
occupied this building. The Italianate window caps and the third story were added in
1869, and the storefront has undergone at least four major renovations.
Warren to Pleasant Street Block
Anchoring the corner of Warren and North Main Street is the Central Block
(23-35 North Main Street). Like many of Concord's 19th-century commercial buildings, it
had a meeting hall (in this case two) on the top floor, generally used by a local
fraternal organization. The arcaded cornice, flat-arched third-floor windows, and
arcaded storefronts are original features of this 1860 building. The south end was
altered in the mid-20th century.
The Howard street clock was placed here ca. 1890 by N.C. Nelson & Co. for
advertising purposes. A clock in front of a jewelry store not only allowed a passerby
to check the accuracy of a watch, but often brought him inside for an adjustment.
Farther south is the Chase Block (13-19 North Main), built in 1887. Its
two-story, centrally-positioned arches contain unusual circular and curved infill, and
the rusticated brownstone adds contrasting texture to the walls. A contemporary
addition at the south blends well with the original building.
Statesman Building
18 North Main Street
The Statesman Building was erected to house the Statesman, one of
Concord's three important newspapers of the period. Within a few years that
paper combined forces with the Monitor, a Republican paper and Concord's first daily
(introduced in 1864). Under the auspices of the Republican
Press Association both emanated from this spot for over 25 years. (The Democratic
Press Company published its own newspaper, the Patriot, eventually
absorbed by the Monitor.)
Arched windows, a truncated corner and a bracketed cornice lend interest to this
distinguished building. When first built, it had balconies at the corner windows and
a cast-iron arcaded storefront. The Statesman Building was the first in Concord to be
lit with electricity, in 1886.
Railroad Square
 Until
1960 the view down Pleasant Street Extension would have been of Concord's
handsome railroad station. In fact, this widened segment of Pleasant Street
was designed as the chief approach to the station. After the railroad arrived
in Concord in 1842, the city's population nearly doubled within a decade.
In the late 19th century, Concord became the largest and most important rail
center north of Boston, with a large machine shop, extensive repair yards,
and no fewer than three separate lines that branched out to the north. By
the turn of the century, there were 25 passenger trains departing Concord
daily, and the Boston & Maine Railroad was the largest employer in the city,
with 1,300 people on the payroll.
Four railroad stations graced Railroad Square over time. The final and very grand
station was built in 1885 at the then-impressive cost of $250,000; its architect was
nationally known Bradford Gilbert. Train service began to decline during the 1920s and,
in 1960, the Concord station was demolished and replaced by a shopping center. Only the
names of Depot and Freight Streets, which led to Railroad Square, and the various
warehouses behind Main Street buildings, remind us that this was once a hub of railroad
activity.
Endicott Hotel
1 South Main Street
The turreted corner of the Endicott Hotel has been a Main Street landmark
since 1894. (Corner towers were a popular means of accentuating a prized
corner site, yet this is the only one in Concord to survive.) Within easy
walking distance of Railroad Square, the hotel catered to the many people
coming to Concord on business. The building was the first large commercial
structure erected on Main Street south of Pleasant Street, effectively
stretching the downtown core southward and transforming Pleasant Street into
a major commercial cross-axis. It was also the first downtown structure to
be wholly devoted to business use, rather than incorporating private
apartments or a meeting hall on its upper floor
Norris Bakery/Concord Theater
16-18 South Main Street
James S. Norris operated one of the largest bakeries in the state. In this building
he made bread, crackers, and confectioneries from 1860 until the late 1920s. During
the Civil War, his business supplied two tons of bread each day to local military
camps. The mansard-roof house directly south of the bakery, also built in 1860, was
Norris' residence. From 1934 until 1994 the Concord Theater showed motion pictures
here. Its unused auditorium is now one of only two surviving downtown theaters.
South Main Street was once lined with elegant mid-19th-century residences. Between
1920 and 1950 many were razed and replaced with commercial buildings, as Concord's
business district extended southward.
Benjamin Kimball House & Capitol Theater
44 South Main Street
Benjamin Kimball was a major force in the development of New Hampshire railroads
and, indirectly, the development of the state. One of Concord's wealthiest citizens, Kimball
was a founder or director in a number of key local businesses, including a foundry
across the street which made castings and wheels for railroad cars.
