Jaffrey 250 Commemorative Book Edition

Jaffrey 250

Program

© Town of Jaffrey All Rights Reserved 2023

Table of Contents

The Organizing Committee 4

Proclamation - Town of Jaf frey 6 The Arms of Jaffrey 7 Our Sponsors 8 Calendar of Events ............................................... 10

Events

Jubilee Ball .................................................... 12

A Salute to Jaffrey Veterans............................13

Riverfest & Fête de la Rivière 14 Commemoration Day 15 History

Char ter of the Town of Jaffrey ...................... 18

Jaffrey Maps—Then & Now ......................... 19

A Jaffrey Timeline 20

Previous Anniversaries 27

The Jaffrey Meetinghouse 29

Amos Fortune 31

The Humistons 33

Jaffrey War Memorials ................................... 34

Jaffrey Cemeteries ......................................... 37

K-K Village / Tacktown 42

The Dean Murder 43

Lighting Jaffrey’s Streets 45

Lord Jaf frecon: The True Story 46 Government Seats of Jaf frey Government ........................... 48

The Public Schools of Jaffrey.......................... 50

The State of the Schools 52

The Jaffrey Public Library 53

Jaffrey-Peterborough District Court 54 Organizations & Institutions

Jaf frey Historical Society................................56

Jaffrey Civic Center ....................................... 57

Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society 58 Jaffrey Woman’s Club 60

The Park Theatre 61

Franklin Pierce University 62 Churches

The First Church in Jaffrey ............................ 66 St. Patrick Church ......................................... 68

The United Church of Jaf frey 69 The Universalist Church 70 Businesses

Atlas Display Fireworks 72

Belletetes Inc. ................................................ 74

MilliporeSigma .............................................. 76 D. D. Bean & Sons 77 Red’s of Jaffrey / MDS 78 Hill Family Insurance 80 Jaffrey Family Medicine 82

Advertisements....................................83-107

250th Banners

Apollo Steel Atlas Fireworks D. D. Bean & Sons Belletetes Inc. Bellows-Nichols Insurance Cliff’s Auto Body Conant High School Lori Constant, Real Estate Agent Country Bridals & Formal Wear Cournoyer Funeral Home Deep Water–The Murder of William K. Dean Demo-Core Deschenes Auto & RV Center Dublin Road Taproom & Eatery Dust to Shine Fireman’s Muster First Church in Jaffrey Franklin Pierce University Gauthier Auto Service

Gordon Services Property Maintenance The Hamilton Family Christina Hayes, Realtor Hill Family Insurance Agency Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce Jaffrey Democrats Jaffrey Historical Society Jaffrey, New Hampshire M&T Bank MilliporeSigma Monadnock Disposal Service Monadnock Ledger-Transcript Mountainshade Red’s of Jaffrey Ronnie’s Small Engine Savron Graphics Self Storage–Jaffrey & Peterborough Sequoya Technologies Group The Shattuck Silver Ranch Airpark Sorby & Son Heating T & W Handyman Services Threads of Hope Town of Jaffrey

Jaffrey on the Web ................................ 108 Acknowledgments 109 Colophon 109

THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

The planning for Jaffrey’s 250th Anniversary began in 2018 with discussions among a couple of very interested residents of the community. The committee soon began to grow, and as we kick off our 250th anniversary, we now have sixteen dedicated members of the official Jaffrey 250th Jubilee Organizing Committee. There was much to do to organize an ambitious year-long series of events: a name was chosen, we needed a website and social media pages, and we had to design our logo. Next was generating ideas for fundraising merchandise, plans for marketing, sponsorship, and media—and reaching out to sponsors and community businesses and residents.

Finally, after a solid two years of preparation, approval from the Town of Jaffrey Board of Selectmen, and ultimately some much-needed initial funding assistance from you, the Town of Jaffrey, we are finally here! The overwhelming support received has been nothing short of amazing.

The interest from businesses and residents in purchasing our pole banners was far more than we ever expected. Our initial question, “Can we sell 50 banners?” soon became “Can we sell 100 banners?” It was certainly a challenge, and with the tremendous support of our community, we simply ran out of utility poles! We sold 154 banners—a tremendous show of support from the community. A huge thank you to the Town of Jaffrey DPW workers for their much-needed assistance installing each and every one of them.

The Organizing Committee is certainly not doing this alone. We wish to thank the countless residents and friends of Jaffrey who are serving as volunteers. Without them, our list of events would not be possible:

TEAM Jaffrey Scarecrows on the Common – Oktoberfest at the American Legion – Christmas Tree Lighting

The Jubilee Ball – Jaffrey 250th Art Exhibit – Jaffrey Historical Society Monthly Presentations – Winter Carnival Saint Patrick’s Day Parade – Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce Maple Madness – Spring Plantings Salute to Veterans – TEAM Jaffrey Summer Concert Series – Fireman’s Muster TEAM Jaffrey Riverfest & Fête de la Rivière – Jubilee Vintage Golf Scramble Official Commemoration Ceremony – Jaffrey 250th Jubilee Parade – Special Concert and Fireworks.

Thank you all for your time and financial contributions. Finally, a special thank you to Rob Stephenson for all his hard work, creativity, resources, and time in putting together our one-of-a-kind Jaffrey 250th Official Program Book.

A community experiences this opportunity every 50 years. Many of us fondly remember the celebrations surrounding the Jaffrey Bicentennial in 1973. Visitors at that time that may have passed through, enjoyed the spirit and energy, and maybe considered relocating their family or establishing a new business in our picturesque town of Jaffrey. Once again, the time has come to showcase why our town is a special place. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we hope you all enjoy the events as much as we have had planning our Jaffrey 250th Jubilee Celebration.

Jaffrey 250th Organizing Committee—Stephen Pelkey, Vicki Arceci, Kathleen Belfsky, Sarah Bergeron, David Chamberlain, Vicki Doyle, Sean Driscoll, Jon Frederick, Cynthia Hamilton, Bruce Hill, John Kohlmorgen, Peter Lambert, Todd Muilenberg, Stephanie Porter Scotland, and Marc Tieger.

“Honoring the past, celebrating the present, and envisioning the future.”

Jaffrey 250th

Jubilee

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Stephen Pelkey

Sarah Bergeron

Vicki Doyle

Jon FrederickSean Driscoll

Peter Lambert

Stephanie Porter Scotland

Marc TiegerKathleen BelfskyChief David Chamberlain

Chief Todd Muilenberg

Bruce HillVicki ArceciJohn KohlmorgenCynthia Hamilton

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Celebrating 250 Years!

The arms on the town seal are those of the Hon. George Jaffrey (1717-1801) after whom the town was named in the charter of August 17, 1773. His father and grandfather, also named George, were prominent citizens of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth vicinity. The third George, before the Revolution, was judge of the Supreme Court, Councilor, Treasurer of New Hampshire, and one of the Masonian proprietors.

“Arms, paly of six ar. and sa. over all a fesse of the first charged with three mullets of the second. Crest, the sun rising through a cloud ppr. Motto, POST NUBILA PHOEBUS. These are the arms borne by the Jeffrey’s of Kings Wells, Scotland”

In non technical language the description would be: six vertical stripes, alternating white (argent, silver) and black (sable), surmounted by a horizontal band of the first color bearing three stars of the second.

Motto: “After the clouds, the sunshine.”

(New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Register, v.31 (Boston, 1877) .p.61. See also Bolton’s Amercan Armory (Boston, 1927), p.90, & letter of Edward Gilchrist, Esq., April 3, 1927 (V.I.S. archives). On the crest, cf. Fairbairn’s Crests (Edinburgh, 1860), v.2, Pl.67, Cr.g, and Boutwell’s Heraldry (London, 1954), p.81.

Jubilee Jaffrey 250th Thank you

To Our Sponsors

Sam Abbott, Realtor

American Legion Post 11 Amos Fortune Forum

Apollo Steel, llc

Atlas Fireworks

Athens Pizza, llc Belletetes Inc.

Bellows-Nichols Insurance

The Bergeron Family Blue Star Fitness

The Bosse Family

Cabana Falls Winery Café 532 Bar, Grill & Catering

The Caruthers Family Cathedral of The Pines Chaotic Lily Cliff’s Auto Body Helen Coll

Coll’s Garden Center & Florist Community Service Transportation Company

Conant High, Class of 1956 Conant High, Class of 1962 Conant High, Class of 1964 Conant High, Class of 1980 Conant High, Class of 2000

Lori Constant, Real Estate Agent Country Bridals & Formal Wear

The Cournoyer Family Cournoyer Funeral Home

The Curtis Family Cutter’s Taxidermy D&D Maple Supplies

Daffodil’s Flowers & Gifts Demo-Core, llc

Deschenes Auto & RV Center

The Devlin Family Dublin Road Taproom and Eatery Dust To Shine, llc

The Lambert Family Fine Cuts Barber Shop

First Church in Jaffrey First Church in Jaffrey - Pastor Miller

First Church in Jaffrey - Summer Fair

First Church in Jaffrey - Summer Pies

First Service Title Co.

Franklin Pierce University

The Gaspar Family

Gauthier Auto Sales, llc Go Monadnock

Gordon Services Property Maintenance, llc Sam Hackler

Hampsey & Grenier Associates, llc Hautenan Property Maintenance

Christina Hayes, Realtor

The Hill Family Hill Family Insurance Agency, Inc. Hope Fellowship Church

Humble Ink Tattoo

Jaffrey Airpark Silver Ranch

Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society

Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce

Jaffrey Civic Center

Jaffrey Conservation Commission

Jaffrey Fire & Police Departments

Jaffrey Historical Society

Jaffrey Knights of Columbus

Jaffrey VFW

Jaffrey War Memorial

Jaffrey Woman’s Club

Jaffrey-Rindge Lion’s Club

Jaffrey-Rindge Martin Luther King Committee

Jaffrey-Rindge Rotary

The Lambert & Maher Family

The Lawn Family

Lignetics (New England Wood Pellets)

Carl C. Little, cpa

Little Stitches Custom Embroidery

The Masiello Group

McDonalds (Sellia Group)

MilliporeSigma

Monadnock Country Café

Monadnock Disposal Service

Monadnock Insurance Agency, Inc. Monadnock Santa

Jubilee Jaffrey 250th Thank you

To Our Sponsors

The Pelkey Family

Pelletier’s Sports Shop

People’s Bank/M&T Bank

Peter Barb Farm

Rainflow, Inc.

Reality Check

Red’s of Jaffrey Richco Flooring

Ronnie’s Small Engine Saint Patrick Church Savron Graphics

Self Storage of Jaffrey & Peterborough Sequoya Technologies Group, llc Shattuck Golf Course

The Shea Family Silver Ranch Stables

Sorby & Son Heating T & W Handyman

TD Bank

Team Jaffrey Teleflex Medical

The Melamine Cup Threads of Hope Tieger Realty Co. Town of Jaffrey Town of Rindge 21 Bar & Grill

United Church of Jaffrey Upton and Hatfield, llp USA Karate

Whirlybirds Early Care & Education, llc

EVENTS

Jubilee Ball

A Salute to Jaffrey Veterans Riverfest & Fête de la Rivière Commemoration Day

A salute to jaffrey veterans

JuNE 17, 2023

Time: 2 pm

Jaffrey Meetinghouse

Throughout history, men and women from Jaffrey have answered their country’s call and served in the armed forces. Whether the goal was gaining our independence, abolishing slavery, preserving the union, defeating tyranny, or maintaining the peace, these men and women have earned our eternal gratitude.

The Salute to Jaffrey VeteranS event intends to honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans from the American Revolution through today. Both guided and self-guided tours of our cemeteries will be offered during the day, with a special focus on those who served. The Salute event at the Meetinghouse Saturday afternoon will feature live music, historical re-enactors, a reading of names, a few special surprises, and an opportunity for everyone in town to say ‘thank you.’

The festivities will move from Jaffr ey Center to the downtown area in the evening with a chicken barbecue and a special movie showing at the Park Theatre. We hope everyone in town will turn out for this very special series of events.

We invite all Jaf frey veterans, no matter if they served in times of peace or war, of every branch, to join in this event. No uniform is required—we welcome your participation!

Riverfest & Fête de la rivière

July 29, 2023

Time: 10 am - 2 pm

Location: Downtown

In 2023 Team Jaffrey’s Riverfest returns bigger and better than ever! This year the annual celebration of Jaffrey’s downtown and it’s connection with the Contoocook River will feature all your favorite vendors, raffles, entertainment, music, and activities you have come to know and love. But attache ta tuque! Did you know Jaffrey is in the top 200 towns in America by percent that claims French-Canadian heritage? As a special addition this year, we’ll also be celebrating Jaffrey’s many people of French-Canadian heritage with Fête de la Rivière! Once again East Jaffrey will rock to the sound of French-Canadian music and dancing. Cultural exhibits and films will be shown, and we’ll have street hockey and pétanque tournaments that all may enter. French Canadian foods will feature prominently, with several vendors selling all your favorites. Have a secret family recipe that Mémé brought down from Canada? Enter it into our tourtière and gorton competitions! A day in beautiful downtown Jaffrey with crepes, maple syrup, hockey, and les chansons québécoises—who could ask for more? Laissez les bon temps rouler!

commemoration day

August

17, 2023 Time: 5:30 pm

Jaffrey Meetinghouse

On August 17, 1773 John Wentworth, Royal Governor of the Province of New Hampshire, signed the charter incorporating Jaffrey as a town. We will mark Jaffrey’s official 250th birthday in grand style with a commemoration and birthday party at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse. Plans for the evening include a reading of the royal charter, recognition of our first responders, poetry, music, and a series of speakers, young and old! A special song has been written especially for the occasion, and we’ve invited a few very special surprise guests! After a stirring conclusion, we’ll welcome anyone who wishes to ring the Meetinghouse bell to celebrate our birthday—and no birthday would be complete without cake and ice cream for everyone out on the Common! Let’s celebrate Jaffrey’s birthday in style, and kick off a weekend of jubilee festivities!

HISTORY

Charter of the Town of Jaffrey Jaffrey Maps—Then & Now A Jaffrey Timeline Previous Anniversaries The Jaffrey Meetinghouse Amos Fortune The Humistons Jaffrey War Memorials Jaffrey Cemeteries K-K Village / Tacktown The Dean Murder Lighting Jaffrey’s Streets Lord Jaffrecon: The True Story

CHARTER.

Province of New Hampshire

George the Third by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King; Defender of the Faith, &c.

To all people to whom these Presents come, Greeting: Whereas our loyal subjects, Inhabitants of a Tract of Land within our Province of New Hampshire, aforesaid, commonly called and known by the name of Middletown or Middle Monadnock No. 2, Containing by estimation about six miles square, Having humbly petitioned and requested us that they may be erected and incorporated into a Township, and enfranchised with the same Powers and Privileges which other towns within our said Province by law have and enjoy, And it appearing unto us to be conducive to the General good of our said Province, as well as to the Inhabitants in particular, by maintaining good order and encouraging of the culture of the land, that the Same should be done: Know ye that we, of our special Grace and certain knowledge, and for the encouragement and promotion of the Good Purposes and ends aforesaid, by and with the advice of our Trusty and well beloved John Wentworth Esquire, our Governor and Commander in Chief, and of our Council of the same, have erected and ordained and by these presents, for us, our Heirs and successors, do will and ordain that the Inhabitants of the said Tract of Land and others, who shall improve and inhabit thereon hereafter, the same being butted and bounded as follows viz: Beginning at the South West corner of Peterborough slip so called, from thence running North eighty degrees West seven miles to a Hemlock Tree marked, from thence running North by the Needle five miles to a Hemlock Tree marked from thence running South, Eighty degrees East seven miles to a Beech Tree marked in the West line of Peterborough, from thence South by the Needle to the first Bounds mentioned; Be and they are declared to be a Town corporate, and are hereby erected and incorporated in a body Politick and corporate to have continuance forever by the Name of Jaffrey; With all the Powers and Authorities, Privileges, Immunities and Franchises, which any other Towns in said Province by Law hold and enjoy to the said Inhabitants, or those who shall hereinafter inhabit there, and their Successors forever, Always reserving to us, our heirs and successors, All White Pine Trees, that are or shall be found being or growing within or upon said Tract of Land, fit for the use of our Royal Navy, Reserving also to us, our heirs and successors, the Right of dividing said Town, when it shall appear necessary and convenient for the Inhabitants thereof. Provided nevertheless and tis hereby declared that this Charter and Grant is not intended, and shall not in any manner be construed, to affect the private Property of the soil within the Limits aforesaid. And as the several Towns within our said Province are by these Laws thereof enabled and authorized to assemble and by the Majority of the Voters present to choose all such offices and transact such affairs as in the said Laws are declared; We do by these Presents nominate and appoint Jonathan Stanley of said Town to call the first Meeting of said Inhabitants to be held within the said Town at any time within sixty days from the Date hereof, giving legal notice of the time and design of holding said meeting after which the annual meeting of said Town shall be held for the choice of said officers, and for the purpose aforesd on the last Thursday of March, annually.

In testimony whereof we have caused our Seal of said Province to be hereunto affixed Witness our Governor and Commander-in-Chief aforesaid, the seventeenth day of August, in the thirteenth year of our Reign Annoquedom 1773.

JOHN WENTWORTH

By His Excellency's Command, with Advice of Council

Theodore Atkinson, Sec.

Jaffrey’s first map (1850), compiled and issued by J. D. Gibbs. He lived in the Brick House just west of the Monadnock Inn and was a shoemaker. Among his avocations was collecting information on Jaffrey including births, deaths and the weather. Below: Jaffrey today.

PETERBOROUGH

A Jaffrey Timeline

1706 Scouts from Groton, Massachusetts, explore Jaffrey area.

1720c Scouts from Lancaster, Massachusetts, explore Jaffrey area, hike Monadnock, looking for signs of Native Americans.

