# Nashua, New Hampshire in the 1910s

> A river-and-rail factory city where cotton, shoes, paper, immigrants, war, and influenza crowded daily life.

- Place: Nashua, New Hampshire (42.765, -71.468)
- Years: 1910 to 1919
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-new-hampshire/1910s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Nashua%2C%20New%20Hampshire%2C%20United%20States&at=42.7654,-71.4676&year=1915

## Looking around

You stand where the Nashua and Merrimack rivers meet[1][3], in a city of 26,005 people[1][2]. Turn toward the mill side: the Nashua River and Salmon Brook furnish water-power[1], and the old planned factory town still shows grid streets, mill buildings, boarding houses, mercantile lots, churches, and a brick schoolhouse[3]. By the tracks, Boston & Maine divisions center here[1], carrying freight and passengers toward Boston and Concord[1]. Electric cars run out toward Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Dracut, and Tyngsboro[1]. The factories make cotton goods, boots, shoes, foundry work, and machine-shop products[1], part of a city with 7,312 manufacturing wage earners[4]. Around town are St. Francis Xavier, First Congregational, the public library, the court house, two hospitals, and a soldiers’ monument[1]. Beyond the built streets lie hills to the north, west, and southwest[1].

## Work: Factory shifts rule

The city had 7,312 manufacturing wage earners[4] in 1909, and its factories turned out $17,320,134 in products[4]. Work centered on cotton goods, boots, shoes, foundry products, and machine-shop products[1].

## Who lived here: An immigrant mill city

Nashua counted 26,005 people[1][2] in 1910. A decade earlier, 8,093 residents were foreign-born[1], so mills, churches, shops, and streets were already shaped by immigrant households.

## Roads & news: Rails and papers connect

Nashua was 40 miles northwest of Boston by rail[1], and Boston & Maine divisions centered here[1]. Local news moved through the Nashua Daily Telegraph[6], while electric lines reached Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Dracut, and Tyngsboro[1].

## Faith: Churches anchor streets

The visible religious landmarks included St. Francis Xavier and First Congregational Church[1]. The older factory-town plan had placed churches[3] among mills, boarding houses, mercantile lots, and schools.

## Law & power: City and county authority

Nashua was one of the county seats of Hillsborough County[1], with court business in town. Its government kept yearly municipal reports with vital statistics[5], tying deaths, schools, streets, and spending to city offices.

## What people feared: War, machines, influenza

World War I touched the city through printed soldiers’ and sailors’ names and honor rolls[7]. Afterward, the great influenza epidemic struck[8], while everyday risk remained tied to thousands of manufacturing wage earners[4] in mills and shops.

## Home & table: Planned mill-town bones

The older industrial city still rested on grid streets, textile factories, boarding houses, mercantile lots, churches, and the Old Brick Schoolhouse[3]. But ordinary working-class interiors are not described in the online sources opened here.

## Money: Products, wages, output

The useful local money figures are industrial rather than household: factory products were worth $17,320,134 in 1909[4]. That output came from 7,312 average manufacturing wage earners[4], but a local 1910s wage table was not found here.

## Year by year

- **1910** (here): The federal census counted Nashua at 26,005 people.[1][2]
- **1911** (here): The Encyclopædia Britannica described Nashua as a rail-served manufacturing city at the Nashua and Merrimack rivers.[1][3]
- **1914** (the world): World War I began in Europe, and its demand later helped keep Nashua’s mills, machine shops, foundries, and railroads busy.[3]
- **1916** (the country): The United States fought along the Mexican border, and Nashua men of military age lived amid a rising national preparedness debate.
- **1917** (the country): The United States entered World War I, making soldiers’ names, sailors’ names, and honor rolls local newspaper matter.[7]
- **1918** (here): The great influenza epidemic struck after the end of World War I.[8]
- **1918** (the world): The Armistice ended the fighting in Europe on November 11, a date Nashua readers and war families would have followed closely.
- **1919** (here): Nashua issued its sixty-sixth annual municipal report for the 1918 financial year, including vital statistics.[5]

