USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Manchester on the Merrimack, the story of a city > Part 18
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And when the streamlined busses are out- moded, what next?
What next? The inevitable question con- cerning not only transit, but relating to all the varied factors in community life, so in- finitely multiplied and complicated since the clattering horse cars conveyed one, so the signs read, to Depot, Elm Street, Squog and Hotels.
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"Depot, Elm Street, Squog and Hotels" were safe and predictable destinations in a small inland city in the then more or less isolated New England. Today airplanes whir and whine above the Merrimack. Air travel is part of the familiar pattern, Grenier Field is part of the city, having functioned first as the setting for a Civilian Pilot Training pro- gram, and then, after 1940, as one of the out- standing Air Corps Bases in the country, with activities involving well over two thousand officers and enlisted men at one time plus a large corps of civilian employees. Huge fleets of planes, flying in formation for practice or taking off for undisclosed destinations were commonplaces during the war years, and Man- chester's widened reach symbolized by the flights of these "birdmen" to the farthest corners of the globe is projected into these un- easy days of the peace.
By this "widened reach", Manchester has its fingers on the pulse of America and the world, politically, economically, culturally. The touch is close and personal. The war years called Frank Knox from his desk as editor of the Manchester Union-Leader into the very forefront of world turmoil as Secretary of the Navy, demanding his time, his strength and finally his very life. It found native born John
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L. Sullivan already in Washington as Assistant- Secretary of the Treasury, later assuming the burdens of Assistant-Secretary of the Navy. Today he is Secretary of the Navy in the newly- formed Department of Defense. The same crisis found James F. O'Neil given leave of absence from his duties as chief of police and sent him as a special naval assistant to strategic points in the far islands of the Pacific. The national scene has continued to be the background for Chief O'Neil. As Commander of the American Le- gion he has travelled from one boundary of the country to the other, addressing millions of Americans in the course of some two thousand speeches within one year. World War II con- tributed more than twelve thousand Manches- ter men and women to the armed services, and of this number, three hundred and forty nine gave their lives. The far-flung outposts of the world have become familiar ground to the fol- lowers of John Stark's little band of soldiers for whom the rail fence at Bunker Hill seemed built on foreign territory and the road to Ben- nington a long trail. No longer is Manchester- on-the-Merrimack an insular community.
Over the horizon looms tomorrow, and the little community once known as Derryfield is part of the great and growing democracy, America, with its unpredictable possibilities,
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part also of the overwhelming changed new world for which strife must spell destruction, and the only hope of which is spiritual wisdom to govern the terrifyingly increased material power. Reference has been made, in an earlier chapter, to the very noticeable "parallel de- velopments" in the unfolding of Manchester's history: the concern of the founders not only for factories and business blocks but also for the intangible forces that give lasting value to any life, be it that of an individual, a city, a nation or the world. The heritage is a proud one, and the community has all the equipment for the unfolding of a rich promise.
Imagine, for a moment, a visitor from some distant city making a brief but carefully con- ducted tour of inspection around Manchester- on-the-Merrimack, a visitor anxious to carry away with him some distinct impressions, some interpretations, that may provide him with a sense of the sweep of history as applied to our community-a sense of the continuity of time. In the course of the tour one would bid him to pause, first at one particular point on North Main Street and again on Amoskeag Bridge, where the wide beauty of the river, bounded by line upon line of mill buildings against the background of the city proper, is a sight to quicken the pulse, especially when the setting
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sun reaches over the flowing water and lights fantastic fires in a thousand windows. One would quote for him that description of this very site from the pen of an old observer-"a waste of sand surrounded by bleak forests." But here, today, is the realization of Samuel Blodget's dream, increased a thousandfold. One would take the stranger to the vantage- point of Union Street Hill or up the winding road to Derryfield Park, point out the Institute, the Currier Gallery, the Carpenter Library, the Historic Building, show him the panorama of homes and churches and schools, abiding places and symbols of the less tangible but equally powerful values that have grown even as the mills have grown. Cyrus Wallace, William Jewett Tucker, Father McDonald, Bishop Bradley, John Rand-a long line of devoted pastors and priests and teachers down through the years have built their dreams into these structures of brick and wood and stone that stand for the corresponding structures of aspira- tion and hope within the hearts of men.