Contoocook River explored by Joseph Pike, grandfather of Zebulon Pike.

1736 “Rowley-Canada” granted by Massachusetts to veterans of the French and Indian Wars from Rowley, Massachusetts. Encompasses much of Jaffrey, Rindge and Sharon.

1740c “Great Road” cleared through Jaffrey from Townsend, Massachusetts, to Upper Ashuelot (Keene).

1741 George II of Britain establishes the New Hampshire/Massachusetts, border. Jaffrey area comes under New Hampshire jurisdiction.

1745 Native American attacks across Monadnock Region.

1749 New Hampshire establishes the “Monadnock” townships. Jaffrey is known as Monadnock #2, or “Middle Monadnock.”

1751 Rowley-Canada grants negated by New Hampshire government, settlers removed.

1752 Francis Peabody, a settler of Middle Monadnock, leaves town and helps found Saint John, New Brunswick.

1753 Matthew Wright and John Davidson become first permanent settlers of Monadnock #2.

1767 Monadnock #2 charter is given a two-year extension to find more settlers. Lawyer for the town is Mer rimack’s Matthew Thornton, future signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1770 Borland’s Mill constructed on Contoocook River, the first in what would eventually become downtown Jaf frey.

1771 John Grout, an original settler of Rowley-Canada, dies and is buried on the present site of the Meetinghouse.

1773 August 17: Governor John Wentworth issues an incorporation charter, changing the name of the town to “Jaffrey” after George Jaffrey, the colonial treasurer and member of the Governor’s Council. Jaffrey has 40+ families, 303 people.

August 27: First official town meeting held, at Wright’s Tavern; currently Lambert farm on Gilmore Pond Road.

Phineas Spaulding moves to town. His son Levi becomes an important missionary to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Grandson Oliver becomes a Brigadier General in the Civil War, Congressman from Michigan, and Assistant US Secretary of the Treasury.

1774 “Sliptown” (Sharon) requests land from Jaffrey and is denied. Land is instead taken from Peterborough.

Jaffrey Committee of Safety is star ted to look out for pro-British “Tories” in town. None are found.

1775 June 17: Frame of the Jaffrey Meetinghouse raised.

First military company is founded.

Eleven men serve at Bunker Hill, one with Arnold at Quebec City.

1777 21 men serve with Stark at Bennington, 16 at Saratoga.

1779 Town is divided into ten school districts.

1780s First mills built at Cheshire village (current D.D. Bean site).

1780 First Church in Jaffrey (Congregational) established.

1781 Amos and Violate Fortune move to Jaffrey, establish tannery south of Mountain Road.

1782 Rev. Laban Ainsworth begins his ministry in Jaffrey. He stays for 76 years.

1786 Sharon once again asks for land from Jaffrey, and is again denied.

1788 Judge Abel Parker represents Jaffrey at state convention to ratify the US Constitution. He votes no. Jaffrey school districts are required to build schoolhouses.

Jaffrey Social Librar y established.

1790s “Baker Tax” is levied to pay off town debt to a schoolmaster. When debt is finally paid the bill has jumped from $100 to $171.

1790 Feud with Rindge over a proposed county road through southwestern Jaffrey. Rindge wins, the road is built.

1792 Dr. Adonijah Howe builds a smallpox pesthouse for inoculation on hill above Cheshire village. Many saved, but six die and are buried nearby.

1794 English Duke of Kent (father of Queen Victoria) and entourage passes through Jaffrey on their way from Montreal to Boston.

1800 Census reveals Jaffrey has 1,341 people.

Third New Hampshire Turnpike is established, current-day Route 124.

Angry Jaffrey townspeople throw Turnpike tollgate in East Jaffrey into the river. A new tollgate is built in Sharon.

1800s First cattle drives begin from summer pastures on Monadnock to Brighton, Massachusetts.

1801 First post office in Jaffrey opens.

1802 Stagecoach service begins when a route is opened from Boston to Walpole.

1808 Joseph Cutter builds “The Ark” on the road to Dublin.

1810s Jaffrey taverns at their height: Prescott’s, Hunt’s, Cutter’s, Danforth’s, Milliken’s.

1812 200+ Jaffrey citizens protest the War of 1812 at a “Peace Rally” in Keene.

1813 Borland/Spofford’s mills in East Jaffrey begin producing cotton & wool cloth. First Crockery ware factory in New Hampshire opens in Squantum. It closes in 1817.

1814 First Baptist congregation established in Jaffrey.

1815 After perceived victory in the War of 1812, Jaffrey ceases to be a Federalist stronghold in Cheshire County.

1819 Last wolf on Monadnock tracked through Jaffrey as far as Gardner, killed in Fitzwilliam.

1820 ‘Warning Out’ practice discontinued.

Last of the great fires on Mount Monadnock, intentionally set to drive out bears and wolves. Postfire erosion enabled the current treeless summit.

1822 Steeple and bell added to the Meetinghouse.

1829 Baptist church constructed on site of current Post Office. Cemetery established across the street.

1830 Short-lived Shaker community established in northwestern part of town.

1832 Melville Academy opens to students. At its height two years later it had 174 students.

1833 “Town Farm” established for the poor on road to Peterborough.

1835 Potato Starch factory opens in Squantum, then burns down, killing the owner.

1836 Asa Brigham, former Jaffrey resident, becomes first Treasurer of Republic of Texas. Benjamin Brigham, son of Asa, killed at Battle of San Jacinto, Texas.

Cutter Cemetery opens on Harkness Road.

1840s Hannah Davis builds and sells her bandboxes to mill girls across New England.

1842 Jaffrey Social Library disbands.

1844 Universalist Church built (current Woman’s Club building). East Jaffrey mills sold to Alonzo Bascom.

1845 Post office opens in Factory Village (East Jaffrey).

1846 Two Jaffrey men serve in the Mexican War.

1847 Railroad reaches Winchendon, Massachusetts; stage lines open from Jaffrey to Winchendon.

1849 East Jaffrey Congregational Church established (current United Church).

1850 Census reveals Jaffrey has 1,497 people.

1850s Jaffrey area is world leader in wooden clothespin manufacture.

Annual Musters of Jaffrey Rifle Company, known as the Slam-Bangs, come to an end. Mount Monadnock visited by Thoreau, Emerson, other transcendentalists.

1854 Union Hall, the large schoolhouse for East Jaffrey, is built.

1857 Melville Academy closes.

1859 Jaffrey Armory, at southwest corner of Main Street and Gilmore Pond Road, closes.

1860 Conant Cemetery opens.

1861 During Civil War, over 150 Jaffrey men serve in 12 of NH’s 16 regiments. 37 are killed.

1862 A Liberty pole was erected at corner of Main/Turnpike/Stratton Road.

Army recr uits camp and muster on Baptist Church common before joining 12th Regiment.

1864 Monadnock Bank established.

1868 New brick mill building constructed in East Jaffrey.

1869 First Catholic mass celebrated in Jaffrey.

1870 John Conant donates $7,000 to establish Conant Free High School. Meets in alternate terms in Jaffrey Center, East Jaffrey, for 20+ years.

Fitchburg Railroad reaches Jaffrey. Two locomotives are named “Monadnock” and “Jaffrey.”

1872 Steamboat “Phil Sheridan” operates on Contoocook Lake, for pleasure cruises.

1873 Monadnock bank building constructed.

William Webster brings his “Kleen Kut” knife business to Jaf frey. He later switches to manufacturing tacks.

Walter and Windsor Goodnow open their first store in Jaffrey. The chain later expands to 21 stores in four states.

Jaffrey celebrates its centennial with a large gathering on the Meetinghouse Common.

1875 Fires tear through East Jaf frey, burning the Monadnock Bank and Granite State Hotel on the common.

1877 Monadnock Bank burns for the second time. Bascom’s textile mill in Jaffrey is bought by White Brothers of Winchendon.

1880s French-Canadians begin mass migration to Jaffrey, continuing through the 1920s.

1884 Jaffrey selectmen purchase land on summit of Mount Monadnock to preserve it, one of the first such acts of conservation in New England.

1888 First St. Patrick Catholic Church and rector y constructed.

1890s “K.K. Village” begins to grow, as Kleen-Kut tack factory opens.

1890 First telephone in Jaffrey, at Goodnow’s store (currently an apartment building on North Street). St. Patrick Cemetery opens on Hillcrest Road.

1893 “Union Hall” in East Jaffrey replaced.

1896 With money left by Susan Bethiah Clay, the Clay Librar y building is dedicated, home to the Jaffrey Public Library.

1899 Elie Belletete opens Belletete’s store, selling mostly dry goods, groceries, and hardware.

1900 Fitchburg Railroad bought by Boston & Maine Railroad.

1902 Jaffrey begins installing water mains from Bullet Pond in Rindge to East Jaffrey and Jaffrey Center.

1904 First automobile in Jaffrey. Speed limits are set at 8 mph in town, 15 mph in rural areas.

1906 Village Improvement Society is founded.

1910 The “Amherst Colony” of professors begin summering in Jaffrey.

1912 Bean & Symonds Box Co., manufacturing wooden boxes, opens.

1914 “Tip-Top” House on summit of Mount Monadnock opens, as a fire lookout, and later a snack bar.

1915 Alfred Kitteridge, former Jaf frey resident and senator from South Dakota, retires to town.

1917 Present St. Patrick church is constr ucted using fieldstones contributed by parishioners. Jaffrey enters World War I war effort, making tacks for boots, denim for uniforms, and boxes for equipment. Over 100 Jaffrey men fight in World War I; with five casualties.

1918 Lights are first repor ted on Monadnock; tales of German spies spread around the area.

The “Spanish” Flu epidemic strikes. Jaffrey is one of the hardest-hit towns, with 26 people dying in 27 days. The murder of Dr. William Dean, a locally notorious case yet to be solved.

1919 First airplane in Jaffrey, a military plane that makes an emergency landing to repair a damaged wheel.

1922 Romolo Vanni opens the Park Theatre on Main Street. An increase in water use, and a loss in pressure, forces Jaffrey to build Poole Reservoir at the base of Mount Monadnock.

First Jaffrey Winter Carnival.

1923 Jaffrey celebrates its Sesquicentennial (150th bir thday).

1925 Annual output at White Brothers Mills reaches 5.6 million yards, or 3,181 miles, of denim.

1928 The New Hampshire Match Company, par t of “Swedish Match King” Kreuger’s empire, folds.

1929 The Bacon family buys “The Ark.”

1930 The “Buddies” monument by Viggo Brandt-Erichsen, dedicated on the Common.

1930s Great Depression relief programs in Jaffrey include painting schoolrooms, sewing clothes for the poor, and laying sewer lines.

1932 Derostus P. Emor y Fire Station dedicated in East Jaffrey. The Jaf frey Recorder and Monadnock Breeze newspapers merge.

1933 W. W. Cross, formerly Kleen Kut but known locally as “The Tack Shop” expands to 250 employees, a 50% increase.

Cheshire Mills close.

Civilian Conservation Corps camp opens at Annett State Reservation. Workers expand Monadnock State park, and plant trees.

1936 The Great Flood of 1936 washes out most of the Main Street bridge, the Cheshire dam, and other town infrastructure.

1937 Albert Annett, a local manufacturer, historian, and politician, leaves Children’s Woods to the “children of Jaffrey.”

1938 D. D. Bean begins manufacturing matchbooks. The Hurricane of 1938 washes out the Main Street bridge, floods the town, and leaves devastation in its wake. Many fallen trees are preserved underwater in local ponds for later use.

The current Jaf frey Grade School opens.

1938 Boy Scout Troop #33 char tered.

1939 White Brothers Mills closes.

1940 First men are called up in the pre-World War II draft.

1941 A new D. D. Bean matchbook factory opens in Cheshire village. World War II—over 500 men and women ser ve, ten lose their lives.

1942 Civil Defense lookout station opens on the hill at the end of Prospect Street. The town is divided into 27 sectors.

First blackout drills in Jaffrey. A scrap metal drive collects 100+ tons, on the site of the current police station. Jaffrey townspeople begin making “Bundles from Jaffrey,” small denim bags filled with soap, cards, magazines, etc., for Jaffrey servicemen.

1943 White Brother’s Mill reopens making rayon, nylon, dacron, and parachute cloth.

1945 Jaffrey celebrates victor y in World War II with a raucous rally in East Jaffrey, bell-ringing and a church service in Jaffrey Center.

1946 East Jaffrey renamed “Jaffrey” and “Jaffrey” renamed “Jaffrey Center.” Silver Ranch Airpark opens in an area deforested by the Hur ricane of 1938.

1947 Willa Cather, the prominent author who summered in town, dies and is buried in Jaffrey Center.

1948 Dorothea Hammond and Margharita Darling open the first kindergarten in Jaffrey. The “Gold Star Mothers” monument is dedicated on the town common.

1950 Korean War begins. Three Jaffrey men lose their lives.

1951 Our Lady of Monadnock Academy, a Catholic school for girls, opens.

1952 The Shattuck Inn closes, and reopens as the Catholic Queen of Peace Seminary until 1969.

1953 Last passenger train in Jaffrey.

Proposed combined high school with Peterborough voted down 602-194. Wildfire on Mount Monadnock burns 200 acres in a week. Firemen from 11 towns respond.

1954 Police Chief Hubert O’Neil retires after 30 years of service.

First dial telephone service reaches Jaf frey.

New town office building opens next to the common (present day Police station). It houses Jaffrey court, town offices, water department, police department and VFW ambulance.

“Halfway House” inn on Mount Monadnock burns down.

1955 Bean & Symonds Box Company closes.

1956 Monadnock Ledger begins publication in Jaffrey.

1957 Jaffrey Recorder bought by the Peterborough Transcript

1958 Route 202 towards Peterborough is widened and realigned. New post office opens on Blake Street (current Pizza Barn). Jaffrey Historical Society founded.

1959 Bean Fiberglass opens on Union Street.

1962 Our Lady of Monadnock Academy closes, re-opens as St. Patrick Elementary School.

1965 “The Ark” sold to Monadnock Christian Conference.

1966 Jaffrey Civic Center opens.

Annett Lumber Company in Squantum, largest single pine paneling company in US, burns down. 125-foot smokestack at Jaffrey Mills torn down, a victim of lightning. Some bricks are reused in the construction of Silver Ranch Ice Cream Stand (current Kimballs).

1967 Jaffrey and Rindge unite into a single cooperative school district. Jaffrey votes down joining Con-Val school district 1,121-384. Glendon Barnett becomes the only Jaffrey resident killed during the nearly 20-year long Vietnam War.

1968 Suprenant Company opens, makes electrical wire. One client: The Italian Navy.

Baptist Church in Jaffrey is torn down to make room for present post office. The steeple is sold to a photographer in Concord, Massachusetts.

First Girl Scout troop in Jaffrey.

Jaffrey Fire Protection Co is established, manufacturing fire hose and equipment in the former White Brothers Mills.

1969 Jaffrey Center Historic District is established. Monadnock Ledger moves to Peterborough.

1970s Jaffrey native Charles W. Bacon invents the brown maple syrup jug, now famous, that bears his name.

1972 Two Jaffrey residents, David Sawyer and Alan Wheeler, die in a plane crash in the Canadian arctic. Millipore opens its Jaffrey facility.

1973 W. W. Cross reaches 400+ employees.

Present Conant High School constructed, par tially rebuilt in 1990. Jaffrey celebrates its bicentennial.

1975 Jaffrey Center listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1976 Jaffrey Recreation Department established.

1981 Present fire station on Route 124 dedicated.

Jaffrey police officer William O’Neil is killed in the line of duty responding to a call.

1982 Chamber of Commerce founded.

1983 Peter Sawyer’s silo collapses. A massive assistance program is launched. The replacement silo still bears the words “Thank You.”

1984 Belletete’s Store eliminates groceries, focusing on hardware and building supplies.

Korea-Vietnam Memorial constr ucted on River Street.

1985 Atlas Fireworks Company fire on Hamilton Cour t causes a series of explosions. Conant boys and girls basketball teams are New Hampshire state champions for the first time.

1986 Jaffrey adopts the Town Manager system of government.

1987 Mount Monadnock listed as a National Natural Landmark.

1988 Phillips Cemetery on Fitzwilliam Road is expanded thanks to the donation of land from John Heil.

1990 Jaffrey Center Post Office closes.

1991 A new war memorial is constructed at Humiston Park.

1992 Town landfill on Old Sharon Road closed and capped, and a new recycling center and transfer station opens on the site.

Parades and fireworks sponsored by D. D. Bean to celebrate the 100th anniversar y of the matchbook.

1994 To enable the Enhanced 911 system in Jaffrey, an extensive list of Jaffrey roads are renamed.

1995 Jaffrey Town Offices moved to a building on Goodnow Street, as the former Town Offices was converted into the police station.

NH State DOT does extensive highway construction to improve the downtown intersections, and traffic lights are installed.

1996 Shattuck Inn is controversially demolished by the then-owners of the Shattuck Golf Course.

1997 Fearing a massive explosion, the collision of a Peterborough fire tr uck and a propane fuel truck at the corner of River and Main Streets causes an evacuation of downtown Jaffrey.

1998 Jaffrey is awarded the construction of the new Jaffrey-Peterborough District Courthouse, on land along Route 202 donated by the Belletete family.

2000 Jaffrey celebrated “The Millennium” with a parade, other community festivities, and fireworks were seen on the summit of Mount Monadnock.

2006 New nonprofit organization star ted with goal of bringing back Jaffrey’s Park Theatre.

Conant boys basketball team wins first of four successive state championships.

2008 Jaffrey area is devastated by an ice storm in December, with some roads impassable for days and power not reestablished for two weeks.

