The Nashua ExperienceA T h r e e - D e c A D e U p g r A D e

1 9 7 8 – 2 0 0 8

by

Alison ZAyAsTeven BU TZellinDA n. TAggArT

pUBlisheD for The nAshUA pUBlic liBrAry By

Jetty Housean imprint of Peter E. Randall Publisher LLC

porTsmoU Th, new hAmpshire 03802

copyright © 2009 by the nashua public libraryAll rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

isBn10: 0-9817898-1-1isBn13: 978-0-9817898-1-1

library of congress control number: 200894202

printed in the United states of America

Editor: carol luers eyman Published by: Jetty house, an imprint of peter e. randall publisher llc Box 4726 portsmouth, nh 03802 www.perpublisher.com

Book design: grace peirceCover design: Bruce marks Cover art: “The mills at Twilight: The nashua manufacturing

company.” photograph © 2003 by Kathy seward macKay. www.kathymackayphoto.com

Additional copies available from: nashua public library 2 court street nashua, nh 03060 e-mail: info@nashualibrary.org www.nashualibrary.org/nashuaexperience.htm

Photography credits: All photos are courtesy of the Telegraph unless otherwise noted.

Dedicated to the memory of florence c. shepard: librarian, local historian, and an author of The Nashua Experience: History in the Making: 1673–1978, whose service to the

nashua public library lasted from 1960 to 1988.

� vii

Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

chapter 1: Demographics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

chapter 2: The economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

chapter 3: The environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

chapter 4: politics and government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

chapter 5: Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

chapter 6: education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

chapter 7: sports and recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

chapter 8: Arts and culture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

chapter 9: religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

chapter 10: community and social life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

chapter 11: Adversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Appendix: mayors and presidents of the nashua Board of Aldermen, 1978–2008. . . . . . 137

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Acknowledgments ix

Acknowledgments

The idea to write The Nashua Experience: A Three-Decade Upgrade, 1978–2008 came from the nashua public library Board of Trustees. we thank them for the opportunity and for the trust they placed in us to create this volume of nashua history.

writing this book would not have been possible without the assistance of many people in the commu-nity. much of what we included in this book came from the guidance and opinions of people we inter-viewed. we extend our thanks to Joyce and maurice Arel, paul Bergeron, paul Berube, Kathy and steve Bolton, helen Bonenfant, Deb chisholm, Arthur and Barbara comolli, Don Davidson, susan Deschenes, Joseph Dionne, James Donchess, yvonne Dunetz, margaret gleeson, nancy grant, Jane hemmingsen, Kathy hersh, Brad hill, virginia hinkle, sally hyland, Thomas “Jay” leonard, Jeannine levesque, edmund lowe, pat lucier, Alan manoian, charlie matthews, Beth mccarthy, Brian mccarthy, Deb migneault, Jay minkarah, gerry nash, Art and Jane olsson, David pinsonneault, phil scontsas, Jennifer seusing, Dean shalhoup, marilyn solomon, John stabile, Bernie streeter, Janice and fred Teeboom, william warner, walter warren, and Dearborn and gary wingate. we are grateful that they were willing to share their recol-lections and opinions with us.

creating the book was a collaborative effort, and staff at the nashua public library were helpful in many ways. we relied on the assistance of Julie Andrews, Julie Archambault, Jenn Jasinski, caroline Kutcher, and Katrina lewin to find and print news-paper articles. we are grateful to marsha Auerbach,

Judy Dominici, Jenn Jasinski, and caroline Kutcher for providing additional reference desk coverage so we could research and write our chapters. carol eyman and Bruce marks were invaluable in the production of the book.