## What the sources say

- The 1910 census counted Nashua city at 26,005 people, up from 23,898 in 1900. (from the sources)[1][2]
- Nashua stood at the confluence of the Nashua and Merrimack rivers in Hillsborough County. (from the sources)[1][3]
- The 1911 Britannica placed Nashua 35 miles south-southeast of Concord and 40 miles northwest of Boston by rail. (from the sources)[1]
- In 1900, 8,093 of Nashua’s 23,898 residents were foreign-born, a sign that immigration had already strongly shaped the city entering the 1910s. (from the sources)[1]
- The Boston & Maine Railroad served Nashua, and several of its divisions centered there, giving the city commercial importance. (from the sources)[1]
- Electric railway lines connected Nashua with Hudson, Litchfield, Pelham, Dracut, and Tyngsboro. (from the sources)[1]
- The Nashua River and Salmon Brook furnished water-power for the city’s factories. (from the sources)[1]
- Nashua’s chief manufactures around 1910 included cotton goods, boots, shoes, foundry products, and machine-shop products. (from the sources)[1]
- The 1909 manufactures census counted 7,312 average manufacturing wage earners in Nashua, second in New Hampshire only to Manchester. (from the sources)[4]
- Nashua factory products were valued at $17,320,134 in 1909, compared with $12,858,382 in 1904 and $10,096,604 in 1899. (from the sources)[4]
- Nashua Manufacturing Company’s earlier planned factory town laid out grid streets, textile factories, boarding houses, mercantile lots, churches, and the Old Brick Schoolhouse on West Pearl Street. (inferred)[3]
- By 1911 Nashua had the church of Saint Francis Xavier, First Congregational Church, a public library, a court house, two hospitals, and a soldiers’ monument. (from the sources)[1]
- North, west, and southwest of Nashua were hills and mountains, according to the 1911 Britannica description. (from the sources)[1]
- Nashua was one of the county seats of Hillsborough County, so courts and county business brought people into the city. (from the sources)[1]
- The Nashua annual report for financial year 1918 was a yearly municipal report containing vital statistics, showing the city kept formal accounts of deaths, spending, and departments. (from the sources)[5]
- Nashua had a local daily newspaper archive for the 1910s: the Nashua Daily Telegraph pages for 1910–1919 survive in the Nashua Public Library digital archive. (from the sources)[6]
- The Nashua Telegraph frequently printed World War I soldiers’ and sailors’ names and honor rolls during the war years. (inferred)[7]
- World War I kept Nashua’s textile mills, machine shops, foundries, and railroads going strong, according to the city’s historical account. (inferred)[3]
- The Nashua Memorial Hospital history says the great influenza epidemic struck shortly after the end of World War I. (from the sources)[8]
- No online source opened here gives a room-by-room description of ordinary Nashua working-class housing in the 1910s. (not known)

## Sources

1. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nashua. Encyclopædia Britannica via Wikisource, 1911. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Nashua
2. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910. United States Census Bureau, 1910. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Thirteenth_census_of_the_U.S.-_1910_%28IA_thirteenthcensus05unit%29.pdf
3. History of Nashua. City of Nashua, New Hampshire. https://www.nashuanh.gov/677/History-of-Nashua
4. Thirteenth Census of the United States: Statistics of Manufactures—New Hampshire. United States Census Bureau, 1910. https://usa.ipums.org/usa/resources/voliii/pubdocs/1910/Bulletins/41033927n391ch5.pdf
5. Sixty-sixth annual report of the municipal government of the city of Nashua, for the financial year 1918. Nashua Town Representatives / University of New Hampshire Scholars’ Repository, 1919. https://scholars.unh.edu/nashua_nh_reports/64/
6. Digital Archives of the Nashua Public Library. Nashua Public Library. https://nashua.advantage-preservation.com/
7. New Hampshire WWI Military: The Heroes of Nashua. Cow Hampshire, 2016. https://www.cowhampshireblog.com/2016/10/17/new-hampshire-wwi-military-the-heroes-of-nashua/
8. Southern New Hampshire Medical Center: A Higher Level of Care. Southern New Hampshire Health. https://www.snhhealth.org/application/files/8317/3395/0391/SNHMC-History.pdf

## The same place in other decades

- [Nashua in the 1890s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-new-hampshire/1890s/md)
- [Nashua in the 1900s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-hillsborough-county-new-hampshire/1900s/md)
- [Nashua in the 1920s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-hillsborough-county-new-hampshire/1920s/md)
- [Nashua in the 1930s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-new-hampshire/1930s/md)
- [Nashua in the 1960s](https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-new-hampshire/1960s/md)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-12 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Nashua, New Hampshire in the 1910s", https://yorehistory.com/place/nashua-new-hampshire/1910s