2009 Jaffrey opens a new sewage treatment plant.

2012 Annual Jaffrey fireworks cancelled by bomb threat. New town water source in Squantum comes online.

2013 Conant baseball team wins state championship.

2019 Jaffrey holds the last Festival of Fireworks

2020 Conant girls win first of two successive state basketball championships.

2021 Park Theatre dedicated and opened to the public. ❦

previous anniversaries

The Jaffrey Centennial was celebrated on Wednesday, August 20th because the actual 100-year anniversary date of August 17th, 1873, was a Sunday and would interfere with church services. Town meeting of that year voted to celebrate at Jaffrey Center, not East Jaffrey which had by this time become the hub of business and more heavily populated. The day-long commemoration included a parade, speeches, music, poetry, a noon meal provided by 25 citizens, and a visit by Boston Mayor Henry L. Pierce. The festivities were held under a large tent (150’ x 60’) erected on the Meetinghouse Common.

The Sesquicentennial in 1923 included many events extended over one week in August. There were lectures, concerts, dances, games, and a huge parade. This time there was a mixture of horse-drawn and motorized floats in the parade, which represented businesses, industry, organizations, and historical figures.

The Quartoseptcentennial celebrated 175 years of incorporation as a town in 1948 and lasted only two days. In addition to an anniversary ball, there was a water carnival at Contoocook beach, a ball game pitting the Match Shop against the veterans, and another impressive parade.

The last significant anniversary, the Bicentennial , had events planned from January through August of 1973. The kickoff in January was the Firemen’s Ball at which Jeanne Duval was chosen the Bicentennial Queen. There were sled dog races, snowmobile races, hot rod races on the ice, a fishing derby, exhibits, dances, banquets, and a parade, the highlight being the Budweiser Clydesdales.

A public program with many photos of these events will be held on Januar y 12, 2023. Watch for time and location details. ❦

the jaffrey meetinghouse

In addition to its charming architectural style and appealing location on the top of the hill in the historic center of town, the Jaffrey Meetinghouse has a long and fascinating history. At Town Meeting in April of 1774 the people voted “to Build a Meetinghouse on the Common near the Senter (sic) this and the ensuing year.” Captain Samuel Adams of Rindge, the lowest bidder, was awarded the contract for the framing and covering of the Meetinghouse. The great oak beams that support the Meetinghouse—still visible and perfectly sound to this day—were cut on the eastern shore of Thorndike Pond and dragged to the construction site during the winter of 1774-1775.

The actual framing of the Meetinghouse took place between the first week of May and the middle of June 1775 by Captain Adams and his hired workmen. However, the raising of the building—setting the huge timber-framed walls and roof rafters in place—needed the combined manpower of the entire town. According to cherished Jaffrey tradition, this was completed on June 17, 1775, the same day as the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the people could hear the cannon fire from Boston that day. Though difficult to believe today—and there have been notable skeptics—accounts from Francestown, Dublin, and Hanover, New Hampshire, indicate the people in those towns heard the guns as well. Regardless, the raising was accomplished, in no small part due to the large barrel of rum provided by Henry Coffeen, and to celebrate, John Eaton stood on his head on the roof ridge pole!

Having been built, the Meetinghouse was promptly neglected, due mostly to the financial hardships of the American Revolution. A floor and pews were not added until 1778, and a permanent stone foundation added in 1797. The next year it was finally painted—probably the first painted building in town—and a woodstove added in 1822, though the town did not vote to buy any firewood until 1825. The final addition, the beautiful steeple, was also added in 1822. It was designed and built by Joel Patrick, a master carpenter in town, in the popular regional style of the time. Though the bell, cast in the famous Revere foundry in Boston, was added in 1823, the clock and clock faces were not added until 1906.

The Meetinghouse was home to both Jaffrey’s Town Meetings as well as exclusively Congregational Church services until 1819, when the state Toleration Act provided other religious denominations the ability to use the building. The sharing of the building proved untenable and ten years later the Baptists built their own building in East Jaffrey (site of the modern post office), and the Congregationalists their brick church two years after that. The last denomination to leave, the Universalists, built the present Cutler Memorial building in 1844.

This left the Meetinghouse unused except for Town Meetings and elections until 1870, when the building was extensively remodeled. A second floor was added to serve as a town hall, and the first floor housed the new Conant High School when it met in Jaffrey Center, alternating every other year with East Jaffrey. But as the population center in town drifted east, both the high school and the election place were permanently moved to East Jaffrey, and by 1914 the Meetinghouse again stood neglected.

In 1922, the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society (VIS) and the Town government again extensively renovated the meetinghouse. Removing the second floor, adding a stage, and restoring the balconies, the Meetinghouse was brought to its present condition. It has served as an assembly hall for meetings, lectures, public forums, and no small number of weddings, ever since. Thanks to regular maintenance and repair, the Meetinghouse today stands tall as one of Jaffrey’s true gems. ❦

Possibly the earliest extant photograph of the Meetinghouse dating to before major renovations made in 1870 adapting the building for use as the town offices and meeting space and Conant High School.

The Meetinghouse after the 1870 renovations. Notice that the main door has been shifted one bay to the west probably to better accommodate a stairway to the second floor. The doorway was shifted back to its original location during the renovations of 1922. Notice the tennis court in front! The clock was added in 1906.

The Meetinghouse today with the Little Red Schoolhouse on the left and the Horsesheds beyond.

AMOS FORTUNE

AmoS fortune is perhaps Jaffrey’s most famous resident. Every year people from around the nation and the world read his story, and many visit Jaffrey to see where he lived, where he is buried, and the various objects he owned on display at the Jaffrey Public Library.

We know very little about his early life, except that he was bor n somewhere in Africa around 1710. He was captured and brought to New England to be enslaved. We do not know who gave him the name “Amos Fortune” or when he learned to read, though we know he was literate. By 1752 his master was Ichabod Richardson of Woburn, Massachusetts. Richardson was a tanner—a person who turns animal hides into useable leather—and that Amos Fortune worked at the tannery. Richardson promised that, upon his death, his will would provide for Amos Fortune’s freedom, and a manumission paper was drawn up. It was, however, never signed, and when Richardson died in 1768 there were no provisions for Fortune. Eventually, a deal was struck with Richardson’s family, allowing Amos Fortune to purchase his own freedom in instalments. In November 1770, at the age of 60, Amos Fortune was at last a free man.

He purchased land in Woburn and began his own tannery in 1774, and bought the freedom of an enslaved woman named Lydia. He married her, but she died within a year. The following year Amos Fortune purchased the freedom of Violate Baldwin and married her.

Why the Fortunes relocated to Jaf frey in 1781 is also a mystery, although they may have been attracted to the large number of cattle that grazed on the slopes of Mount Monadnock and were herded through town on the way to the market in Boston—a definite draw for a leather tanner. After being “warned out” of town—a legal procedure that allowed the town to not be responsible for their welfare should they become destitute— the Fortunes were allowed to start a tannery along Mountain Stream, just south of modern Route 124 west of Jaffrey Center. The land belonged to the town’s future minister—who had not yet been chosen—and the Fortune’s lived there for eight years. In 1789 Amos Fortune bought his own land on Tyler Brook along the road to Sharon—modern Amos Fortune Road—and built the house and barn which still stand today as a private residence.

Amos Fortune ran a prosperous business.

He had customers from as far away as Amherst, Keene, and northern Massachusetts. He took on several apprentices and had his best friend from Woburn, “Pompey,” as his assistant. Pompey had the surname of Blackman when he was enslaved, but changed his last name to Freeman after he earned his freedom though his service in the army in the American Revolution. He moved to Jaffrey to be near his friend, and died here in 1790.

The Fortunes were well respected in Jaffrey. Amos Fortune was a full member of the Church in Jaffrey, though they probably had to sit in the “colored” bench in the north-west gallery of the Meetinghouse (an unfortunate custom throughout New England at the time). He was a charter member of the Jaffrey Social Library and may have tanned the leather that bound the library’s books. He owned several suits of clothes, silver buckles for his shoes, a compass, and a silver watch.

Amos Fortune died on November 17, 1801, aged 91 years. In his will, along with the usual bequests to his family, he made several special provisions. He provided that financial gifts be given to Schoolhouse #8 and the Church in Jaffrey. The Church used their $100 to buy a pewter communion service, which they used until the 1870s and is now in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in New York. After Schoolhouse #8 had closed, the $233.85 Amos Fortune left was given for use in all the Jaffrey schools. It remains to this day as a Town trust fund, which as of January 2022 had grown to over $36,000.

The story of Amos Fortune may have been only locally famous but for Elizabeth Yates McGreal, an author from Peterborough who came to Jaffrey one summer night in the 1940s to

listen to a talk at the Amos Fortune Forum. Named for Amos Fortune, the summer lecture series began in 1946 and is still going strong. Inspired by his story, McGreal wrote a children’s book called Amos Fortune, Free Man that was based on her research on Fortune’s life. The book was published in 1950, won the Newbery Award for children’s literature the following year, and has been read by millions of children worldwide ever since. Jaffrey continues to honor the memory of Amos Fortune to this day, as a commemorative stone marking Amos Fortune on the New Hampshire Black Heritage Trail will be installed as part of the Jaffrey250 festivities. ❦

Above: The cover of Amos Fortune, Free Man.

Left: Nora Unwin’s depiction of Amos Fortune, tanner.

Below: His house and barn today on Amos Fortune Road, Jaffrey.

the humistons

The S tory of the Humistons in Jaffrey begins on a battlefield of the Civil War. Amos Humiston, a deceased Union Soldier from New York with no identification, was found holding a picture of three children. The story drew attention and following a number of developments the poor widow and her children were located. She eventually moved to Gettysburg and her children received good educations. Franklin, the oldest of the three became a doctor and in 1886 for an unknown reason moved to Jaffrey. Unproven and untrusted at the beginning, Dr. Humiston slowly became one of the town’s most beloved people. He married Carrie Tarbell of Groton, Massachusetts. Franklin served many years on the school committee and Mrs. Humiston became active as well. When the couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary they were feted by the town with the biggest celebration seen in town for many years. The Humistons had six children, all of whom attended Jaffrey schools, some going on to college. John, the fifth child, attended the Mount Hermon School and went on to New Hampshire State College (UNH). It was said that he often enjoyed fun more than his studies. John enlisted in the National Guard and later was part of a Machine Gun Troop. When the United States entered World War I in 1917 John shipped to France as Bugler of his troop. He was killed in action at Apremont, France, on June 16, 1918. He received two citations for bravery. He is buried in France.

At the Jaffrey Annual Town Meeting in 1919 the ball field formerly known as “Warren Ground” was renamed “Humiston Field” to honor the doctor who served the town so faithfully and well, and for John Humiston, the only Jaffrey boy in the First World War to lose his life for his country—as his Grandfather had, two generations earlier.

An arch was erected at the entrance to Humiston Field with bronze plaques cast for the father and son. In 1991 the arch was removed when the area at the junction of Squantum and Howard Hill Roads was changed to honor veterans of later wars. The bronze plaques are now displayed on the Humiston Field granite stone and the “Humiston Field” iron arch sits atop the field’s scoreboard. ❦

jaffrey war memorials

EVer since the first battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, Jaffrey has had a long and distinguished record of her citizens willing to fight for their nation’s freedom. Equally impressive is Jaffrey’s tradition of honoring those servicemen and women with memorials around town to remind us today of their sacrifices.

Soldier’S MonuMent

In 1899 it was decided that the town needed a memorial to the over 150 Jaffrey men who fought in the Civil War, at least 35 of whom had died in the conflict. The total cost was estimated at $2,900, of which $1,100 was paid through voluntary contributions. The rest was paid through Town funds. Before construction it was decided that such an impressive monument should also be dedicated to Jaffrey’s Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Mexican war veterans.

The bronze statue of a Union soldier was sculpted and cast by Melzar Mosman of Chicopee, Massachusetts, who created many of the bronze Civil War statues found across New England. The tall granite pedestal was designed and carved in Barre, Vermont. Engraved upon the sides, in addition to the dedication and year of erection, is Daniel Webster’s immortal quote “Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable.”

The monument was erected in time for a dedication ceremony on May 16, 1900, with over 2,000 people attending. Delegations of Civil War veterans from the entire area attended, as well as the state commander of the Grand Army of the Republic.

“BuddieS” MonuMent

In 1919, just a year after the ending of World War I, a ceremony was held to dedicate a large “Memorial Boulder” on the East Jaffrey town common, bearing a large bronze plaque listing the over 100 Jaffrey men who fought in the war. This boulder still exists at the base of the more familiar “Buddies” monument. The Buddies monument was the work of Viggo Brandt-Erichsen, a Danish sculptor who had been living in town since he buried his Jaffrey-born wife Dorothy and their infant daughter here in 1926. Eager for a reason to stay in town, he proposed to carve the monument free of charge, so long as his expenses were covered. The townspeople and local veteran’s organizations eagerly agreed, and a large granite boulder was located along the north side of Route 124 about a mile west of Jaffrey Center. Dragging the 40-ton boulder the three miles to East Jaffrey took six weeks.

After two years of work, in 1930 the sculpture was complete. It depicts two soldiers in the midst of combat, one wounded and being car ried to safety by his comradein-arms. The monument was dedicated November 11, 1930, in front of a crowd estimated at 7,000, including 600 veterans, Governor Charles

Tobey, and General Clarence Edwards of the US Army’s 26th “Yankee” Division. Total cost for the monument was $2,700, of which $1,500 was paid through voluntary contributions. The monument has graced our town common ever since.

Gold Star MotherS MonuMent

Over 500 Jaffrey men and women served in World War II, and ten gave their lives. Once again, Viggo-Brandt Erichsen offered to sculpt a memorial. His first statuary proposal, said to be the largest ceramic statue in the world at that time, was rejected at Town Meeting in 1948 for being too symbolic and expensive. Stung by this rejection, he decided to relocate to Solvang, California. However, before he left, he created a much smaller version of his memorial for the East Jaffrey town common.

Using local women Hilda Brooks and Lillian Lafreniere as models, the memorial depicts two women praying and the names of nine of Jaffrey’s war dead (the tenth was discovered later), all surrounded by forget-me-nots, and topped by a bald eagle. Known as the Gold Star Mothers monument to honor the mothers of servicemen lost in battle, it was dedicated in 1949 and remained Jaffrey’s only World War II memorial for more than 40 years. The larger mock-up of the memorial is located inside the John Humiston Post #11 American Legion hall.

Korea-VietnaM War MeMorial ParK

Three Jaffrey men died during the Korean War of 1950–53, and one died in the Vietnam War of 1959–1975. In the early 1980s, inspired by the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., Jaffrey native and Vietnam War veteran Rick Lambert decided his hometown should recognize these men. A committee was formed in 1983 to purchase an abandoned Texaco station on River Street, remove the dilapidated structures, and then design and construct a suitable memorial park. A total of $115,000 was eventually raised, entirely through private donations, mostly small and almost entirely from Jaffrey and surrounding towns.

The park, designed by local architects Bissell Alderman and Gordon Weidenkeller, was dedicated with a parade and ceremony on August 11, 1984, to a crowd of thousands, and featuring remarks from Chairman Lambert, Congressman Judd Gregg, and Senator Warren Rudman. The park includes a cantilevered deck over the Contoocook River featuring a flagpole with the US and POW/MIA flags. The two memorial granite stones, once the front steps of the East Jaffrey Baptist Church, are engraved with the words Korea and Vietnam. Encircling the park is anchor chain taken from a US Navy vessel. The first privately financed Korea/Vietnam memorial in New Hampshire, it remains to this day privately owned but open to the public.

huMiSton Field MeMorial ParK

In 1991, as the world observed the 50th anniversary of World War II, concerns were raised that Jaffrey did not have a suitable memorial to honor the veterans of that war. Additionally, the United States had been in several other conflicts since Vietnam that went unrecognized. Renovations and upgrades to Humiston Field, the beloved town ball field at the triangle between Howard Hill and Squantum Roads, presented an opportunity for these oversights to be rectified. As Humiston Field was named for one of Jaffrey’s World War I casualties, John Humiston, and his father Franklin, this seemed entirely appropriate. Again, a committee was formed that set out to raise $40,000 through individual contributions, the first of which was made by the Student Council of the Jaf frey-Rindge Middle

School. Construction was completed in time for a November 11, 1991 dedication featuring remarks from Selectwoman Jeanne Labrie and US Senator Bob Smith. The park features two granite stones, one engraved with World War II and the other originally engraved with Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, and Persian Gulf. Several decades later it was decided to add the names of the ten Jaffrey men killed in World War II to the appropriate stone. Sadly additional wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with the name of Stephen Murphy, killed in Iraq, had to be added to the other.

SoldierS rocK

Perhaps Jaffrey’s most obscure war memorial is situated on the south side of Route 124, less than half a mile from Perkin’s Pond. Known as Soldier’s Rock, this large boulder marks the spot where, according to legend, a company of men marching off to fight in the American Revolution camped for the evening. One of the party died that evening, and his comrades buried him beside the rock, and continued on their way to Ticonderoga, Bennington, or perhaps some other battle. Perhaps they were returning from battle, and this unknown soldier never made it back to his home, wherever that was. Details are scarce and the only source for this story is Albert Annett’s History of Jaffrey, which offers no source. Regardless of the veracity of the story, on the chance that there still is a soldier of the Revolution buried there, the rock has a small engraving and each Memorial Day flags and a wreath are placed beside it. The mists of time may obscure the details of each fallen soldier, but at least in Jaffrey, they are never forgotten! ❦

jaffrey cemeteries

Jaffrey has five publicly owned cemeteries. The largest and newest is c onant c emetery off of Stratton Road. The earliest is the o ld B urying g round behind the Meetinghouse. At the other end of the Jaffrey Center village is c utter c emetery and its recent Extension. p hillip S - h eil c emetery lies in the western part of Jaffrey off Fitzwilliam Road. V illage (or Baptist) c emetery is off of Turnpike Road in downtown Jaffrey. And the S mall p ox c emetery is in the woods along Route 202 above D. D. Bean.

old BuryinG Ground

in the Settlement of early towns provision for a burying ground was of necessity among the first requirements. Custom and convenience had it situated close by the church and this convention was observed here in Jaffrey.