Thank you to susan Deschenes, Joe Dionne, carol eyman, mary greene, Jane hanle-olsson, Bruce marks, charlie matthews, and Dean shalhoup for reviewing our manuscript to ensure its readability, coherence, and accuracy. Thanks to mahima Balaraj for helping assure the accuracy of footnotes.

if you enjoy browsing through the many pictures in this book, you’ll want to join us in thanking Dean shalhoup and Terry williams at the Telegraph for allowing us access to their photograph archive. robert cioppa provided the information on the english language learners program, and the nashua school District provided us with photos.

finally, we thank our families, especially David Zaya, christopher Taggart, Jim and Diane nuner, and russell and rita Butzel, for their continued love and support.

xi

Preface

on may 31, 2007, the nashua public library spon-sored “The nashua experience: The sequel,” a panel discussion with five of the six mayors who served the city from 1978 to 2007. The event was a starting point for the research and writing of a thirtieth-anniversary update to The Nashua Experience: History in the Making 1673–1978. The idea to update The Nashua Experience came from the nashua public library Board of Trust-ees, and we considered it an opportunity and an honor to write it. each of us has an interest in history, and we were excited to delve into nashua’s past. Thirty years seemed doable; after all, the original book covered three hundred years. surely, among the three of us, we could manage to write a volume of 100 pages.

we are not native nashuans, nor had we been working in the city long enough to remember nashua in 1998, let alone 1978. we considered this an advan-tage; we had no agenda other than writing a history of nashua. But we knew we would have to speak to members of the community to get a feeling for the events that shaped the people, landscape, and quality of life in nashua. much of what they said guided us in our research and writing. in addition to interviews, we relied heavily on articles from the Telegraph. we supplemented the newspaper articles and interviews with city annual reports, master plans, and additional documents. we also conducted a survey that gave nashuans a chance to offer their input about the changes in the city between 1978 and 2008.

writing and researching any topic comes with challenges, and ours was no exception. recent history, in particular, can be difficult to write. some of the

topics we detail, such as construction of a Broad street parkway or the city’s purchase of pennichuck water works, remain unresolved. some, such as the Julia earl controversy, are still sensitive for those involved. many of the people we have written about are still living and active in nashua. for these reasons, it can be difficult to gain distance and perspective.

our sources also colored our writing and research. our selection of topics to include in the book was influ-enced by what our interviewees considered significant. interviews rely on individuals’ memories and opinions. The Telegraph, our primary news source, provided another voice in the reporting of events. our index to the Telegraph is incomplete, which posed a chal-lenge in researching topics. in addition, much of our recent demographic information is based on the 2000 census. when the U.s. census Bureau conducts its next decennial survey in 2010, the city will have more complete and accurate numbers, along with commen-tary regarding the population in nashua. Despite these challenges, we have worked hard to produce a qual-ity publication that reflects the community that was nashua from 1978 to 2008.

while it is natural for authors to claim owner-ship of their work, The Nashua Experience: A Three-Decade Upgrade, 1978–2008 belongs to the people of nashua. it was an honor to produce it for you. we hope it serves its dual purposes as a reference and a keepsake, until a new generation of librarians writes the next installment.

Preface

Introduction xiii

Introduction

on a July evening in 1987, mayor James Donchess was on vacation in martha’s vineyard when the phone rang. he was needed in nashua as soon as possible. while he was able to get himself a ticket on the ferry, it was too late to book a reservation for his car. so his administrative assistant, Joe freeman, picked him up in massachusetts and drove him back to nashua.

An interrupted vacation would normally be unwelcome, but not this time. mayor Donchess was on his way back to town for an appearance on Good Morning America to discuss his city’s being named Money magazine’s “Best place to live in America.” The ranking brought a sense of pride to the commu-nity and recognition that it might not have otherwise enjoyed.

