NASHUA  , a

city and one of the county seats of Hillsboro county, New Hampshire, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Nashua and Merrimac rivers, 35 M . S.S.E. of Concord and 40 M . N.W. of Boston by rail . Pop . (1890) 19,311; (1900) 23,898, of whom 8093 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 26,005 . Nashua is served by the Boston & Maine railroad, whose several divisions centring here give the city commercial importance, and by electric lines to Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Dracut and Tyngsboro . The area of the city in 1906 was 30.71 sq. m . To the N.,W. and S.W. of the city there are beautiful hills and mountains . The church of Saint Francis Xavier and the First Congregational church are architecturally noteworthy . The city has a soldiers' monument, a public library, a court house and two hospitals . There is a United States fish hatchery here, and until after the close of the 18th century fishing was the principal industry of the place, as manufacturing is now . Water-power is furnished by the Nashua river and by Salmon Brook, and the city is extensively engaged in manufactures, notably cotton goods, boots, shoes, and foundry and machine-shop products .

The value of the city's factory products increased from $10,096,064 in Igloo to $12,858,382 in 1905, or 27.4%, and in 1905 Nashua ranked second among the manufacturing cities of the

state . Nashua is one of the oldest interior settlements of the state . The first settlement here was established about 1665; and in 1673 the township of Dunstable was incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts . In 1741, when the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was settled, the jurisdiction of this portion of Dunstable was transferred to New Hampshire; five years later it was incorporated under the laws of that state; and in 1803 the settlement, originally known as Indian Head, was incorporated as a village under the name of Nashua, and in 1836 the township of Dunstable also received the name Nashua . The town of Nashville was set apart from the town of Nashua in 1842, but the two towns were united under a city charter obtained in 18J3 . In 1795 the first stage coach was run through here from Boston to Amherst, and at about the same time a canal was built around Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimac at Lowell . In 1822 a manufacturing company was formed, which at once began to develop the water-power and in 1825 erected the first cotton mill . Thirteen years later the Nashua & Lowell railroad (now leased to the Boston & Maine) first reached Nashua . See The History of the City of Nashua, edited by E . E . Parker (Nashua, 1897) .