The original grant of the township—at first called Middle Monadnock No. 2—was made in 1749 and among the stipulations was “that a good Convenient Meeting House be Built...as near the Center of the Town...and Ten Acres of Land reserved for Publick Uses.” The Burying Ground qualified as such a use and so too the Common for military training and reviews. Later, a petition to the Township proprietors noted that before

incorporation in 1773 a burying place had been reserved on the Common “...and some persons interred there.” The present form of the Burying Ground reflects the work of a committee appointed by the Town in 1784. Of the four members, three—Roger Gilmore, Daniel Emery and Adonijah Howe—are buried within. No trace remains of the earliest gravesites, but at least eight marked graves pre-date the laying out of 1784, the oldest being that of Mrs. Jaen Harper who died in 1777.

The Old Burying Ground is located behind the Jaf frey Meetnghouse off of Route 124 in Jaffrey Center.

NOTE: A walking tour is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/obgtour.pdf

cutter ceMetery

“in Jaffrey center there is an old cemetery sacred to the Cutter tribe who gave it. If you would find the place, leave the Center Village to the west, and branching off on the old road over Cutter Hill you will come after a few rods to a well-kept, shaded, and beautifully situated cemetery, laid out and owned for many years by an association of the Cutter family and its connections. It was founded in 1836 in accordance with the wishes of John Cutter, a prosperous tanner, whose home was the large house at the fork of the roads nearby. This yard was entrusted to the care and ownership of the town in 1927.” —From the History of Jaffrey, Vol. I, p. 713.

The most pleasing appeal of Cutter Cemetery is its allée of maples many of which date from the Civil War era. The newer maples replaced older ones and were planted by the Monadnock and Dublin Garden Clubs as a joint project back in 2012 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Garden Clubs of America.

The Cutter Extension which adjoins the northwest corner was laid out in 2004. Both Town and private funds were used to purchase the land, a happy confluence of cemetery expansion and land protection.

Cutter Cemetery is located on Harkness Road close to its intersection with Main Street.

NOTE: A walking tourr is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/cctour.pdf

PhilliPS-heil ceMetery

“in the Southwett part of Jaffrey, rising toward Gap Mountain and watched over by Monadnock, are breezy uplands once cleared and occupied by prosperous farms. The pioneers of this region were active in the affairs of the town but were so far removed from the meeting-house and center of community life, that in matters of trade they were largely tributary to Fitzwilliam, while in social affairs they came from their isolation to

have a close- knit neighborhood relation that was peculiarly their own.

Following the Revolution there had been an era of land speculation in New England... and so it happened that a thousand acres, more or less, in the township of Jaffrey came into the possession of the wealthy and distinguished Phillips family of Massachusetts... In 1797, for a nominal consideration and the condition that it should be fenced with a good stone wall...Samuel

Phillips conveyed to the town a tract of ninetyfive square rods for a burial yard, which was an immediate need. The town complied faithfully with all the conditions of the gift, and out of the rough field stones of the vicinity it built the typical New England wall... The tall gate posts also were of stone, hewed by Josiah Ingalls, a worthy man of that neighborhood whose work is his only monument.”

—From the History of Jaffrey, Vol. I, p. 709-10.

In 1988 land from John Heil, who lived nearby, was added to the cemetery for an extension and a new access road. As a result the cemetery is now named Phillips-Heil Cemetery. John Heil, who died in 2002, is buried here.

The Phillips-Heil Cemetery is located off of Fitzwilliam Road just south of Old County Road. Look for the granite post and sign on the west side of the road.

NOTE: A walking tour is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/phtour.pdf

VillaGe ceMetery

“contrary to the course of Empire, the town of Jaffrey grew from west to east, and as early as 1829 the thriving Factory Village (now East Jaffrey) found it too far to go to the old churchyard at Jaffrey Center to bury the increasing number of its dead, and as there was already a shortage of room at the old graveyard the town acquired on October 24, 1829, of Oliver Bacon, a tract of land on the outskirts of the village, north of the Turnpike and so near the Baptist Meeting-house, then building, that it was sometimes called the Baptist graveyard. Two years later, December 30, 1831, the town paid Thomas Davidson $79.65 for building sixty-five rods of ‘stone wall around the burying yard near the Baptist meeting house.’ The village yard was beautiful for situation, and for a time it was more used than the old yard at the center of the town. Again the increasing population of the field of the dead set an even pace with the growth of the town.”

—From the Histor y of Jaffrey, Vol. I, p. 713.

The last interment at the Village Cemetery was in 1935 so its time as an active Jaffrey cemetery was just over 100 years. Although it’s right there on Turnpkke Road in downtown Jaffrey, many people pass it by every day without ever noticing it’s there, tucked behind the trees. Stop sometime and pass through the gate and view Jaffrey history.

Perhaps its most distinguishing characteristic is its sur viving Hearse House beside the entrance gate. Inside resides the antique sleigh or winter hearse. (The wheeled hearse is in storage in Squantum.)

The Village Cemetery is located of f of Turnpike Road (Rt. 124) just east of Oak Street in downtown Jaffrey. Look for the Hearse House and the white gate. Parking is best on Turnpike Road or Ellison or Oak Streets.

NOTE: A walking tour is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/vctour.pdf

conant ceMetery

proViSionS for the mortuary needs of the town had never been adequate or well considered, and in 1859 it was already apparent that more room was needed for even the immediate future. Nine years before that John Conant had retired from his farm near the Mountain to end his days in comfort in a new house in the village, now owned by James H. Fitzgerald, and perhaps because the village cemetery was in view from his door he was made aware of the coming need. In his recently acquired lands there was a sandy table-land alongside a hardwood grove and at a convenient distance from the village that seemed to him well suited to the needs of the town. His thought quickly found results in action. He gave to a newlyformed association, called the Conant Cemetery Association, this tract of land for a cemetery. The Conant Cemetery Association was organized in the summer of 1859 by John Conant, John A. Prescott, Andrews Emery, Orford Capron, Samuel Ryan, J. E. B. Jewett, James L. Bolster, David A. Wood, Orlando Cragin, and their associates. On Sunday afternoon, June 17, 1860, the new cemetery was dedicated, and burials that year were those of Andrews Emery, Thomas Chadwick, and a child of Granville Shedd.

John Conant fenced the new cemetery with a substantial picket fence supported by stone posts, and so well was the work done that after seventy years it shows no sign of weakening or decay. After a few years a border of pines was set out around

the outer boundaries of the cemetery, and along the entrance aisle from the street they have formed an almost completely arched avenue, sombre and still but beautiful and in keeping with the spirit of the place. It is a well-kept cemetery and a credit to the association and the town, but like its predecessors it has kept pace with the growth of the town and recently more room has been made available for burial lots.

—From the History of Jaffrey, Vol. I, pp. 713-14.

The entrance to Conant Cemetery is on Stratton Road near Forcier Way..

NOTE: A walking tour is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/conanttour.pdf

John Conant’s gravesite.

St PatricK ceMetery

St. patricK cemetery is located on the south side of Route 202 across from Cheshire Pond, bounded on the east by Hillcrest Road. The Reverend Patrick J. McEvoy, the founding pastor of St. Patrick Parish, purchased a piece of land on August 9, 1890, from Arthur Blake for the sum of $300. Over the next 75 years three other tracts of land were acquired. On March 10, 1942, the Town of Jaffrey conveyed to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Manchester a parcel of land adjoining the present cemetery and the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. This land contained approximately 1.6 acres and the cost was $10. The second tract was acquired from David Vinal in 1963. The final portion was acquired from the Town of Jaffrey for $50 in 1965. This triangular piece of land, containing about one acre, brought the present size to approximately seven acres.

—From the History of Jaffrey, Vol. IV, pp. 144-47.

St. Patrick Cemetery is located on Hillcrest Road close to its intersection with Peterborough Street (Rt. 202).

NOTE: A walking tour is available online at http://www.rs41.org/jhs/stpatricktour.pdf

SMall Pox ceMetery

“on the Brow of the hill in a corner of the pasture on the former Benjamin Pierce farm, now owned by Horace Deschenes, is a small plot of ground fenced off by a tumble-down stone wall and looking down on the Contoocook River below Cheshire Factory. Two gravestones peered over the wall for many years and could be seen from the road below, but every trace of memorial has long since vanished.

No Potters field of dead waifs and strays was ever more neglected than this graveyard where many new-made towns, if they could count it as a possession, would erect a monument and make it an honored shrine. No path leads to this forsaken enclosure. No one comes here now except that occasionally a mild-eyed cow, standing by the stone wall, chews her ruminative cud and wonders vaguely if it be worth the while to climb over the obstruction to crop the sparse herbage within. It is the old smallpox cemetery.

Six are buried here apar t, a most incongruous company, as will appear below, but enough of

tragedy and hear tbreak is buried in this little forsaken plot to out-weigh the grief for a hundred in the ordered communities of the dead. Here no prayers were offered, no family and no friends gathered about, no earth to earth, no dust to dust was said here. Rather the burial was at night, as if it were the work of ghouls and not of men.”

—From the History of Jaffrey, Vol. I, pp. 714-1.5

There is a footpath that takes you to the Small Pox Cemetery. It’s a short walk starting at the end of Fitch Road above D.D. Bean. ❦

K-K village / tacktown

Jaffrey is not alone in having neighborhoods, often called villages, that became known by a name familiar to natives. In Jaffrey, Squantum, Cheshire and K-K are a puzzle to newcomers and visitors. To this day, Squantum remains a mystery to all. Cheshire, the village by the pond of the same name just north of town, retains the name of the Cheshire Manufacturing Company, chartered by the Legislature in 1823 for the manufacture of cotton goods in a factory that preceded the building standing there now. But what about K-K?

A new industry was established in Jaffrey in 1897 when a mill by the bridge at the bottom of Cross Street ceased making cutlery to begin the manufacture of tacks. With a good market the business prospered until a fire in 1915 forced erecting a new and larger building close to the railroad. In its new home the Granite State Tack Company continued to prosper, drawing new residents to town. In 1917 a group of successful, local businessmen formed the Jaffrey Development Company to find ways to assist the town. In 1920 the group purchased two tracts of wild land, totaling 20 acres, south of the new tack factory. The land was platted into 64 lots averaging 100 feet by 75 feet with 40 foot wide streets. The street names came from nature, such as Oak, Brook, Juniper and Pine. The new town water system served the area and some homes had electricity. A sewer system was added in 1935 with a grant from the Federal government.

The first resident to enter the development was Paul Toupin who moved his shack from another location. Local lore relates that early residents built little more than a shack, this being the depth of the Great Depression. The first house was a ready-cut bungalow and later styles ranged from little buildings to good sized ones. The original developers did not name the development but to locals it came to be called “Tacktown,” “Tackville” and “K-K Village” because many of the residents were employed by the nearby factory. During this period the Granite State Tack Company was manufacturing a product named “KLEAN-KUTT TACKS.” And the K-K remains a familiar appellation to the older population. ❦

the dean murder

The murder of William K. Dean toward the end of World War I was one of the most iconic events in Jaffrey’s history. The murder split the town into opposing camps divided by social, political and religious differences. The crime haunted Jaffrey’s citizens for decades and many of those who were alive at the time refused to even speak about it. Here is a timeline of the history of the Dean murder.

August 13, 1918

On a sweltering summer evening, William K. Dean rode his buggy from his hilltop home down to the village of East Jaffrey to run errands. He returned home and told his wife he was going to the barn to milk the cow. He never returned.

August 14, 1918

Mary Dean reported her husband missing. Among those called to look for him was Dean’s friend, banker Charles Rich, who showed up with a black eye and scratches on his face, which he claimed came from a kick from his horse. Dean’s body was found, hog-tied and dumped into a rainwater cistern near his summer house. The house had recently been vacated by Lawrence Colfelt, who was suspected by locals of being a German spy.

August 16, 1918

William Dean was buried in Conant Cemetery, though his body would not be allowed to rest for long.

August 28, 1918

At the request of “psychic detective” William de Kerlor—invited to join the case by Dean’s brother Frederick—Dean’s body was exhumed and found to have cuts on his forehead which De Kerlor claimed matched those on Charles Rich’s face.

September 19, 1918

Agents of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation—who had already been in the area investigating reports of signal lights from Mount Monadnock as possibly being German espionage—turn their attention to the murder of William Dean.

October 1918

The so-called “Spanish flu” epidemic hit Jaffrey hard and a number of witnesses to the Dean case died.

November 11, 1918 WWI ended, and with it any interest the federal

government had in the Dean murder.

April 11, 1919

A grand jury was called to investigate the Dean murder. After eight days of deliberation, the jury arrived at the conclusion that Dean had been murdered “by person or persons unknown,” effectively drawing the case to a close. The records were sealed and locked away so that public had no idea what transpired there.

October 22, 1919

Boston reporter Bert Ford began a series of incendiary articles on the Dean murder that brought the case back to life. A year later, Ford compiled his articles into a book, The Dean Murder Mystery. The book outraged some Jaffrey residents and copies were collected and burned.

April 25, 1921

Charles Rich sued Jaffrey selectman Edward Boynton for slander, claiming that Boynton had implicated him in Dean’s murder. The trial brought out details of the murder that had never been revealed before, but in the end the jury dismissed the charges against Boynton, who had claimed that Rich knew more about the murder than he would tell; the jury, apparently, agreed.

January 1979

During the completion of a new addition to the Cheshire County Courthouse in Keene, the record of the grand jury hearing into the Dean murder, hidden away for decades, was discovered. The twenty notebooks, written in Pitman shorthand, came to the attention of Margaret Bean, whose husband Jack was the son of D.D. Bean, one of Charles Rich’s close associates.

April 1989

After years of work, Margaret Bean completed a transcription of the Hearing by the Grand Jury on

the Death of William K. Dean, a massive tome that revealed information about the case never before revealed to the public.

August 18, 2018

One hundred years to the day of William Dean’s murder, Ken Sheldon performed a one-man play about the case commissioned by the Jaffrey Historical Society. The multimedia production, performed at the Jaffrey Meetinghouse, included audio and video performances by members of

the Jaffrey community as the original suspects, witnesses, and investigators of the case.

July 15, 2022

Deep Water—Murder, Scandal and Intrigue in a New England Town, written by Ken Sheldon with support from the Jaffrey Historical Society and the Bean Family Foundation, was published. The first in-depth investigation into the Dean murder, Deep Water was based on thousands of pages of FBI documents, newspaper reports, personal correspondence and other original documents. ❦

Above: The last known photograph of William and Mary Dean.

Right: Charles Rich—judge, banker and friend of William Dean. Prime suspect?

Headline in a Boston paper on October 22, 1919.

Left: Ken Sheldon’s Deep Water Below: The evidence in the Dean case included a bloody doorknob and the ropes with which he was bound.

lighting JaffreY’s streets

Finally, in 1910, the Selectmen signed a contract with the Jaffrey and Troy Electric Light Company to supply electricity to Jaffrey. The Annual Report the next year reported paying Mr. Lindsay for collecting the street lamps. Two of them remain in Jaffrey; one can be viewed on School Street and the second, now well restored, is in front of the Jaffrey Civic Center. The Derry Electric Company replaced the Jaffrey and Troy Company in 1917 and was

succeeded by New Hampshire Electric, then Public Service Company of New Hampshire. All three companies maintained offices and appliance showrooms in the Bean block, current home of Harvest Christian Fellowship, 1 Main Street.

The Monadnock Breeze, the local newspaper in 1910, reported the progress of securing power for the town and included whose properties were being wired for service as well as comments regarding the quality of service:

January 29 “Our people have been told that the electric lights will be turned on Monday night.”

When Jaffrey welcomed the 20th century, a few amenities were known. The telephone was introduced in the 1890s. The initial start of a water system came in the first decade and automobiles appeared on the dusty streets. But those streets were dark at night. Only a few businesses had a lamp at their entrance. In 1890 an article appeared on the warrant for the annual meeting to raise and appropriate a sum of money to light the streets in East Jaffrey. This was answered, for the following year a warrant article seeking “to see if the town will vote to accept from the ladies of the Village Improvement Society the street lamps erected by them...” This immediately raises a conundrum: the Jaffrey Center Village Society was not formed until August of 1906. Whatever the answer to the riddle might be, in 1899 East Jaffrey village had illuminated streets and the Annual Report stated that D. P. Jennings was paid $207.95 for oil and caring for the lamps. He continued serving until 1904 when Walter Lindsay was named lamplighter and served until electricity reached Jaffrey several years later. During those years various warrant articles concerning street lighting appeared, including the use of acetylene gas, which was quickly voted down. More lamps were added in 1904 when the town voted to accept from District No. 7 (Jaffrey Center) “the street lamps as they are now located on the streets at the Center of the town.”

February 5 “...electric lights not yet shining; in Jaffrey Center electric bulbs in place but no electricity yet; reckless slaughter and butchery of shade trees along the highway for electric lights...”

February 19 “Charles Burpee has electric lights in his barbershop.”

July 2 “About 9 o’clock Wednesday night the lights went out and did not come back. Just where they went we will not tell, because on the whole they’ve done so well.”

July 30 “The electric lights have been unsteady lately. They work like a clerk who is about to take a vacation.” ❦

lord jaffrecoN : the true story

In the late 80s there was some worry at Board meetings of the Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce about the potential impact on downtown businesses if Wal-Mart came into the area. Upon learning that the Bath, Maine, Chamber had faced the same issue, we invited them to come for a program on how they coped with the threat. They recommended that we ‘create civic mischief ’ as a lure to downtown vitality, and shortly thereafter then Executive Director, Barry Miller, dreamed up Lord Jaffrecon, a fictitious 250-year old contemporary of several famous early settlers. Owen Houghton was approached to play the part; Robin Mijecka sewed the uniform; and Peter Lambert contributed a three-cornered hat purchased at Mont Vernon. A walking stick was standard fare. As Past President of the Jaffrey Historical Society, Owen capitalized on the historical references to Lord Jaffrecon as a contemporary of Amos Fortune and Ben Prescott (with whom he often spent time around a rum barrel in the basement of Benjamin Prescott Inn—sometimes also with the good Reverend Laban Ainsworth, but don’t tell anyone!)