Growth and Expansion on December 31, 1948, Textron corporation closed its doors, leaving one quarter of nashua’s industrial workers unemployed. Despite this setback to the econ-omy and hardship on workers, nashua rebounded. By the 1950s, new and varied companies moved into the abandoned mill buildings. sanders Associates, which was for a time nashua’s largest employer, was attracted to nashua’s affordable housing, schools, quality of life, and tax climate. These assets, along with easy access to Boston and to the route 128 corridor in massa-chusetts, led to exponential growth in the 1960s. The new businesses in nashua and nearby massachusetts attracted a more skilled and educated workforce, laying the foundation for the city nashua would be in 2008. Developers built numerous malls and shopping

plazas to accommodate the expanding population, and, through the 1970s and 1980s, development continued at a rapid pace. what was once simply a gateway to new hampshire, which, according to a 1987 article, “people just drove through to get somewhere else,” became a destination for industry and homeowners alike.1

Nashua Named Best Place to Live growth and development altered a town that old-timers preserved in their memories, and thus has led to mixed reviews. where many saw progress, some nashua natives saw more traffic, congestion, and a loss of community. however, by 1987, the transformed nashua was thriving, and in August, Money magazine published its “Best places to live in America” article, placing the nashua region at the top of the list. The ranking caused great excitement and twenty years later remained a highlight for people who lived in nashua at the time.

The magazine determined the winner by first asking readers to score sixty variables pertaining to the quality of life. while people preferred different criteria, a strong economy mattered most. Money then collected data using government and private sources, and using “places UsA” software awarded points to areas around the country. nashua’s combination of a growth economy, proximity to Boston and the white mountains, lack of state income and sales taxes, high home-value appreciation, and safety earned the city

The�Nashua�Experience:�A�Three-Decade�Upgradexiv

the honor. Detractions included the cold weather, lack of arts, and high house prices, but the positives outweighed the negatives.2

The number-one ranking catapulted nashua into the national spotlight, and community and busi-ness leaders expected that it would lead to increased interest in the city from business owners and prospec-tive residents. The new hampshire Association of commerce and industry received 300 requests for information about nashua, and the rating even increased newspaper subscriptions and attracted curious travelers.3

Hard Times Hitnot long after nashua received its title as “Best place to live,” the econ-omy slumped. The country was in the midst of a recession, and in 1989 many of nashua’s largest companies laid off significant portions of their workforce. The housing market crashed and banks failed, leaving many citizens in precarious situations. in 1991, nashua ranked 233rd on the Money magazine list.4

Nashua ReboundsAlthough the economy remained weak, nashua began to rebound in the 1990s, thanks to what carla fried and Jeanhee Kim describe as “typical yankee bootstrapping.”5 As early as 1992, nashua ranked 100th, jumping over 100 places on the list. michael valuk, executive director of the greater nashua chamber of commerce at the time, was not surprised by the upturn. he told the Telegraph, “All the key elements dealing with the quality of life that pushed us to no. 1 are the same except the economy. But now the rest of the country is suffering the same economic malaise we’ve had the past few years. we’ve stayed in place, but everyone else is moving up and down. our anchors are still there.”6 The next year, nashua ranked even higher, at fifty-five, and was the only new hampshire community to appear on the list. By 1996, the city climbed to number forty-two.7

in the spring of 1997, a reporter from Money magazine visited the city, interviewing nashuans and taking pictures along the way. perhaps, people speculated, the magazine was preparing a ten-year retrospective. or could nashua have broken back into the top ten? The night before the rankings were announced, mayor Don Davidson got the good news: nashua had reclaimed top honors, becoming the first city to hold the distinction twice.8

Two factors led to the resurgence. The economy had healed, largely because of the high-tech surge. new hampshire had more “techies” per capita

Mayor Don Davidson displays a bumper sticker celebrating Nashua’s honor of being the first city twice named “Best Place to Live in America” by money magazine.

