The Downtown Nashua of today, with its unique shopping and dining experiences and charming commercial buildings, is the outgrowth of nearly 200 years of commercial and retail metamorphosis. Even in the 19th century, merchants had to be innovative and creative to keep pace with the ever-changing interests of their customers. Nowhere is this more evident than in the history of Downtown Nashua.

1800 - 1830

Downtown Nashua became a retail center shortly after the founders of the Nashua Manufacturing Co. brought Asher Benjamin, an architect primarily known for his residential and religious structures, to Nashua to layout the city, during which time he set out key Downtown streets such as Factory, Spring, and East and West Pearl Streets. 100-foot lots on Main Street started being bought up in the late 1820s and ‘30s and commercial buildings began to appear on what had previously been a residential street. The earliest mercantile activity was clustered around the Main Street Bridge, but by 1850 the commercial district had grown south towards East and West Pearl Streets. Construction of the Merchant’s Exchange (169-185 Main Street), built in 1872, and the Masonic Temple (194 Main), built in 1889, pushed Downtown even further south, with the final phases of development being marked by the erection of the Montgomery Ward Building (221 Main) in 1928.

1830 - 1929

Throughout most of the 19th century, the majority of Downtown businesses catered to the interests of thousands of female workers or “mill girls” who came to Nashua for work. Clothiers, hat shops, shoe stores and other retailers that catered to women lined the streets of Downtown. With the turn of the century, the types of businesses and goods offered Downtown changed. F.E. Nelson (100 Main) became Nashua’s first department store in 1904. The concept of selling a diverse selection of goods—from clothes to jewelry to house wares—all under one roof was brand new at the turn of the century. F.E. Nelson had stores in Lowell, Lawrence, Manchester, Concord and Rutland, Vermont, so setting up shop in Nashua put the city on par with other significant industrial cities from of that time. Nelson’s was soon followed by Woolworth’s (111/113 Main) in 1907; Goodnow, Hunt & Pearson (138-140 Main) and several others. The early 20th century also saw the establishment of two family-owned businesses that are still in operation today, Burque Jewelers (89 W. Pearl) and Scontsas (169 Main).

1929 - 1970

With the onset of the Great Depression, construction of new commercial buildings came to a hault. However, several new businesses opened up in existing buildings, some of which are still operating today, including Aubuchon Hardware (217 Main) and Avards, now Dick Avards Haberdashery (now at 117 Main).

After World War II, the 1940s saw a stream of new retailers and the construction of a Downtown landmark, the Sears & Roebuck Department Store (184 Main), also known as the Professional Building. The opening of Sears & Roebuck made the front page of the local papers, as many felt that its coming symbolized that Nashua had “arrived.” Other well-known businesses during this time included Brockleman Bros. grocery, Carroll Cutrate department store, Berg’s Shoe Store, JJ Newbury Five and Dime, and the Downtown institution, Millers, which became the quintessential Downtown meeting place, so much so that the phrase “Meet you at Millers” became their motto.

With changing manufacturing practices, many companies were closing or heading to foreign countries where labor and production were cheaper, and the Nashua Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1948, leaving a significant part of Nashua’s workforce unemployed. This would be the first of many major economic and social changes Downtown would face in the 20th century. Construction of Route 3 in the late 1950s would also greatly impact Downtown. Route 3’s creation was characteristic of a national shift in community planning, which was moving away from walkable neighborhoods where residential, commercial and industrial uses were close together, and towards sprawling communities where the different components were separated by distances that required a car to go from one place to another.

This shift in focus to an automobile-centered lifestyle brought about a change in how people shopped. Shopping plazas, with their buildings set back from the road, behind expansive parking lots, came to Nashua in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. On the heels of the shopping plaza came the shopping mall. Plazas and malls were modern renditions of the traditional Main Street commercial district, only the automobile was at the heart of their design, thus creating a sea of asphalt through which shoppers had to walk in order to get to stores. Although plazas and malls offered similar goods and services as Downtown, parking there was free and seemingly unlimited, and thus people found shopping at them to be more convenient. As retailers must follow consumer trends to survive, many Downtown businesses felt compelled to leave and establish themselves in plazas and malls. By the early 1990s, Downtown institutions such as Sears, Millers and Woolworth’s had either moved to a mall or closed for good. Gone, too, by this time were the local banks, such as Indian Head Bank and the Nashua Trust.

1970 - Present

In the early 1970s, in response to the increasingly vacant storefronts and sidewalks, local merchants banded together and formed the Heart of Nashua merchants association, through which they advocated for Downtown businesses and revitalization. The Heart of Nashua disbanded in the late 1980s and other efforts were put forth to unify and revitalize Downtown. The economic revitalization movement that finally “took off” was organized by the City’s Downtown Development specialist, Alan Manoian. During the mid-1990s, Manoian and Downtown advocates worked to pass ordinances that would allow for sidewalk cafes and develop programs that encouraged vibrant downtown street life. Alec’s Shoe Store’s (201 Main) move to Main Street and the opening of Nashua’s first urban bistro, Michael Timothy’s (212 Main) were clear indicators that a new Downtown was emerging in the mid-90s. New businesses, combined with signature events such as the Taste of Downtown and the Winter Holiday Stroll, put Downtown back on the map as a destination for unique retail, culinary and cultural experiences.

In the 21st century, the revitalization continues. The Riverfront Park project and the highly anticipated opening of Peddler’s Daughter will create even more exciting opportunities for exploring Downtown. Since 2002 Great American Downtown took over the role of planning the Taste of Downtown, Holiday Stroll and the newest event, the Great American Ghost Town, and will be working over the next year to develop additional programs in support of Downtown merchants and visitors.

In its first 200 years, Downtown has proven itself to be resilient, innovative and newsworthy. Great American Downtown, the City of Nashua, the merchants and developers are working hard to ensure that Downtown’s future will be equally impressive.

Great American Downtown would like to acknowledge Alan Manoian, Community & Economic Development Professional, for his invaluable contributions to this article.

Historic photo courtesy of the City of Nashua

Contemporary photos by Jodie Andruskevich, www.jodiephoto.com