The role provided a good source for educating kids in the community with Jaffrey history. The Lord visited local businesses on special occasions such as ribbon cuttings, and led

parades such as the 100th Birthday Celebration of the D. D. Bean Matches and Riverfest—he has even danced with Shakespearian Players on the lawn of the Meetinghouse and demonstrated his skills at Zumba on Main Street! His image appears on the summer welcome to Jaffrey banners which greet visitors to our special place at the foot of Mount Monadnock. ❦

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

—Margaret Mead

GOVERNMENT

Seats of Jaffrey Government

The Public Schools of Jaffrey The State of the Schools The Jaffrey Public Library Jaffrey-Peterborough District Court

seats of jaffrey government

AS Jaffrey considers what might be the best way to accommodate its governmental activities—build a new Town Office building, renovate and improve the present one or purchase and adapt an existing property— perhaps looking at how things have been done in the past will offer insight.

For the first century of its existence the town had no office of any sort: records were likely kept at the home or business of those who kept the records, i.e. the town clerk, the selectmen, the tax collector, etc. The only public facility at which town business was carried out was the Meetinghouse where Town Meeting was held until 1915. (Jaffrey’s first Town Meeting was held on September 14, 1773, “at the house of Francis Wright, innholder,” a

house on Gilmore Pond Road that still stands.)

In 1870 the interior of the Meetinghouse was totally rebuilt. The old box pews and the raised pulpit were removed and a floor was installed to make the building two stories. Conant High School had the ground floor which was used every other year alternating with space in the District 2 schoolhouse on School Street in what then was called East Jaffrey. Town offices and a meeting room were on the second floor. Conant eventually stayed downtown but the town offices remained in the Meetinghouse until the Jaffrey Public Library opened in 1896.

The Library, one of Jaf frey’s finest buildings, was designed by the Fitchburg architect, H.M. Francis and from the start the intention was to provide space for town offices as well as a “convenient public hall…with a fire-proof vault.” So although Town Meeting continued at the Meetinghouse for another 18 years, the various town officials now had a modern and comfortable place to do their work and store their records.

In 1915 Town Meeting moved to the Union Hall in the District 2 schoolhouse and remained there until 1937 when the building was replaced by the current Jaffrey Grade School. It continued in the new school until 1956 when it moved to the “new high school auditorium on Stratton Road,” still its location today.

The Granite State Hotel overlooked the village green and was, aside

from the neighboring mills, the largest building in the downtown. It was ill-fated, though, the original version and the two successors succumbing to fire, the last in 1923. Rather than rebuilding yet again, the owners, Julius and Ada Prescott, gave the site to the town for a “future town hall.” So a need for such a facility must have been evident even back then.

By 1927 a Town Hall Fund and Town Hall Capital Reserve Fund had been created, but nothing happened until the early 1950s when it became clear that “the need for a place for the town officers to do their work was a pressing one…” At the 1953 Town Meeting, a committee consisting of Ralph E. Boynton, Elizabeth D. Sawyer and Alfred S. Despres was appointed to “investigate the feasibility of locating and erecting a structure of the ‘Colonial’ type, in harmony with traditional New England architecture. The committee reported its findings at the next town meeting… At this time it was ‘voted that the Town authorize the construction and partial furnishing of a Town Office Building on the site donated by Mr. and Mrs. Julius E. Prescott…’”

The site of the first Town Meeting, on Gilmore Pond Road.

The architect chosen for the project was Alfred T. Granger Associates of Hanover (also the designers of the Jaffrey Grade School) and the contractor was T.H. and E.H. Bergeron of Keene. “The foundation was started in September, 1954, and the building was completed in the summer of 1955.” There was “suitable accommodations for the Court Room, Police De-

partment, Town Clerk, Tax Collector, Selectmen, Water Commissioners, and a garage for the police cruiser and the V. F. W. ambulance. The total cost of the building, of brick construction, amounted to $56,526.76.” Not only were most town departments accommodated in the new building but it was purpose-built and had perhaps the finest location in the downtown.

By the early 1990s space for town government functions had again become a problem. The Police Depar tment had moved out and taken over the old Fire Station on River Street (1984). The Water Department now had its new building on Turnpike Road. The Court had also relocated (1985) and was in rented space elsewhere in Jaffrey. Still the Town Office building was cramped. An opportunity presented itself to purchase an industrial building and recycle it as a new Town Office building. For a variety of reasons including its location out of the downtown, this proposal did not fare well. But at about the same time another option arose. The old lumber warehouse for Goodnow’s Department Store, which had been renovated for an operations center for the bank, became available.

At the 1995 Town Meeting the voters were asked to raise and appropriate $470,000 “to purchase and renovate property from CFX Bank. Inc.…and to renovate the existing Town Office… The renovations would allow for the Town Office personnel to move to the CFX Building [and] the Police Station to move to the existing Town Office….” The proposal had strong support with the article carrying 223 to 31.

The work was accomplished and the new Town Office was occupied on November 9, 1995. And that’s where we are today. ❦

This article first appeared in the Mondanock LedgerTranscript, September 2, 2010.

In 1955 the Town Offices moved into a new ‘purpose-built’ home overlooking the Common. It also housed the district court. Today it serves as the Police Department.

The present Town Office behind TD Bank, the former Goodnow’s lumber warehouse. It was purchased and renovated in 1995 and remains in service today.

The Jaffrey Public Library housed the Town Offices from its opening in 1896 until they moved to Union Hall in 1915.

the public schools of jaffrey

The firSt evidence of public support for schools in Jaffrey was in April of 1775 when a town meeting voted eight pounds for “town Chool.” The funds were divided up into five “schools” which were held in private homes in various sections of town. There were about 180 children under 16 in Jaffrey at the time. Every few years supporters of education and leading citizens would propose improvements through town meetings. Motions to build school houses, hire teachers, and purchase supplies would be approved and committees were named to carry out the wishes of the voters. However, for many years agreement could not be reached on the site locations for many of the proposed school houses. Year after year the townspeople and the Selectmen would order one-room school houses to be built, set out the exact requirements, name people responsible to see that it was done, but disputes on locations would stall any progress. The problems seemed to lie in geographic centers versus population clusters.

In 1778 the town was divided into eight school districts and voted 12 pounds for their support. The next year the division was ten districts and 200 pounds. However, most oneroom school houses were not built until locations were finally settled in the 1790s. The districts started with #1 in Squantum, then from east to west along the southern part of town, including #2 through #5. Then they reversed along the central tier of town, west to east, including #6 through #8. Number 9 was in the northeast corner of town and #10 was east of Thorndike Pond. Buildings were sometimes moved to new locations within their districts, presumably to accommodate the population shifts.

More districts were added in the early 1800s. #11 was located on the current Dublin Road near Gibbs Road. This is the only preserved school house, now open to the public as a small museum. The Jaffrey Historical Society moved the building to the Town Common near the Meetinghouse in 1970 and it is open on weekends in the summer months.

Number 12 was built in 1840 near the Troy and Marlborough town lines and accommodated nearby children

from those towns as well as local Jaffrey students. The last school house to be built was District 13 on what is now known as Town Farm Road.

These district schools were for grammar school-age children, usually aged 6 to 16, later to be recognized as grades 1 to 8. Any further education was considered a personal family responsibility and not publicly funded. Private academies were preparatory schools leading to college and university and were tuition based. Many children never went beyond 8th grade.

In 1832 the ambition of Jaffrey for an academy of its own was realized when a few leading citizens obtained a charter for a school. One of the generous incorporators was Jonas Melville, a successful investor and banker, and was recognized for his benevolence by naming the new school house built on Thorndike Pond Road as Melville Academy. The academy opened in 1833 with an incredible 174 pupils in the building as we know it today! In the 1840s attendance dwindled until it finally closed sometime in the 1850s. About 1863 the town took possession of the building for its #7 district grammar school.

Distinguished Jaffrey resident John Conant, through a gift of $7,000 established a free public high school (as an institution, not a building) in 1870. Classes were held in the Melville Academy building for one term that year then moved to the Meetinghouse for the second term. As a condition

of the donation Mr. Conant required that the location of classes should alternate yearly between Jaffrey Center and East Jaffrey. But by 1897 convenience and logistics determined that Conant High School would be permanently settled in the District 2 school building in East Jaffrey. There it would remain until a new building was built on Stratton Road and opened in 1916, now the Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School.

By the 1850s the trend was towards centralizing town grammar schools and closing the oneroom district school houses. The District 2 school in East Jaffrey, which became the elementary school for the whole town, consisted of the brick Union Hall, built in 1853 and the wooden school house built about 1890. In 1937 the current Jaffrey Grade School and auditorium was built on the same site and its predecessors were torn down.

Conant High School, serving grades 7–12 in the 1940s, was overcrowded and in need of updating. A major addition including science labs, a home economics room, wood shop, auto mechanics shop, classrooms, and a gymnasium opened in 1954. Without a high school of its own the Town of Rindge paid tuition for its grade 6–12 students to attend Conant High School. In 1969 Jaffrey voters agreed to form the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District and to undertake a new building project. A new Conant High School building was built on neighboring land and was connected to the old building which then became Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School. The new Conant High School was dedicated in 1973.

For detailed information see the chapters on Schools in Vol. I, III, and IV of The History of Jaffrey. Also see the Gibbs map of 1850 which shows Lots and Ranges, as well as school house locations (marked SH with a district number). ❦

The present-day Middle School which also incorporates the earlier Conant High School.

Students outside the Meetinghouse which was the original site of Conant High School before its move downtown.

The present home of Conant High School which dates to 1973.

The Jaffrey Grade School on School Street was built in1937 on the site of the earlier version.

the state of the schools

At Conant High School and Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School, we are working tirelessly towards creating pathways for our learners to ensure that they develop the skills based on their interests so they can thrive in their post-high school careers.

Career and college planning continue to be a large focus at the high school level. We have created a freshman foundations program that has ninth graders working on career learning goals and other planning to develop their pathways through high school and beyond. We are also working to further partnerships with businesses to ensure that we are creating internships, Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs), and other opportunities for learners to have hands-on experience.

We have expanded our construction trades program to include modules on masonr y, plumbing, electrical, and carpentry in order to give our learners more experience in different areas of the construction trades. We have also expanded our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) offerings, as these courses focus on career pathways that are in demand and popular among our learners.

We have close to 50-percent par ticipation with after school activities, clubs, and sports at this point in time, and we continue to add new programs to support learner interest. We attribute this largely to our educational team ensuring that there are opportunities for all types of learners and their interests.

We continue to work towards of fering a proficiency-based education for our learners, which gives each individual a greater level of flexibility to work at their own pace and to show their understanding in each content area in the way that best suits their own pathway

We have worked to install a 1-4 grading system in order to better align with the state reporting system and college transcript. This grading system should improve the alignment between classroom grades and state assessments.

While we have not merged the middle and high schools in an oficial capacity at this time, much effor t has been made to combine them. This has helped to create mentoring opportunities for the high school learners, while it has opened up more learning opportunities for the middle school learners.

We have greatly expanded our club oppor tunities, many of them being formed by

student-led initiatives. In fall 2022, we offer approximately 25 after school clubs for our middle and high school learners, including Plant Life, Robotics, Chess, E-Sports, Volleyball, and Dungeons & Dragons.

We have expanded sports oppor tunities in established district sports by creating middle school teams and/or clubs, a move that has helped to continue to foster a love of sports in our learners. Volleyball—which began as a club sport a few years ago—has now become a full-fledged sport in the district. We also continue to experience great success with our sports teams, as our boys Track and Field team were named DIII state champions in 2022. Our girls basketball team is routinely winning championships or is in the finals. ❦

the jaffrey public library

The library of fathers was jealously guarded as the property of a few. Ours is thrown open as the right of all.

–Albert Annett, Clay Library Dedication, 1896

The S e cloSing wordS to the Historical Sketch of the 1896 Dedication of the Clay Library, now known as the Jaffrey Public Library, serve as a mandate for the continued evolution of public libraries. In the dedicatory address, Professor Charles F. Richardson of Dartmouth College directs the people of Jaffrey. This library, by the generosity of its benefactor, is now and henceforth yours; love it and toil for it, and when you think of those who are not as yet familiar with its privileges and its boons, determine that you will make them realize it is theirs, and that they shall learn to esteem and use it... The greatest work of the public library, then, is double; to benefit those who know and love the friendship of books, and to reach into the by-ways and hedges for those whose tastes and capacities are to be discovered and developed. (Clay Library Dedication)

In 1963, the New Hampshire State Legislature further asserted the value of public libraries as a matter of law. “Mindful that, as the constitution declares, ‘knowledge and learning, generally diffused through a community’ are ‘essential to the preservation of a free government’ the legislature recognizes its duty to encourage the people of New Hampshire to extend their education during and beyond the years of formal education. To this end, it hereby declares that the public library is a valuable supplement to the formal system of free public education and as such deserves adequate financial support from government at all levels.” (NH RSA 202-A:1)

The Jaffrey Public Library Trustees reaffirmed the library’s mission for lifelong learning for all in the library’s 2020 Strategic Agenda, in which they reasserted the library’s core values of “equity, diversity, community,

stewardship, excellence and innovation,” in keeping with the spirit and intent of the original gift of Susan B. Clay, accepted by the Town of Jaffrey, for a public library building in service to all. From the original Clay Library inventor y of 2,300 books, reported by librarian, Mrs. S. U. Slason in the Town Annual Report of 1897, to our present day collection of over 35,000 physical items and as many digital items available for checkout, and countless educational opportunities for all ages, the Jaffrey Public Library has remained committed, throughout its history, to the universal access to ideas and learning opportunities for all. ❦

Board of TrusTees:

Emily Carr

James Draper

Grace Flesher

Jaime Hutchinson

John Stone

Deb Weissman

LiBrary direcTor: Julie Perrin

jaffrey-peterborough district courT

The Jaffrey Municipal Court became Jaffrey District Court in 1968. Its jurisdiction included Jaffrey, Rindge, Troy, Dublin, and Fitzwilliam. It merged with Peterborough District Court in January, 1988, adding the towns of Peterborough, Hancock, Greenfield, New Ipswich, and Temple.

Over the years locations of the Court were the pr esent Jaffrey Police Station, the Jaffrey Woman’s Club, the Simon Abbott building, and the New Hampshire Ball Bearings plant.

Judges who served the Court over the years were George R. Wellington, Jason B. Sawyer, Bernard Hampsey, Kenneth Brighton, L. Phillips Runyon III and James Gleason.

In May, 1996 the Cheshire County commissioners voted a bond for a new cour thouse. In July, 1998, the Belletete family donated 2.89 acres of land at the Monadnock Plaza to the state for the new JaffreyPeterborough District Court. Building began in 2001 but a disastrous fire in the early morning hours of February 28, 2002, destroyed the facility.

It was rebuilt and completed by February, 2003. It contains three court rooms, two temporary holding cells, an elevator and dumb waiter. It is handicapped accessible.

A formal dedication ceremony was held May 2, 2003 at the District Cour t’s new home.

A complete history of the Court through 1998 can be found in Volume 4 of The History of Jaffrey ❦

ORGANIZATIONS & INSTITUTIONS

Jaffrey Historical Society

Jaffrey Civic Center

Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society

Jaffrey Woman’s Club

The Park Theatre Franklin Pierce University

Jaffrey historical society

In 1958 the Jaffrey Historical Society was founded by a group of citizens concerned about the loss of some of the town’s historic buildings and the lack of an appropriate depository for documents and artifacts associated with the development of Jaffrey. The new society’s first order of business was salvaging and restoring Schoolhouse No. 11, now the Little Red Schoolhouse located on the Common close to the Meetinghouse. The Society continues to maintain this small museum and opens it to the public on weekends in the summer.

Meetings of the Society were originally held in Clay Library until in 1965 the Civic Center was constr ucted next door by the Jaffrey-Gilmore Foundation, with the provision that the Jaffrey Historical Society would have a dedicated space available in the basement.

In the 1970s a period sitting room with donated furniture and historical items was created in this basement space. Since then many more artifacts have been donated to the Society and filled all available space. Among the collections are a variety of tools and implements, shop and tavern signs, furniture, costumes, paintings, family papers, journal and account books, letters and other manuscript material, books and reports, maps and numerous photographs, stereo views and postcards. There are over 7,000 items catalogued in digital format. Due to overcrowding, risky environment, and difficult accessibility for exhibits, the Society leadership is pursuing other housing possibilities for our irreplaceable archives.

An old fire station is sited on Main Street in Jaffrey Center. Referred to as “Monadnock No. 4,” it is owned and maintained by the Society and houses original Jaffrey firefighting apparatus. In 2022 the building was rehabilitated and will open as a museum displaying two antique hand pumpers

and a 1931 Seagrave fire engine, the first motorized apparatus for the Jaffrey Fire Department. Programs about local history are usually presented several times a year, and an excursion to some local point of interest in the Monadnock region is scheduled each October. There is no charge for any of the Society’s programs and all are welcome to attend.

The Society welcomes donations of material that has a significant relevance to Jaffrey history, particularly manuscripts, journals and diaries, photographs, ephemera such as brochures, advertising flyers and such, old and modern. The Society is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and all donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Membership in the Society is open to all. Please consider joining the Society and supporting Jaffrey’s heritage for future generations. For more details see the website jaffreyhistory.org or call (603) 598-0120. ❦

the Jaffrey civic center

In the 250-year timeline of the history of our town, the Jaffrey Civic Center is a relatively late addition. Marion Mack Johnson, a Jaffrey native and former public school teacher1, returned to her home town and, like many of our best citizens, devoted her retirement to making the town better. In addition to serving as a trustee of the United Church and as a member of the Jaffrey School Board, she founded the Jaffrey-Gilmore Foundation to create an “…‘open center’ for all activities of a cultural and historical nature.”2

Today, the Jaffrey Civic Center continues to realize Mrs. Johnson’s vision. The red-brick colonial building, designed by John Radford Abbot, and its open front lawn remain central elements of Jaffrey’s downtown. The center hosts two gallery spaces and a set of display cases.