Introduction xv

than any other state. many workers who were laid off during the recession stayed in nashua and started their own businesses. The spirit of entrepre-neurship created a more diverse economy, and in 1997 nashua’s economy ranked among the best 10 percent of the 300 metropolitan areas considered. The other factor, which respon-dents considered the most important in 1997, was safety. with a crime rate 84 percent below the national average, the nashua region was one of the safest in the country. The ranking once again put nashua in the spotlight, attract-ing attention from out of state and renewing the pride of nashuans.9 As Money magazine described nashua’s charms:

That safe, snug, healthy feeling makes the nashua region a great place to raise a family. The schools are rock solid and both kids and parents have an impres-sive array of recreation options. new hampshire’s lake region, anchored by lake winnipesaukee 50 miles north of nashua, can float the boat of any water-sport enthusiast. for crisp salt air to clear their heads or just-pulled-from-the-ocean lobster to fill their stomachs, nashuans head for the nearby new hampshire and maine coastlines. And when the yen for big-city activity sets in, Boston is less than an hour away. The urge to hike can be sated in the fabled white mountains, a 90-minute drive north, which converts to a skier’s delight in winter.10

Thirty Years in Nashua This is the story of nashua from 1978 to 2008—a time of change, pros-perity, hardship, reevaluation of the direction of the city, adversity, and perseverance—and the people and institutions that make nashua what it is. The designations of “Best place to live” are particularly interesting, as the period covered by this book has included some very high and low points; they encapsulate nashua as a city that continues to change, reinvent itself, and face adversity.

Because 1978 through 2008 is a fairly short period, we have arranged The Nashua Experience: A Three-Decade Upgrade, 1978–2008 thematically rather than chronologically. while each chapter deals with a primary subject, many of the topics are interconnected. During this time, the economy affected the population, which, in turn, affected the schools and cultural institutions in nashua. Decisions about education, transportation, and envi-ronmental matters were made by politicians and city leaders. Downtown nashua has seen many changes over the years, which have influenced both the economy and social life of the community. Thus, it is impossible to consider one aspect of this era without taking into account others.

“The fact that we have weathered the years in between, which we now affectionately refer to as ‘The Recession of ’88,’ gives us cause to receive this special second-time-around recognition with a good dose of grace and humility tempered by the business cycle.”

—Kathleen veracco, greater nashua chamber of commerce, as quoted in Brian J. Bowe, “city hall rally held to celebrate nashua’s return to

stardom,” The nashua Telegraph, June 12, 1997.

The�Nashua�Experience:�A�Three-Decade�Upgradexvi

chapter 1 discusses demographics, as nashua has evolved from a town in the mid-twentieth century to a city in 2008. The changes stem from the emergence of large companies, which drew in a more educationally, cultur-ally, and geographically diverse population.

chapter 2 examines the ups and downs of the city’s economy, includ-ing the city’s major employers, its real estate and financial markets, as well as the growth in retail business. it also discusses the economic fate of the city’s downtown.

chapter 3 explores the increased attention given to the city’s envi-ronmental concerns, including land use and wetlands management, water supply protection, toxic waste cleanup, and recycling. it details the grass-roots campaign to limit the hall’s corner development project and to estab-lish a wetlands ordinance.

chapter 4 highlights notable political changes and controversies in nashua, from implementing new city legislation to mayoral recalls. it also describes highlights from the first-in-the-nation primaries.

chapter 5 reviews a number of the city’s major transportation initia-tives, not all of which came to fruition. in particular, the widening of the f. e. everett Turnpike, and prolonged debates concerning the Broad street parkway, the circumferential highway, and commuter rail are outlined.

within the thirty-year period covered in this book, the structure of the public schools changed dramatically. chapter 6 chronicles the changes there, and at the city’s institutions of private, alternative, adult, and higher education.

chapter 7 looks at nashua at play, in professional and amateur sports and outdoor recreation. chapter 8 looks at nashua’s art scene, its struggles and bright spots.

in chapter 9, the city’s religious life, with the closure of some of its churches and the growth of others, is explored. chapter 10 examines the ties that bind nashuans together—its social events, community groups, and memorials and monuments.

no city is free from hardship and adversity. national disasters, natural disasters, and social issues touch and affect all communities. chapter 11 discusses not only these problems, but how nashua has responded to them.