Then the visitor would be shown the three hospitals, two on hilltops at opposite ends of the town and one in the heart of the city, where the men of science carry on their ministrations of restoration and healing, following the pat- tern of devotion to a high calling wrought by
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their predecessors who jogged over the rutted roads in a Goddard buggy or carried their pills and pellets in saddle bags. The tour would take the visitor to Stark Park where a granite shaft marks the resting place of Derryfield's Revolu- tionary general. An equestrian statue is about to be dedicated, further honoring John Stark who served so conspicuously in the struggle that saved a nation. Standing there by the grave of a hero and paying tribute to his ser- vice, one cannot but be aware of the contribu- tion of the unsung multitudes who "also served", not only in battle, but in the hum- drum of commonplace living. Today or yester- day, the heroes standing alone would be frail figures of futility. Going on with this thought, one would point out to Manchester's visitor, searching for impressions, the worth of the community's rank and file, in this year of 1948. There are the service clubs: the Rotary, the Kiwanis, the Lions, the Exchange, their pur- pose and objectives expressed in the term, ser- vice. There is the Council of Social Agencies, valuable and efficient, "because the road ahead for better social and health programs becomes clearer through joint planning and a common effort." There is the Community Chest, "a symbol of the strength of our community in building a good place to live, in caring for its
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families and children, its sick and troubled." Benefiting by these organizations are such groups as the Visiting Nurse Association, the Family Welfare Society, the Jewish Community Center, the Scouts, the Girls' Club, the Boys' Club, the summer camps .* In addition to these there are other health and character- building agencies, and there are the Women's Club, the College Women's Club, the Y.M. and the Y.W.C.A., already previously men- tioned. All these organizations are pursuing the same objectives: community uplift, social betterment, reclamation, preservation of the best in individual and group life. All are exemplify- ing in some branch of their activities the modern approach to the old query, "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The interested visitor would discover here in the city by the river, built by the faith and
* The swimming pools and recreation grounds main- tained by the Parks and Playgrounds Department of the municipal government and carefully supervised by the chairman, T. Edward McIntyre and trained di- rectors should be considered as part of the "welfare work" of the community. Included in welfare work also should be the various projects sponsored by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, organized in 1919, and composed of a group of public-spirited citizens. Edward T. McShane is the present head of this or- ganization.
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the force of many yesterdays, all the materials for the rearing of an enduring structure, if only the hands of the builders are strong and sure. Dr. William Jewett Tucker, late president of Dartmouth College, in an address given here in 1896, closed with these ringing words which might be regarded as a challenge to those en- trusted with the tomorrows of Manchester-on- the Merrimack: "Open your hearts more and more, I pray you, to the spiritual capacity of your city, so that its material supremacy, while thereby ennobled and ensured, may yet be overshadowed by the power of the city for righteousness."
Whither our city?
Over at the west lie the mountains, protective, reassuring in their unchanging stability-sym- bols of all the ageless secrets of unnumbered yesterdays. And winding through the heart of the city flows the river on its eternal quest for to-morrow. In the wordless wisdom of these, perhaps, one may seek and find the answer.
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Manchester on the Merrimack
Mayors of Manchester
Year
Name
Party
1846-1847
Hiram Brown
Whig
1847-1848
Jacob F. James
Whig
1848-1849
Jacob F. James
Whig
1849-1850
Warren L. Lane