Art and historical exhibitions rotate throughout the year and are open to the public free of charge. In addition to art shows, the Center provides classes, lectures, and special events, as well as a space for various civic groups to meet. The front lawn hosts play rehearsals, craft fairs, and “Fun Friday” activities during the warmer months.

Central to Mrs. Johnson’s vision was securing a home for the Jaffrey Historical Society, which was formalized only six years before the founding Civic Center by a group led by Homer Belletete. Three rooms on the bottom floor of the Civic Center continue to house the Historical Society’s office, archives, and displays. The Historical Society holds its meetings and events at the Civic Center and periodically uses the cases on the first floor to highlight selections from the archives and holdings.

The Civic Center continues to evolve in order to better fulfill its mission. An elevator was added to assist patrons in getting to the upstairs

gallery and classrooms. Art exhibits often have “QR codes” where more information, or videos, can be accessed. Shows and events are advertised through email and social media, and talks are often “live streamed” over the Internet to a community far outside the confines of Jaffrey.

The uniqueness of Marion Mack Johnson’s vision to provide an ‘open center’ for the ar ts, education, and civic engagement, reveals a prescient wisdom more meaningful and necessary today than at its inception. The Jaffrey Civic Center provides an artistic and educational hub, and continues to promote the civic engagement that makes our town better. ❦

1 Lehtinen, Alice E.E. “Biographies: Marion Mack Johnson.”p. 283, History of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Vol. 3. Jaffrey, NH: A.E.E. Lehtinen, 1971.

2 Lehtinen, Alice E.E. “Jaffrey-Gilmore Foundation.” p. 271, History of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Vol. 3. Jaffrey, NH: A.E.E. Lehtinen, 1971.

JCVIS

The Jaffrey center Village improVement Society (JCVIS or VIS) was organized in 1906 by neighbors who were intent on revitalizing the buildings and open spaces around the 1775 Meetinghouse, the Old Burying Ground and the Common. This area had been a Mt. Monadnock hospitality hub with many inns in a bustling farm community, but it had fallen into disrepair. The VIS was instrumental in renovating the 1775 Meetinghouse in the 1920s and again in the 1990s. In 1920, the VIS renovated the 1831 Melville Academy, Jaffrey’s first high school, converting it to a local history museum. In 1975 Jaffrey Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The VIS is dedicated to:

• Maintaining its properties and buildings;

• Beautifying an historic neighborhood of 18th and 19th century homes and buildings;

• Enlivening community life and spirit, with celebrations and seasonal cleanups;

• Displaying and teaching the history of the community;

• Maintaining views of Mt. Monadnock and open spaces.

The VIS owns the 1831 Melville Academy Museum at 39 Thorndike Pond Road, the Horsesheds behind the Meetinghouse, and 22.5 acres of open space in the Jaffrey Center Historic District, including Cutter Park, Centennial Park, The Swale, The Blacksmith Lot, The Harkness Triangle, and The Sandi Best ‘View Forever’ property. The VIS holds local conservation easements on 35.1 acres of forest and woods of private lands on Thorndike Pond Road and Parsons Lane.

The Jaffrey Center Historic District’s east boundary is the Harkness Triangle at Rte. 124 (Main Street). From the downtown Jaffrey crossroads of Rtes. 124, 202 and 137, the area is just a 5-minute, 2-mile drive west along Rte. 124. It includes Thorndike Pond Road up to Melville Academy. The west boundary spans Mountain Road at First Tavern Road.

The VIS website is www.jcvis.org Explore! Participate! Volunteer! Become involved! Support the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society! ❦

The 4th Grade makes its annual field trip to the Meetinghouse and Melville Academy Museum. Adults say they remember this trip many years later!

The Annual Pot Luck Picnic at Centennial Park overlooking the Swale and Mt. Monadnock—members, friends and neighbors chat and enjoy one another’s scrumptious foods.

The Annual Gathering and Caroling at the VIS Tree on the Meetinghouse Common in early December— all welcome!

Volunteers serving at the The Ice Cream Social at the Horsesheds behind the Meetinghouse on July 4th.

Melville Academy— the Society’s home and local history museum—and its namesake Jonas Melville who was the force behind the Academy’s founding and a prominent Jaffrey citizen.

Jaffrey woman’s club

The Jaffrey woman’S cluB started out in 1923 with a mission to promote civic, cultural, and charitable projects in support of the community. Incorporated in 1964 it continues to advance a camaraderie amongst the membership through volunteering, informative meetings, and group events.

The Club is famously known for its Rummage Sales in the spring and fall, which began in 1942 and benefits not only those who come to shop but homeless shelters and other organizations across the region. In 1961 it offered its first annual High School scholarship and has since added an adult continuing education scholarship. In 1994 the Club began an essay contest for Jaffrey Grade School fifth graders celebrating Women’s History Month, awarding prizes for the top three best-written essays. And since 1946 the Club has proudly been supporting a dental program to assist local schoolchildren in need.

People may not know that the Cutler Memorial Building, built in 1845 at the corner of School and Main Streets, was bequeathed to the Jaf frey Woman’s Club in 1939 by the Universalist Society making them responsible for the upkeep of this historic and grand structure. A clock from the E. Howard Company of Boston was installed in its spire in 1883 and maintained by Rev. Myron Cutler until he died in 1930. Now a Town Clock, it is a fixture of the downtown Jaffrey landscape and featured in numerous photographs of our town in the heart of the Monadnock Region. The building not only houses Jaffrey Woman’s Club meetings and events but is also made available to the community to use for a small fee which in turn helps support the building’s maintenance fund.

The Club continues to evolve, inviting local businesses to become Community Partner members, incorporating a new logo and website, introducing new community events for adults and children. Membership to the Club is open to all Monadnock area women, which is reflected

in its current member base from Troy, Rindge, Peterborough, and Keene as well as Jaffrey. Jaffrey Woman’s Club: connecting, collaborating, caring for our community! ❦

THe park theatre

The S tory of Jaffrey’s Park Theatre begins with Romolo Vanni, an Italian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1901. Born in 1885 in Piano di Coreglia in northern Tuscany, he first settled in Peterborough with his brother Domenico, who ran a fruit and vegetable business on High Street. In 1908 he married Lena Rondina, and two years later moved to Jaffrey to start a dance hall (current-day Daffodils florist shop). He and Lena eventually had five children together, and Vanni purchased the Durant House on Main Street to house his large family.

Tragedy struck in 1918, when Lena and one of the children died in the influenza epidemic. To provide for his family, in 1922 Vanni had his entire house “raised” one story, and built a general store in the new bottom floor. He then cut a hole in his pantry wall, inserted a film projector, and showed “moving pictures” in the large barn in the back of the house. On May 1, 1922, he named his enterprise “The Park Theatre” and marked the opening by showing the film The Old Nest. Vaudeville acts and big bands also performed

Over the next few decades Vanni expanded and improved his theatre and store. Generations of Jaffrey youth fondly remembered swinging on the old brass railing outside, the smell of roasted nuts and tobacco in the store, the gleaming Italian marble counters, and orange popsicles. The theatre was packed for the Saturday matinee and evening double features. With its Art Deco style, large murals of Mount Monadnock, and a seating capacity of over 700, it was the place to be in Jaffrey.

Romolo Vanni died in 1954, and his family sold the business to Marty Dedo of Peterborough, who eventually sold it to David Sawyer of Jaffrey. Though originally successful, the theatre business began to decline. In 1976 the theatre closed but was later reopened by Roy and Nancy Stone as a retail shop for cameras, bikes, and art supplies. It flourished, with few new people realizing the entire theatre that lay dormant in the back.

The Park Theatre’s rebir th began in the early 2000s, when a group of enthusiastic townspeople decided Jaffrey needed a theatre again. Spearheaded by Caroline Hollister, a dedicated board of trustees, and a large number of volunteers, a massive, decades-long fundraising effort was undertaken. Though the expense of refurbishment and modern fire codes rendered the original building unusable, the group was able to raise enough money to

purchase the property, demolish the building, and have architects design a new, improved theatre. The new design incorporated state of the art technology, original Art Deco design, and several artifacts from the original theatre including the mountain murals and light fixtures. The volunteers worked approximately 60,000 hours, raising over $6 million from across the United States to complete the project.

When it was officially dedicated on August 5, 2021, Jaffrey’s Park Theatre became the newest showplace for films and live performances, and the first in New England for years. Though new, it stayed loyal to the design and vision that Romolo Vanni had one hundred years before. It was truly a community effort, of which Jaffrey is justly proud. ❦

franklin pierce university

When Frank S. DiPietro founded Franklin Pierce College in 1962, he never could have imagined that the small institution of 90 students housed in the center of Rindge, would grow to encompass a far-reaching geographic and virtual network. Whether from our 1,200 acre campus, or our Academic Centers in Manchester and Lebanon, New Hampshire, and Goodyear, Arizona, or online, one thing has not changed: we meet students where they are, enabling them to succeed academically and preparing them for rewarding lives and careers.

Franklin Pierce University celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2022, and with this milestone we continue to reflect on our history with an eye toward the future. Fueled by an institutional commitment to long-range planning and with the support of a community invested in the success of students and the University, we are proactively pursing opportunities and adapting to challenges. By taking bold and innovative action, we are providing an education that is both relevant and enduring for our Ravens.

A Strong Foundation

Franklin Pierce University is extraordinarily invested in creating an educational experience that helps every student discover, harness, and unleash their potential. Since 1962, Franklin Pierce University has empowered thousands of undergraduate and graduate students to achieve academic excellence and lead meaningful, successful lives. Drawing from our strong foundation in liberal education, we offer majors and programs that develop essential, professional skills; promote close connections between students, faculty members, and staff; and position our students to realize their potential through highly personalized, financially accessible academic offerings. We continue to explore new models and programs that build on our legacy of excellence and help students increase their knowledge, direct their passions, and graduate as qualified, engaged leaders.

The main Rindge Campus, academic centers, and programs share a common focus: cultivating students’ success. Classes are intentionally small with an average student-faculty ratio of 13:1 so that students make the most of personal relationships with professors and mentors. Students have abundant opportunities to ask questions, clarify their understanding, articulate

their viewpoints, and receive feedback, all of which contribute to developing the critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving skills so highly valued by employers.

Franklin Pierce faculty are educators and mentors, and are consistently rated above the national average by students on their commitment to help students discern their unique capabilities and interests. They are immersed in their fields, and are a valued source of industry and professional connections. In knowing their students on a personal basis, they are an invaluable resource in guiding students toward internships, jobs, and further education to reach their goals.

To prepare students for the responsibilities of inspired leadership and service in the vibrant public discourse that is essential to the health of our nation’s democracy, the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce has, for two decades, provided students with unparalleled experiential and programmatic opportunities.

We are also committed to being a strategic economic par tner in rebuilding and retooling our new economy, by helping to build a resilient workforce with top-notch knowledge and credentials. Through our Center for Professional Programs and Partnerships, FPU partners are able to leverage educational discounts and opportunities for the improvement of their workforce.

Expanding our Reach

Franklin Pierce encompasses a far-reaching geographic and virtual network. However,

while our geographic footprint is expansive, our physical locations and academic programs share a common focus: cultivating students’ success and helping them achieve their goals within a highly personalized learning environment. Whether they are residential undergraduates, online learners, or participants in a full-time, on-ground allied health graduate program, Franklin Pierce students acquire the skills required for success in tomorrow’s workforce while cultivating the depth of knowledge embodied within a traditional liberal education.

To ensure our viability as a dynamic, relevant institution, we are increasing our visibility in the greater Monadnock region and across New England through partnerships with corporate leaders and policymakers; deepening our Arizonabased programs to strengthen our presence in that promising market; exploring credentialing programs and other offerings that enhance students’ opportunities; bolstering our reputation as a destination school for allied health graduate programs; and developing our innovative pathS@ pierce program to provide students with a clear direction to professional success.

A Bold Vision for a 21st-Century Education

To remain successful, Franklin Pierce must continue to deliver an education that is both rigorous and relevant. We achieve this goal by making strategic investments in our campus, centers, and cornerstone undergraduate programs; by continuing to develop and promote graduate and professional programs that align with the needs of prospective students and employers; and by strengthening our relationships with partners, alumni, and donors.

Living the Franklin Pierce Experience

Living the Franklin Pierce Experience means being an active part of a welcoming and equitable community of dreamers and doers who foster and promote a respectful, accessible, and inclusive University. FPU’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provides resources and guidance to ensure that every member of our community is celebrated in support of their race, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, creed, physical handicap, and/or neurodiversity in collaboration with departments, individuals and external organizations.

For 60 years, Frank DiPietro’s vision of a “small college that fosters intimate relationships between those who learn and those who teach” has not waivered. We empower each student to expand into their own, to fully realize their individual potential. That’s always been the essence of the Franklin Pierce experience. It’s who we were in the 1960s, and it’s who we want to be in the decades ahead.

Our ability to continue to be agents of transformation depends on so much: our willingness to eschew complacency and the status quo, to understand and stick with the things that work and change those that do not. It depends on our acuity in seeing what’s ahead in higher education and using that insight to shape the education we’re delivering. It depends on how carefully we stay focused on the present while keeping our eyes on the horizon. And it depends on the communities and regions in which we live, work, and serve. Thank you for your support and congratulations to Jaffrey on its 250th Jubilee! ❦

CHURCHES

The First Church in Jaffrey St. Patrick Church The United Church of Jaffrey The Universalist Church

the first church in Jaffrey

The founding date of the First Congregational Church (as an organization) in Jaffrey is March 18, 1780, and was arranged by Dr. Adonijah Howe, the town physician. In 1781 a committee of residents went to Dartmouth College on commencement day to meet graduate Laban Ainsworth and invite him to preach “on probation” in Jaffrey. He was subsequently installed as the first settled minister in Jaffrey in December 1782. He remained as the shepherd of his flock for almost 76 years!

The Meetinghouse was framed in 1775 and took many years to finish. It was built to accommodate religious as well as civic purpose, giving Laban Ainsworth at least the star t of a physical church when he began his life-long pastorate. In 1830 a new brick church was built across the way for the Congregationalists, giving them at last a home of their own, without the necessity of sharing a facility with other religious communities and with town government.

In 1837 sixteen feet were added to the east end of the building and in 1877 a parsonage and attached barn were built next door. By 1954 the barn had been converted into a serviceable meeting room and over the next two decades this area was further expanded and upgraded to form a Parish House.

The First church has had 24 ministers since Laban Ainswor th, all bringing their

special talents to foster and serve a grateful parish. However, history is replete with many occasions whereby the women of the church took the initiative to raise needed funds to sustain and benefit church and community. A major event, first organized by the Woman’s Society of the church in 1882, was, and continues to be, the annual summer Fair, profits of which are shared by the church and community non-profit social service agencies.

Reverend Steve Miller is the curr ent settled minister and leads Sunday worship service at 10:30 am . More information may be found at firstchurchinjaffrey.org . ❦

St. Patrick church

Jaffrey’S first Catholic citizens arrived in the 1840s and 1850s, mostly immigrants from Ireland. The first Catholic mass was celebrated in Jaffrey in 1869 when a priest from Keene started monthly visitations. Masses were first celebrated in the Jaffrey Center Engine House, and later in the Meetinghouse. Pastoral responsibilities for Jaffrey’s Catholics alternated between the priests from Peterborough and Wilton for the next 16 years.

In 1885 Rev. Patrick McEvoy, an Irishman, became the first Catholic priest to live in Jaf frey, in a house on Main Street. Jaffrey at this point had a sizeable 350 Catholic citizens— also mostly Irish—and it needed a parish of its own. In 1888 a new wooden structure was constructed and christened St. Patrick Church. It was located in what is now the parking lot east of the St. Patrick rectory. Four years later, a piece of land along the road to Peterborough was purchased and consecrated as St. Patrick Cemetery.

As the 19th century turned into the 20th, Jaffrey’s Catholic population started to change, as hundreds of French Canadians migrated to the banks of the Contoocook looking for work in the mills. After a long string of priests with Irish names, in 1907 the first French Canadian priest, Rev. R. A. Bernardin, was sent to Jaffrey. Father Bernardin began the first church choir. Seven years later the Sainte Anne Society for French-speaking married women was formed. It only began to allow non-French speakers to join in the 1940s.

By 1915 more than half of Jaffrey’s 2,000 inhabitants were Catholic, and the old church building was no longer large enough. Rev. Herbert Hennon began a building program, and hired Boston architect Frank Untersee to design a new, suitable edifice. The new church design incorporated Gothic design elements, a single bell tower capped by Celtic crosses, and a local fieldstone exterior. For the next several years parishioners dropped off cartloads of stones from their fields for use in the construction. The new church—the one still

standing today—was dedicated in 1917 by Bishop George Guertin of Manchester. The church organ, custom designed by the Tellers-Kent Organ Company of Erie, Pennsylvania, was installed in 1930 at a cost of $3,290. The grotto behind the church was also constructed in the 1930s, when a young boy believed he saw a Marian apparition in the woods. The grotto was dedicated to “Our Lady of Monadnock.”

The desire to provide a Catholic education to children of the parish led to the purchase of the “Stone House” in 1948 and the beginning of Our Lady of Monadnock Academy. This high school for girls lasted until 1962 when, under Rev. Lionel Boulay, it became a school for all children in grades 1-8. A new building was constructed and renamed St. Patrick School, and the Stone House was used as a convent. St. Patrick School closed in 2015. St. Patrick Church celebrated in 1996 when Pope John Paul II appointed Rev. Francis Christian, a Jaffrey native, the new Auxiliary Bishop of Manchester.