Among his more significant achievements was masterminding the construction of several
important institutional buildings, including the New Hampshire Historical Society and
the State Library.
His house, located only a few blocks from the site of Concord's station and designed
by the same architect, Bradford Gilbert, incorporates many of the features of the
Romanesque Revival style: horizontal massing, round-headed arches, towers, corbeled
cornice, and varied masonry textures and colors. (The house is actually an enlargement
and remodeling of an earlier house built in 1825.) Kimball's carriage house still
stands in the rear at 41 South State Street.
Kimball willed his house to the state for use as a governor's mansion, but the state
declined the gift, citing the expense of upkeep. Instead, the property was purchased
by the Masonic Order, which used the house for the state headquarters of the Grand
Lodge and added the adjacent Capitol Theater and Masonic Building in 1925-27.
The Capitol, completed during the boom period of theater construction, remains one of
the largest theaters north of Boston. Its interior featured the most technologically
advanced systems and equipment for its time. Walls and ceiling were exotically
decorated with Egyptian motifs, widely popular in the 1920s. Two shows a night,
accompanied by up to ten musicians and splendid Wurlitzer organ, offered vaudeville,
comedy and animal acts, a newsreel and a feature film.
The theater and house today form the core of the Capitol Center for the Arts, a
regional cultural arts center.
Optima Building
7 Pleasant Street
The Optima Building was so-named to reflect the claim of the grocery store within
that its goods were the best. The shop occupied the entire building and offered a novel
feature for Concord - a public waiting room where one could rest from shopping and wait
for the streetcar. Some of the unique architectural features include the granite nameplate,
copper cornice and arched third floor
windows.
Chamberlin House
44 Pleasant Street
Horace E. Chamberlin was the superintendent of the Concord Railroad (later a division
of the Boston & Maine) when he built this house. His wife Nellie was active in civic
and social affairs; in 1919 she bequeathed her house to the Woman's Club of Concord,
which continues to use it for its headquarters.
Early on, the club strove to serve the community and encourage women to accept a
responsible role within society. Among the noted speakers brought here were Jane
Addams of Hull House, Booker T. Washington, and Harvard President Charles W. Eliot.
Community projects include founding the Concord District Nursing Association and
the local branch of the Red Cross, organizing a free dental clinic, developing a milk
program for school children, and raising funds for numerous conservation and
recreation projects. During the Depression the club set up an employment office here,
which placed 400 women in jobs.
The Chamberlins probably used mail-order plans for the design of their Queen Anne
house, notable for its steep slate-clad hipped roof with varied gables and copper
cresting, round corner turret, porches and decorative gable shingles.
Isaac Hill House
48 Pleasant Street
Few brick, flat-roof Italianate houses were built in Concord. Arched window openings,
paired brackets, double entry doors with arched glass panels, and an interior
elliptical staircase are among the notable features of this residence. Isaac A. Hill,
who lived here between ca. 1870 and 1916, played a major role in the development
of downtown Concord; he was instrumental in erecting the Board of Trade Building
and in extending Pleasant Street easterly toward Railroad Square.
Phenix Hall
40 North Main Street
Phenix Hall replaced "Old" Phenix Hall, which burned in 1893. Both the old and new
buildings featured auditoriums on the top story used for political speeches, lectures,
theater productions, boxing and wrestling matches, agricultural fairs, and firemen's
dances. The existing 500-seat theater has a stage that rolls out into the audience.
Abraham Lincoln spoke at the old building in 1860; Theodore Roosevelt spoke at the
new building in 1912.
City Hall
41 Green Street
Concord's City Hall is the only building in the civic district not built of granite.
Though the use of local stone was proposed, in the face of a lawsuit brought by residents
who objected to the extra cost, the city instead opted for brick, using granite solely
for trim. The building is a free interpretation of Georgian Revival architecture,
with its pedimented entry portico, voussoirs of alternating granite and brick around
the second story windows, solid balustrade, and cupola. The granite panels between the
arched windows commemorate the founding of Pennycook, the original settlement, and
Concord's incorporation as a city.
Prior to 1903 local government was headquartered in the Merrimack County Courthouse.
Its relocation to this spot marked the final stage in uniting local, state, and federal
government within the same area.
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