Democrat
1850-1851
Moses Fellows
1851-1852
Moses Fellows
1852-1853
Frederick Smyth
Whig
1853-1854
Frederick Smyth
Whig
1854-1855
Frederick Smyth
Whig
1855-1856
Theodore Abbott
1856-1857
Theodore Abbott
1857
Jacob F. James
Republican
1858
Alonzo F. Smith
1859
Edward W. Harrington
Democrat
1860
Edward W. Harrington
Democrat
1861
David A. Bunton
Republican
1862
David A. Bunton
Republican
1863
Theodore Abbott
1864
Frederick Smyth
Republican
1865
Darwin J. Daniels
Republican
1865-1866
John Hosley
Democrat
1867
Joseph B. Clark
Republican
1868
James A. Weston
Democrat
1869
Isaac W. Smith
Republican
1870
James A. Weston
Democrat
1871
James A. Weston
Democrat
1872
Person C. Cheney
Republican
1873
Charles H. Bartlett
Republican
1873
John P. Newell
Republican
Manchester on the Merrimack
Year
Name
Party
1874-1875
James A. Weston
Democrat
1875-1876
Alpheus Gay
Democrat
1876-1877 Ira Cross
1877-1878
Ira Cross
1878-1879 John L. Kelley
1879-1880
John L. Kelley
1881-1882
Horace B. Putnam
Republican
1883-1884
Horace B. Putnam
Republican
1885-1886
George H. Stearns
Republican
1887-1888
John Hosley
Democrat
1889-1890
David B. Varney
Republican
1891-1892
Edgar J. Knowlton
Democrat
1893-1894
Edgar J. Knowlton
Democrat
1895-1896
William C. Clarke
Republican
1897-1898 William C. Clarke
Republican
1899-1900
William C. Clarke
Republican
1901-1902
William C. Clarke
Republican
1903-1904
Eugene E. Reed
Democrat
1905-1906
Eugene E. Reed
Democrat
1907-1908
Eugene E. Reed
Democrat
1909-1910
Eugene E. Reed
Democrat
1911-1912
Edward C. Smith
Republican
1913-1914
Charles C. Hayes
Democrat
1915-1916
Harry W. Spaulding
Republican
1917*
Harry W. Spaulding
Republican
1918-1919
Moise Verrette
Democrat
1920-1921
Moise Verrette
Democrat
1922-1923
George E. Trudel George E. Trudel Arthur E. Moreau
Republican
1924-1925
Republican
1926-1927
Republican
1928-1929
Arthur E. Moreau
Republican
1930-1931
Arthur E. Moreau
Republican
1932-1933
Dr. Damase Caron
Democrat
Manchester on the Merrimack
Year
Name
Party
1934-1935 Dr. Damase Caron
Democrat
1936-1937
Dr. Damase Caron
Democrat
1938-1939 Dr. Damase Caron
Democrat
1940-1941 Dr. Damase Caron
Democrat
1942-1943 Wilfred A. Laflamme Republican
1944-1945 Josaphat T. Benoit Democrat
1946-1947 Josaphat T. Benoit Democrat
1948-1949 Josaphat T. Benoit
Democrat
* Special Election, one-year term: Separating Municipal Elec- tions from State, County and National.
NOTE-From 1846 to 1857 the term was yearly, expiring the third Tuesday of March. From 1857, the term expired on the last day of December, until 1873, and then changed to the third Tuesday in March, up to 1880; from this year on the term of Mayor became a two-year term.
Governors from Manchester
Name
Year
Party
Frederick Smyth 1871-1872 1874-1875 Republican
James A. Weston 1865-1867
Democrat
Ezekiel A. Straw 1872-1874
Republican
Person C. Cheney 1875-1877
Republican
Moody Currier
1885-1887
Republican
Charles M. Floyd
1907-1909
Republican
Albert O. Brown
1921-1923
Republican
Charles W. Tobey 1929-1930
Republican
Governor of Massachusetts
Name
Year
Party
Channing H. Cox
1921-1924
Republican
United States Senators from Manchester
Name
Year
Party
Moses Norris Jr.
1849-1855
Democrat
Daniel Clark
1857-1866
Republican
Person C. Cheney
1886-1887 Republican
Henry E. Burnham
1901-1913
Republican
Manchester on the Merrimack
United States Representatives from Manchester
Name
Year Party
Mace Moulton 1845-1847
George W. Morrison
1849-1851 1853-1855
Samuel N. Bell
1871-1873 1875-1877
James F. Briggs
1877-1883
Luther F. Mckinney
1887-1889 1891-1893
Cyrus A. Sulloway
1895-1913 1915-1917
Republican
Eugene E. Reed
1913-1915
Democrat
Sherman Burroughs
1919-1923
Republican
A. B. Jenks
1937-1943
Republican
Alphonse Roy
1938 (part of session)
Democrat
Members of President's Cabinet from Manchester
Zachariah Chandler Secretary of Interior
Republican
under Grant
Col. Frank Knox
Secretary of Navy under
Republican
Franklin Roosevelt
John L. Sullivan Secretary of Navy Democrat
under Truman
Executive Assistants from Manchester
Gordon Woodbury Assistant Secretary of Navy* Democrat under Wilson
John L. Sullivan
Assistant Secretary of Democrat
Treasury 1940-1944 Assistant Secretary of Navy for Air 1945
Undersecretary of
Navy 1946-1947
* Bedford
٠٧٤٥
المج لمناجم الإجلاك
صحيه
بيد ٣٥و٢٠٠٩٠٠
LONGOSGRAVE PC.
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