Towards the end of the 20th century the Catholic population of Jaffrey moved away from French and Irish names— now, names of Filipino, Polish, Italian and Spanish are found, among many others. The current pastor is Rev. Wilfred Deschamps. ❦

the unITED church OF Jaffrey

In the early 1800s the center of population had moved from the original Jaffrey village, now known as Jaffrey Center, to the east part of town. With this in mind, some 23 Congregationalists requested letters of “dismission” from First Church in order to build a second Congregational Church in a location more convenient for many of the people. Jonas Melville generously deeded land on which to build a new church and the East Jaffrey Orthodox Congregation was formed in 1850.

Music was originally provided by a violinist, Mr. Newell, until the second minister, the Rev. Adams, built an organ in 1854. A parsonage was built in 1876 just west of the church where the current Mildred Cutter Parish Hall now sits. Attendance grew when the Universalist church closed its doors in 1930, and when the Baptist church did the same in 1949. Subsequently, the parish was reformed into The Federated Church and ultimately reorganized in 1959 into the United Church of Jaffrey.

The United Church of Jaffr ey has grown in its outreach to the community and beyond since 1974. Rev. Emily Preston, pastor from 1974 to 1993, guided the organization of an emergency shelter, Meals on Wheels, and a food pantry within the church. The church voted to become an Open and Affirming Church of the United Church of Christ in 1994.

From 2016 thr ough the present time Rev. Mark Koyama, who also teaches at the Northfield-Mt.

Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, serves as the church minister. Under Rev. Mark’s leadership the United Church, along with eight other New Hampshire churches, began the Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry, to honor the memory of George Floyd, who suffered a cruel death on May 25, 2020. Over 25 UCJ members of all ages contributed in some way to a quilt while feeling the strong impact of the words spoken by Mr. Floyd and a desire to make a difference moving forward.

The quilts have traveled the State and several other cities and towns in the country.

Sunday services are held at 10 am

The church is located at 54 Main Street. For more information see unitedchurchofjaffrey. org or call (603) 532-7047. ❦

the universalist church

At a meeting of the Universalist Society and others “holden at the old meetinghouse in Jaffrey on the 15th day of March instant, voted that it is eppedient (sic) to build a new meeting-house. Also at an adjournment of said meeting holden on the 20th day of March instant voted to locate said house at the Factory Village in said Jaffrey to be called the Union house. Also chose Laban Rice, Samuel Smith and Peter Upton Building Committee.” With these words from the Building Committee in 1844, activity commenced on the construction of the building which still stands in the middle of Jaffrey. Other old documents give specific instructions for its erection. It was to be built “on the south side of the road between Moses Perkins’ house and Widow Blodgett’s house,” is to be “38 feet by 50 with 16½ feet posts.” The house would have a cupola and a portico. The woods used would be spruce, hemlock and pine, the “clapboards to be first rate,” the floor boards “with a smooth and level surface” and “plastering to be well put on.”

Daniel French, Jr. and Joseph Crombie, Jr. were contracted to do the work. Both men were members on the new Baptist Church on the other side of the Contoocook, their new edifice having been erected just 14 years earlier, in 1830. All Christian sects had named the members of their society in 1823 so the town could apportion the number of Sundays each could have use of the 1775 Jaffrey Meetinghouse. The Congregationalists used the house 21 Sabbaths, the Baptists 9 and the Universalists 13. But by 1844 the Universalists were the only sect using the Meetinghouse since the Baptists built their own house in 1830, and the Congregationalists occupied their 1831 brick structure. (The East Jaffrey Orthodox Congregational Church was erected in 1850.)

The Universalists dedicated their new house on January 29th, 1845. They placed a bell in the cupola in 1860 and replaced it with one of superior tone in 1870.

An E. Howard Tower Clock was added in 1884 and still displays the time, albeit electrified. It was reported that the original works can still be viewed. Around the time of the addition of the “town clock” the original belfry was modified to the pointed steeple which can be seen today. Seventeen ministers served the congregation. The Rev. Myron Cutler was the last and ministered for 42 years until his death in August of 1930. With his death and a declining membership the church became inactive. The remaining members moved up the street to the Congregational Church, now the United Church of Jaffrey.

The last recorded meetings of The First Universalist Society of Jaffrey were held in the Autumn of 1939. At that time it was voted to convey its holdings to the New Hampshire Universalist Convention with “the understanding that the Convention shall offer the same to the Woman’s Club of Jaffrey.” The offer was made and was accepted by the Club in November of 1939. After 117 years of service to the Town of Jaffrey by the Universalists, the Jaffrey Woman’s Club continues being of service to Jaffrey in “The Cutler Memorial 1844.” So reads the sign above the front door. ❦

BUSINESSES

Atlas Display Fireworks Belletetes Inc. MilliporeSigma D. D. Bean & Sons Red’s of Jaffrey / Monadnock Disposal Service Hill Family Insurance Jaffrey Family Medicine

atlas display fireworks

AtlaS diSplay fireworKS founder, William ‘Bill’ Anderson began with its humble beginnings at 15 Hamilton Court in Jaffrey in 1949. During that year, Bill Anderson married Lillian (Lafrenière) Anderson who was born in 1923 and a native of Jaffrey who graduated from Conant High School in 1941 and worked at the W. W. Cross Tack factory before serving as a WAVE in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. As a unique bit of history, Lillian was also one of the models for sculptor Viggo BrandtErichsen’s World War II Gold Star Mothers statue that is currently located on the Jaffrey Town Common.

In 1954, Bill Anderson hired Dominic Speeney and a short time later, Harvey Hannan who was Lillian’s half-brother, Herve Gautier in the early 70s. Unfortunately, Bill Anderson passed away in 1959 and his wife Lillian continued to run the Atlas Display Fireworks company until her brother, Francis Lafreniere, took over in 1965. ‘Fritzy,’ as he was known in the Jaffrey community, continued as the sole owner until 1979.

The Atlas Display Fireworks story cannot be completely told without mentioning Dominic Speeney, who left Atlas to start his own fireworks manufacturing company—D. C. Speeney and Sons —in 1974. Later in 1979, Dominic’s oldest son, Eugene ‘Gene’ Speeney and son-in-law, Lionel ‘Chip’ Bergeron who married Dominic’s oldest daughter, Sheila (Speeney) Bergeron, began Telstar Display Fireworks on Emory Road in Jaffrey while Gene and Dominic continued with fireworks manufacturing. Jaffrey was then home to not just one, not two, but three fireworks manufacturing and fireworks display companies. Other family members who were raised in the Jaffrey family of fireworks were, Francis Lafreniere’s wife Bette, children, David, Paul, and Laura. Frances and Bette’s remaining children, Martha ‘Marty’ and Susan Lafreniere were not involved in the family business. Dominic Speeney’s other children, Bettina (Speeney) Nutting also worked in the family business, and Tom Speeney who still works in the fireworks industry. In 1979, Francis ‘Fritzy’ Lafreniere sold Atlas Display Fireworks to local native and businessman, Robert Korpi. Both companies continued to grow and expand throughout New England for the next several years.

Early in 1986, Stephen Pelkey, another Jaffrey native and Air Force veteran (1981 to 1986), married Christine ‘Dee’ Korpi (1982), daughter of Robert and Bette (Stewart) Korpi. Stephen and

Dee spent most of the next four years at Kadena Air Base, in Okinawa, Japan, where Stephen was assigned as a Munitions Systems Specialist. After Pelkey’s Air Force enlistment in early 1986, he became the General Manager of Atlas Display Fireworks, what was thought to be a short time to assist the family business. Pelkey continued managing the Atlas Display Fireworks business until in 1990, when he partnered with another well-known Jaffrey business, D. D. Bean and Sons match company. The new company would become, Atlas Advanced Pyrotechnics. This partnership continued until 1995 when Pelkey purchased D. D. Bean’s interest in the growing business. It was always Pelkey’s vision to improve the presentation of fireworks through technology by combining music with creative methods of computerized firing. Pelkey also spent considerable time working with the New Hampshire Legislature to draft laws and regulations permitting the use and sale of consumer fireworks as well as to improve the regulations for professional displays.

As the years continued, Atlas Advanced Pyrotechnics, D. C. Speeney manufacturing and Telstar Display Fireworks continued to expand their footprint in the fireworks entertainment industry. Throughout the 1990s is where Atlas PyroVision (renamed in 1996) enjoyed much of its growth and success, performing in national and international competitions, 4th of July at our nation’s capital in Washington, D. C., and several hundred Millennium celebrations. In 2008, Stephen married his current wife of 15 years, Barbara (Fitzpatrick) Pelkey.

In 2011, Lionel ‘Chip’ Bergeron passed away and D. C. Speeney fireworks manufacturing closed,

and Telstar Display Fireworks was purchased by Pyrotecnico Fireworks, from New Castle, Pennsylvania. Lionel and Sheila Bergeron’s son, Christopher Bergeron, continued his pyrotechnic career as the Director of Safety and Training at Atlas PyroVision. Today, Chris continues working in the industry with Pyrotecnico Fireworks, along with his uncle, Tom Speeney, son of D. C. Speeney Manufacturing founder, Dominic Speeney.

Pyrotechnic success continued for Atlas PyroVision Entertainment (renamed in 2015 through several acquisitions), winning numerous awards while competing in national and international competitions in Virginia Beach, Canada, France, Philippines, Shanghai, Spain, and Vietnam. Even through the Covid pandemic (2020-2021), Atlas managed to retain all its 26 full-time employees, operating its professional firework display division and four retail fireworks stores. As the pandemic eased, Atlas PyroVision Entertainment became even stronger as fewer companies remained and the demand for its services grew. Atlas continued its success throughout 2022, performing over 800 displays throughout New England, including most New England capital cities, Boston Pops 4th of July, and numerous collegiate and professional sports teams—Boston College, University of Connecticut, Fenway Park, TD Garden and Gillette Stadium.

In October 2022, Pelkey surprisingly announced that the Atlas PyroVision professional display division, was acquired by Pyrotecnico Fireworks from New Castle, Pennsylvania. Although Atlas PyroVision is no longer engaged in providing firework displays for cities and towns, the Pelkey family continues today with Atlas Fireworks, providing consumer retail fireworks at their four New Hampshire store locations in Amherst, Belmont, Newport and Rindge. Today, Atlas Fireworks shares

the Old Sharon Road property with Pyrotecnico Fireworks as their headquarters and distribution facility. In 2024, Atlas Fireworks will celebrate 75 years as a Jaffrey business.

Stephen’s oldest daughter, Sarah (Pelkey) Bergeron, currently serves as Production Lead with Pyrotecnico, and was also President of Atlas PyroVision Entertainment from 2012 to 2022. Sarah Bergeron, along with longtime family friend and Vice President of Sales, Matthew J. Shea, were instrumental in growing the Atlas brand in pyrotechnic entertainment. Stephen’s remaining daughter Emily (Pelkey) Curtis joined Atlas in 2012 and is the General Manager of the retail fireworks division of Atlas Fireworks where she remains today, as well as Hannah (Pelkey) Gaspar who began in 2014 at Atlas PyroVision and today is working as a Production Coordinator with Pyrotecnico. Barbara’s youngest of three daughters, Katherine Potts, in 2016 joined in the family business working in the display division as a licensed technician and is also actively involved in developing training platforms for Atlas Fireworks. Barbara’s remaining two daughters: Caroline (Potts) O’Donnell, is a registered nurse and is married to Dr. Thomas O’Donnell. They are raising their two children and currently living in northern New Jersey. And Barbara’s oldest daughter, Sarah (Potts) Caruthers, for a short time worked for Atlas and was also licensed to shoot display fireworks and special effects, is now residing in Jaffrey Center along with her husband, Alex Caruthers, who is also a licensed pyrotechnician, and they have three children.

For nearly 73 years, the Atlas name has been synonymous with firework celebrations throughout New England and beyond. The town of Jaffrey has been home to many stars that shine bright above Mount Monadnock. Happy 250th Jubilee Celebration to the town of Jaffrey! ❦

belletetes inc.

BelleteteS inc. has been making history in Jaffrey for the last 125 years and is looking forward to the future.

Founder Elie Belletete (1870–1954) and his wife, Alexina (1879–1962) were married in 1898. Later that same year, Elie started his hardware business, which has now become Belletetes Inc.

At the age of 14, Elie emigrated from St. Zephain, Canada (35 miles east of Montreal) in 1884 to find work in the White Brothers textile mill on the Contoocock River in Jaffrey. He worked 5½ days a week for $4.00 of pay. In his spare time, Elie was a barber; he charged 15 cents for a haircut and 10 cents for a shave. By 1898, he had managed to save $500 and buy a store on North Street, initially selling groceries and hardware products.

Through difficult times, Elie and Alexina managed to slowly grow the business and raise a family of ten children. Two sons would later enter the business; after the Great Depression, Homer came on board, followed by Reynold at the end of World War II. At that time, they expanded the company to include building materials, often working long hours to deliver materials before and after store hours.

As time and opportunity allowed, future generations have joined the business, and now Belletetes Inc. is in its 5th generation of ser vice. Third-generation members are Homer’s sonin-law Ted Shea (1964), Reynold’s sons Jack (1973) and David (1980). Ted and Jack served in succession as President and CEO until their respective retirements. David continues to serve as a Vice President. Fourth-generation members are Ted’s sons Mike (1983) and Matt (1996) along with Jack’s daughter Sara (2004) and David’s daughter Celia (2021). Mike presently serves as President and CEO, Matt as Vice President, Sara as Treasurer and Director of Purchasing and Celia in a management training role. Fifthgeneration members are Mike’s son Derek (2014) who is the Millwork Manager and Mike’s nephew Chris LeBlanc (2017) millwork purchasing and inventory specialist.

From Elie’s humble beginnings, Belletetes has grown into one of the largest lumber and building material retailers in the northeast, servicing New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and southern Maine. Today, Belletetes operates nine locations, with 320 employees and more than 70 delivery

vehicles. “The foundations of our success can be summed up in a few catchphrases: being part of the community, forming meaningful relationships, and having caring, dedicated employees,” says President Mike Shea.

As a local business, we are grateful for the support and loyal patronage that we receive from the communities we serve. Belletetes leadership believes in the importance of being part of the community and has a long history of giving back through sponsoring local events, supporting employees that participate on local boards, service organizations, and other community programs.

The yearly “We Build It Forward Outreach Program” has been able to help elderly, disabled, or other residents in financial distress complete various household improvements. The program relies on the help of community volunteers who provide skilled labor and helping hands.

We continuously strive to develop strong, dependable relationships with our customers and vendors. Those relationships give us the opportunity to become partners in our mutual successes. We believe in providing excellent customer service, and we appreciate the opportunity to earn our customers’ business every day, year after year. Belletetes believes in aligning itself with the industry’s best brands, high quality products which our customers can depend on to perform. Forming strong partnerships with our vendors has allowed us, with some exceptions, to have stable inventory, despite the supply chain challenges over the last several years.

We are blessed to have so many caring and dedicated employees who show up ever yday to make a difference. The dedication and hard work

to help customers with projects as small as building a bird house to large, multi-family developments. As we have grown, we have been able to offer many different career path opportunities to employees, who have in turn strengthened our organization.

At Belletetes, we are proud of our past, but we look forward to our future with great anticipation. Technology drives so many things in our lives,

and it provides information at speeds which were unheard of in the past. We will continue to make investments in those tools to support our goal of providing customers with a great experience. In doing so, we will not lose sight of the simple fact that people make it all possible. To you, our customers, vendors, and employees, thank you for making Belletetes successful. ❦

The Belletete float in the 175th anniversary parade in 1948, the original store on North Street in the background.

Belletete family members L to R: Homer, Charlotte, Louise and Elie.

milliporesigma

Little did we know that what started out as a summer retreat for Jack Bush (son of Vannevar Bush, co-founder of Raytheon) to his family’s property in Jaffrey, New Hampshire (which we know today as the Prescott Inn), would become a state-ofthe-art location for his new technology company, the Millipore Filter Company. Bush coined the word “Millipore” to refer to the numerous tiny openings in the microporous membrane product that he acquired from the Lovell Company in 1954.

Today, this highly engineered filtration technology is a critical part of the process used in the manufacture of life-saving therapies to include treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, vaccines, and so many other diseases.

By 1970, Millipore had established subsidiaries in seven countries. In addition to Jaffrey, the company had facilities in Molsheim, France; Cork, Ireland; and several other locations. Then, in 2010, Millipore was acquired by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a multinational science and technology company with about 60,000 employees operating in 66 countries. Five years later, in 2015, the company further expanded its life science footprint with the acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, an American chemical, life science, and biotechnology company, giving us the name, MilliporeSigma, now the largest employer in Jaffrey. Today, MilliporeSigma, U.S. and Canada life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is synonymous with the broadest and deepest portfolio of innovative products and services that support the biopharmaceutical industry across R&D, manufacturing, and testing.

These two acquisitions set the stage for exponential growth to meet the growing demands of the global biopharmaceutical industry. From what began as a modest 10,0000 square foot plant with 17 employees, MilliporeSigma Jaffrey is now marking its 50th anniversary as a 300,000 square foot facility with more than 1,600 employees.

MilliporeSigma has always enjoyed a strong partnership with the Town of Jaffrey and the State of New Hampshire. Hosting

visitors, including Governor Sununu, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Maggie Hassan, US Representative Annie Kuster, and Jaffrey Town Manager, Jon Frederick, has allowed us to showcase the products manufactured in Jaffrey and the customers and patients we serve.

