Seven additions to NH State Register of Historic Places highlight aspects of daily life across generations

The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources is pleased to announce that the State Historical Resources Council has added seven properties to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. Collectively, they illustrate how historic properties anchor their communities.

Canaan’s Knights of Pythias Hall was built in 1924 after a fifteen acre fire burned most of Canaan Village to the ground. Unlike any building constructed in Canaan at the time, the Colonial Revival-style hall is tall, flat-roofed, framed in steel and could fit the entire town in its 1,300-seat auditorium, which was used for movie screenings and dances. Purchased by the town in 1935, the building served as a community center until 1978, when the first floor was converted into the town library. 

One of the finest examples of the Richardson Romanesque style in New England, Pinkerton Hall in Derry helped shape the educational development of New Hampshire students from the time it was dedicated in July 1887 to the present. Poet Robert Frost taught in its second-floor classrooms from 1906-1911, and Alan Shepard, the first American in space, graduated from Pinkerton Academy in 1940. Two works by renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French that memorialize the school’s founders have been housed in the hall since 1906.

The Congregational Church of Henniker has served as a meeting house for the church from the time it was built in 1834. Its Greek Revival features, including wooden clapboards painted white and a gable-front floor plan, are meant to represent a Greek temple. The church’s steeple stands out with large clock faces on each of the first stage’s four sides, a second-stage belfry that contains an original Paul Revere bell and a smaller third stage topped with a domed roof that includes and ornate weathervane.

Currently home to the Meredith Historical Society, the Ladd Block was originally built in 1812 when Meredith Village was in its infancy. In 1854, it was purchased by Seneca Ladd, who used it as a sales office and later as a finishing operation for his piano forte and melodeon business. In its more than 200 years, Ladd Block has served the community as home to Meredith Village Savings Bank, the post office, public library, an elementary school classroom, retail operations and housing, along with other services.

The main Hillsborough Mills building was constructed in 1866 on the Souhegan River in Milford’s Pine Valley neighborhood. Two brick additions were built in 1880 and 1915, and the complex also includes a machine shop (1866), boiler house (1898), engine room (circa 1900) and several other buildings. While the mill began manufacturing woolen carpets just after the end of the Civil War, it later produced carpet yarns, bed and horse blankets, and continued manufacturing yarn and thread until after World War II.

Two additional properties recently added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places are currently under consideration to be listed to the National Register of Historic Places:

Weeks State Park in Lancaster occupies the summit and slopes of Mount Prospect. It has been used for agriculture since the early nineteenth century, tourism and sightseeing since the late nineteenth century and skiing since the mid-twentieth century. In 1941, it was granted to the State of New Hampshire from the family of Sen. John Wingate Weeks, a Lancaster native who established a summer estate – which still includes a lodge, stone tower used for wildfire prevention, auto road and more – on the site in 1912.

One of only six known “Little Houses” still in existence, Sullivan House retains a high level of integrity from when it was constructed in Manchester in 1932. The Little House line was a partnership between “House & Garden” magazine and W. & J. Sloane Department Stores; the buildings were designed to serve as starter homes that could be expanded as families grew. In addition to their Colonial Revival architecture, the homes included Modernist style interior decorating color palettes and furniture suggestions, most of which are still at Sullivan House.

Anyone wishing to nominate a property to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places must research the history of the nominated property and document it on an individual inventory form from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Having a property listed in the Register does not impose restrictions on property owners. For more information, visit nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov.

New Hampshire's Division of Historical Resources, the State Historic Preservation Office, was established in 1974 and is part of the NH Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. NHDHR’s mission is to preserve and celebrate New Hampshire’s irreplaceable historic resources through programs and services that provide education, stewardship, and protection. For more information, visit us online at nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov or by calling 603-271-3483.

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