This Moment in NHMA History —

1990 – 33 years ago… NAME THAT TOWN OR CITY

3The article, 16 Things Every Citizen Should Know About Town Meetings, written by NHMA Legal Counsel, Bernard Waugh, first appeared in Town and City magazine. It will be reprinted nationally and in future editions of Town and City, and as its author rightfully encouraged readers, “An informed town is in everyone’s interest.”

4Nearly all fifty states have some preferential assessment statute for certain land uses. Some, like New Hampshire, have provisions for open space lands. In 1990, there were 231 towns having 2.4 million acres of current use land. After adjusting for non-taxable lands, this acreage represents approximately half of the remaining lands in the State.

3The Official Tourist Map of the State of New Hampshire listed over 500 cities, towns, and places in the index. For instance, Cornish, on the Vermont border, is made up of Cornish Center, Cornish Flat, Cornish City, South Cornish, and Cornish Mills. But the champion of name variations is Wolfeboro. There is a North Wolfeboro, South Wolfeboro, East Wolfeboro, Wolfeboro Center, and a Wolfeboro Falls.

Do you recognize this Town Office which is now open at the new/old location in front of the town library?

The nearby Old Town Meetinghouse, dormant since its relocation more than 16 years ago, and the town’s library give the town a municipal center that combines accessibility with town business, reading, and arts and entertainment. The Town Meetinghouse was built in 1851 and was outdated when Cumberland Farms purchased the property in 2006, where the meetinghouse sat, and offered it to the town. The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance added the meeting house to its list of historic buildings in need of saving.

The town accepted the building and raised $85,000 in donations for a simple yet monumental task that year: Moving the Old Town Meetinghouse to a grassy knoll next to the Town Library and the Old Town Hall. The asking price to build town offices in the Old Town Hall and Meetinghouse and finish the lower level of the Meetinghouse was about $1.1 million. The town used $687,690 from unassigned funds and $400,000 would come from federal COVID relief money in the American Rescue Plan Act.

When you have figured out the answer, email it to tfortier@nhmunicipal.org. The answer will appear in the July/August 2023 issue.

ANSWER TO PHOTO IN THE MARCH/APRIL ISSUE: The photo on page 51 in the last issue of New Hampshire Town and City magazine is that of the Town of Grafton.

Special thanks to Marshall Buttrick (Greenfield); Barbara Vaughn (Sanbornton); and Jeanie Forrester (Tilton); who all responded with the correct answer.