Our commitment to the local environment and community remains steadfast with the introduction of our state-of-the-art process water reclamation facility, replacing oil with sustainably certified biomass fuel and numerous water, greenhouse gas, and energy reduction initiatives. MilliporeSigma continues its Stem outreach with its SparK™ volunteer program, funding our local library and working with state and local officials to ensure a long-term water supply for residents and the company through our partnership with the Town of Jaffrey on the Cold Springs water project.

We value the opportunity to continue to operate in Jaf frey, New Hampshire, and recruit skilled employees to Jaffrey and the surrounding communities, to be part of our team. We are very proud to call Jaffrey, New Hampshire, our home. Congratulations on Jaffrey’s 250th anniversary! ❦

50 Years Strong Jaffrey MilliporeSigma Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future

‘Our purpose is to impact life and health with science.’

d. d. bean & sons

Founded in 1938, D. D. Bean & Sons Co. is a third-generation family business. D. D. Bean is not only the last remaining manufacturer of matches in the United States, but also the largest producer of book matches in the world.

Before 1970 disposable lighters did not exist. In the mid-1970s—the match industry’s peak years—there were about a dozen independent match companies in the U.S. and Canada operating over 25 different factories.

By 1985, lighters had taken 50% of the “lights” market from matches causing closures of about half the match factories. D. D. Bean used to operate three factories in the United States—Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Oxnard, California, and the home plant in Jaffrey. In addition, Bean had two factories in Canada— St. Cesaire, Quebec and the Strike-Rite factory in London, Ontario. Bean also ran a wooden match factory in Kingston, Jamaica, for more than forty years. By the end of the century, disposable lighters had captured 95% of the market. Soon thereafter, D. D. Bean & Sons in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, and Atlas Match Corp. in Euless, Texas, were the only two remaining book match producers left in North America.

In 2016 D. D. Bean & Sons purchased Atlas match and in 2018 brought them together under one roof here in the Jaffrey facility. A new era of match making has emerged. By combining the technologies of the Bean plant and the Atlas plant, all the different variations of match making methods are on display—in operating form—every day. This is a story of survival, commitment and an

industry refusing to become obsolete. Today, we are deploying a new digital transformation strategy to help us be a better supplier to the matchbook, box match, and coaster market. We are partnering with Xerox and XMPie in a novel way to provide faster, consistent, high-quality match and beer coaster products to America.

As we look towards the future, D. D. Bean & Sons will continue to transform the landscape of the match industry. Making improvements with the consumer experience, we have added a new online presence and will continue to develop our digital venue, merging state of the art technology with production equipment from decades past. We plan to strengthen and grow our promotional products and to remain America’s Match Company for this generation and the next. ❦

red’s of jaffrey / MDS

contracted to create a building on the south end of the Red’s driveway. This would become Red’s Hot Pizza & Dair y Bar, a very popular spot for townspeople, summer residents and the newly opened Franklin Pierce College. That continued in operation prior to Edith and Margaret starting Sentinel Real Estate on the first floor of one of the Peard’s rental properties on Main Street. The real estate company was a perfect addition to the mobile home sales and several rental properties the Peards had acquired. Edith was instrumental in convincing investors and developers to build in Jaffrey, including Eastpoint Properties apartments on Webster Street and the construction of Drumlin Industrial Park and bringing Good Shepherd Nursing Home to Jaffrey.

The excavation division grew to include several dump trucks, backhoes, bulldozers and excavators. It eventually was sold to Margaret’s oldest son—Red and Edith’s oldest grandson— and would become Bradley Jackson Excavation. Sentinel Real Estate was acquired by The Monadnock Agency.

Red’S of Jaffrey, a downtown Jaffrey fixture since 1955, started in a rented Texaco station on River Street. Norman ‘Red’ Peard, originally from Wakefield, Massachusetts, spent time in Jaffrey as a young man working at the Jurva Farm, now known as Coll’s Farm. Later Red worked construction between Jaffrey and Gardner, Massachusetts, where he met and married Edith Adamson. Red and Edith moved back to Wakefield, working his dumptruck at the construction of Logan Airport. In 1950 Red and Edith came back to Jaffrey with their young family, Margaret and John. Daughter Robin would arrive a few years later and would often be seen working her summer job at the family gas station. Upon his return to town, Red was employed by the Belletete family in lumber sales and Edith worked as a waitress and cook at Perry’s diner on Peterborough Street. The opportunity to operate a gas station presented itself in 1955 with the Texaco Station on the east side of River Street, now home to the Korea/ Vietnam Memorial Park. Red’s gas station and repair garage operated at that location until 1961 when a vacant gas station directly across the street became available. Red and Edith bought the property from the Atlantic Richfield Company where Red’s continues to operate to this day. At Red’s new Atlantic station, they sold everything from new and used cars, snowmobiles, mini-bikes, campers and, of course, gasoline for about 31 cents a gallon. Red’s even had the first coin-operated Auto Magic car wash. Always the entrepreneurs, and capitalizing on Red’s knowledge of trucking and construction, they started Forest Park Estates on Howard Hill Road in Jaffrey. It was Jaffrey’s first modern mobile home park and was well received as an affordable community. John entered the family business full time after graduating from Conant High School alongside his lifelong friend Steve ‘Bozo’ Christian. Red’s soon purchased its first oil delivery truck. Initially John and Bozo would pick up oil and kerosene from as far away as Greenfield, Massachusetts, and deliver to customers in Jaffrey. Before long, a bulk oil storage facility was constructed and with the addition of a tanker trailer, product could now be picked up from suppliers in Portsmouth or Boston seaport terminals. John would often transport the bulk oil at night, after working days in the repair garage.

In 1963, local craftsman Clyde Felch was

In 1981 Red and John purchased Monadnock Disposal Service from Jaffrey native Roland Archambault. This was a small garbage collection company with a handful of dumpsters, several curbside stops and a couple of garbage packer trucks. The heating oil and garbage collection service worked well as their respective busy seasons were somewhat opposite with many employees working double duty. Collect garbage when it’s hot and deliver heating oil when it’s not. The entire operation was run out of the River Street location with a storage yard behind

one of the Peard’s apartment houses, where McDonalds currently stands. With the addition of several tractor trailers, more fuel delivery trucks and garbage trucks of all description, the decision was made to move the garbage company to Old Sharon Road, often referred to as ‘dump road’ once home to Jaffrey’s town landfill. An underused gravel pit, once bustling during the Red’s excavation days, became the new home for Monadnock Disposal Service office, transfer station and recycling facility. John and his wife Lauren would eventually acquire 100% of both Red’s and MDS from his parents. With their four sons, John Jr., Matthew, Nathan and Daniel, they would continue to grow both companies to over 65 full-time employees. MDS now collects refuse from a number of neighboring towns with the ability to dump the smaller collection trucks at

the Old Sharon Road facility to further recycle and transfer the refuse into larger bulk transport trucks. Efficiently transporting the trash to landfills and trash-to-energy incineration plants across New England, even as far as New York state. Sadly, Daniel lost his life in an auto accident in 2013, John Sr. passed in 2016 and Lauren shortly after in 2017 and Nathan chose Utah as his home. John Jr. and Matthew along with children Jacob, Aiden, James and Ashley continue the legacy as the 3rd and 4th generation of Peard family members to operate Red’s and Monadnock Disposal Service, with more family members to follow. Steve ‘Bozo’ Christian spent his entire working career with Red’s and the Peard family. Steve’s son Eric, grandson Keith, daughter Stephanie and granddaughter Briana are all longtime members of the Peard family of employees. ❦

hill family insurance

The Hill Family Insurance Agency has a long history of serving the community of Jaffrey dating back to 1939, first as Cournoyer Insurance, when Randyl Cournoyer started with a small office on Main Street in the same building that his father ran a grocery store. Randyl ran it as a small family business with his son and daughter, Randy and Jonell assisting through the years. Dick Hill joined the agency in 1983, and soon after, purchased the agency in 1985. The agency has continued to operate under the Hill Family name for nearly 40 years, with Dick’s four children, Nick Hill, Sam Hill, Abby (Hill) Derosier and Liza (Hill) Sprague, now owning and running the business. It is important to include Lucy Carpenter in our family as she was the friendly voice and smile that greeted all our customers for over 25 years. We pride ourselves on providing a quality product to our personal and business customers and backing it up with service that is second to none.

A big thanks to all our customers over the years for believing in us and allowing us to take care of your insurance needs. Happy 250th Jaffrey! ❦

jaffrey family medicine

ReSponding to to an ad they’d seen in the New England Journal of Medicine, Drs. Ross and Lisa Ramey found themselves interviewing at Monadnock Community Hospital on Halloween of 1985. Being interviewed and lunched with medical staff dressed in Halloween costumes only reinforced their desire to practice medicine in a small town in New England. Dr. Paul Switzer dressed as a mad scientist, and the pediatricians dressed as babies in diapers and pink body suits, no doubt set the stage for years of notable costume designing by Dr. Ross over the ensuing years.

In May of 1986 Lisa Ramey moved with her two children from Elgin Air Force Base in Florida to Jaffrey. The Rameys purchased Dr. John MacEachran’s practice at 77 East Main Street (formally known as Turnpike Road). Dr. MacEachran, who was transitioning to ER medicine left a well-stocked office, nicely set up and easy to immediately start patient care. Ross joined Lisa in July, after his discharge from the Air Force. The practice grew with both physicians, and the addition of physician assistant Irene Miller providing inpatient and outpatient care, nursing home and obstetrics, as well as emergency night call. Both Dr. Ross and Dr. Lisa served as school physicians for the Jaffrey-Rindge schools. During their careers, Lisa and Ross made generous contributions of time to the medical community as well as education, theater, and sports programs throughout the Monadnock Region.

In 1992, the practice was sold to Monadnock Community Hospital, became Jaffrey Family Medicine, and the Rameys became hospital employees, shifting office management

to the Hospital and joining a growing number of hospital employed physicians. Dr. Ross joined Monadnock Family care on campus at MCH. Dr. Richard Hacker joined Lisa for several years in Jaffrey, making it easier for the Rameys to take family vacations together. Having outgrown 77 East Main Street the hospital and D. D. Bean worked together to build a new facility at 22 North Street. Expanding the practice to include Dr. James Potter of Peterborough, and nurse practitioner Ellen Ostreicher of Rindge joined the practice, and eventually Dr. Nadine Dubrule, Dr. Stephen Klonel, Dr. Marc Winiecki, and nurse practitioner Chris Jacobson. Physical therapist Greg Nerz saw patients in the North Street building as well.

In 2005 Jaffrey Family Medicine moved to its current location, 82 Peterborough Street, the former site of the Keene Clinic Satellite. ❦

ADVERTISEMENTS

250th Banners

Apollo Steel Atlas Fireworks D. D. Bean & Sons

Belletetes Inc. Bellows-Nichols Insurance

Cliff’s Auto Body Conant High School

Lori Constant, Real Estate Agent

Country Bridals & Formal Wear Cournoyer Funeral Home

Deep Water—The Murder of William K. Dean Demo-Core

Deschenes Auto & RV Center

Dublin Road Taproom & Eatery Dust to Shine

Fireman’s Muster

First Church in Jaffrey

Franklin Pierce University

Gauthier Auto Service

Gordon Services Property Maintenance

Christina Hayes, Realtor The Hamilton Family

Christina Hayes, Realtor

Hill Family Insurance Agency

Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society

Jaffrey Chamber of Commerce

Jaffrey Democrats

Jaffrey Historical Society

Jaffrey, New Hampshire

M&T Bank

MilliporeSigma

Monadnock Disposal Service

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Mountainshade

Red’s of Jaffrey

Ronnie’s Small Engine

Savron Graphics

Self Storage–Jaffrey & Peterborough

Sequoya Technologies Group

The Shattuck

Silver Ranch Airpark

Sorby & Son Heating

T & W Handyman Services

Threads of Hope

Town of Jaffrey

Banner

Jubilee Jaffrey 250th

JAFFREY, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Jaffrey is a town of spectacular natural beauty and outstanding opportunities for recreation, education, commerce and a safe, healthy life.

be IMMOrtAL

by developing ideas that outlive you.

Which sounds better: a career or a legacy? Experiment with bold solutions at our company and help make an everlasting impact on the world. Take a stand alongside the most determined thinkers in Healthcare, Life Science and Electronics. It could inspire generations of innovation. Join us and bring your curiosity to life. Apply now! jobs.vibrantm.com

The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada.

The Jaffrey Historical Society collects, preserves, and exhibits significant items that relate to Jaffrey, it’s people and places, its antiquity and its recent past.

Incorporated in 1958 by: Ralph E. Boynton, Anne B. Gordon, Warren C. Ruffle, Homer L. Belletete, Elizabeth B. Torrey, Alice E. Lehtinen, George Eaves & Marion Symonds

•Informative historical programs with images from the past.

•February potluck supper.

•Guided walking tours.

•October field trip to regional area of interest.

•Research opportunities by appointment.

If it relates to Jaffrey’s past, chances are the JHS has it!

Over 7,000 artifacts or manuscript items are cataloged and searchable on our computer database. Our archives are located in the basement of the Jaffrey Civic Center. We have collections of Conant High School yearbooks, Town Reports, business ledgers and journals, diaries, photographs, obituaries, and entertainment posters. There are files on schools, churches, industry, government, notable citizens, local inns and taverns.

Everyone is welcome to join the Jaffrey Historical Society!

Yearly dues start at just $15 for an individual or $25 for a family. Simply send a check payable to Jaffrey Historical Society, including your name(s), mailing address, and email to: Jaffrey Historical Society, 40 Main Street Jaffrey NH, 03452. Please write membership on the memo line.

Help preserve Jaffrey’s heritage. Join today!

jaffreyhistory.org 603-598-0120 40 Main Street

THE JAFFREY CENTER VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY

Gather

on the Jaffrey Meetinghouse Common Around the VIS Christmas Tree to sing carols and light up the VIS Christmas Tree 4:00 pm on Sunday, December 4th, 2022.

Meet

VIS members and Friends at The Inn at East Hill Farm, Troy, NH for the VIS Annual Invitational Welcome Spring Dinner to learn about the VIS Community Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 at 5:00 pm.

Learn

about local history at The Melville Academy Museum, 39 Thorndike Pond Road, Jaffrey Center on July 4th, 2023, 1-4 pm, and in July and August on Saturdays and Sundays, from 2-4 pm.

Picnic

in the VIS Centennial Park at the corner of Bryant Rd. and Main St. in Jaffrey Center as you view the VIS Swale and Mt. Monadnock Spring , Summer and Fall, and in Winter go sledding!

Celebrate

July 4th at the VIS Ice Cream Social at the VIS Horse Sheds, behind the Meetinghouse following the annual noontime reading of The Declaration of Independence at the Meetinghouse on Tuesday, July 4th, 2023.

Explore

Jaffrey Center as you walk around the historic neighborhood and VIS open spaces.

In VIS activities: hosting at Melville Academy Museum, gardening at Spring and Fall clean-ups, gathering together at events year-round. Saturdays and Sundays, from 2-4 pm.

the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society Anytime!

View our website to see if you share our mission to preserve and sustain the beauty and character of this historic community: www.jcvis.org

To join, send a check for $10 or more to: JCVIS, PO Box 772, Jaffrey, NH, 03452. Include your address, phone and email.

Congratulations on 250 Years from the Town of Jaffrey staff

Public Library

Town of Jaffrey Staff

Town Office

Police Department

Fire Department Parks & Recreation

Department of Public Works

Photos courtesy of Michelle Plourde-Eddy

Congratulations to Jaffrey as you celebrate

250th Jubilee!

Traditional Worship Progressive Theology Community Service

Sunday Worship at 10:30 a.m. Rev. Steve Miller, Pastor

No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. www.firstchurchinjaffrey.org 603-532-7979 stevemiller@firstchurchinjaffrey.org

On the Common - Jaffrey Center 14 Laban Ainsworth Way PO Box 673 Jaffrey, NH 03452

Affiliated with the NH Conference of the United Church of Christ

Christina grew up in Texas before joining the US Navy straight out of high school. She traveled around the globe from California to Guam to Diego Garcia before settling down in New England over 24 years ago. As a veteran, she credits her military experiences in shaping her into who she is today.

jaffrey on the web

There are many websites that have useful and interesting Jaffrey content.

https://jaffrey250.com The Jaffrey 250 website. Check here for the current schedule of events.

https://www.townofjaffrey.com The Town of Jaffrey website. Everything you need to know about town government: boards, committees, staff, maps, plans & studies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffrey,_New_Hampshire Wikipedia’s Jaffrey entry covers History, Geography, Demographics, the School System, Notable People.

https://www.nhes.nh.gov/elmi/products/cp/profiles-htm/jaffrey.htm Community Profiles prepared by New Hampshire Employment Security and the Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau. Presents a full range of demographic and economic data.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/147998358616531 “You know you’re in Jaffrey when…” A Facebook group covering all things Jaffrey.

http://www.jaffreyhistory.org The website of the Jaffrey Historical Society. Extensive information on the history of Jaffrey including images, maps, databases, publications, etc.

http://www.rs41.org/jhs.htm A second website focusing on the Jaffrey Historical Society. Past and future meetings, past newsletters, publications, resources, projects. Links to many Jaffrey books and articles including the Town History.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Those who prepared and submitted content for this publication or otherwise assisted in the process include:

Vicki Arceci

Sarah Bergeron

Richard Boutwell

Toni Gildone

Bruce Hill

Peter Lambert

Ken & Suze Campbell Becky Newton

❦

Stephen Pelkey

Savron Graphics

Ken Sheldon

Rob Stephenson

Marc Tieger

COLOPHON

This publication was produced on an iMac (OS 12.6.1) using InDesign (18.0) and Photoshop (24.0.1). Among the fonts used were: ITC Galliard, Gill Sans, Euphemia UCAS, Columna Solid D and Zapf Dingbats. The paper used: Cover 80 lb.; Text 60 lb. It was printed and bound by Silver Direct, Inc., Swanzey, New Hampshire. ❦

JAFFREY ICONS