Seniors Stop In Manchester

Seniors travel to Manchester (called the Queen City), the largest city in New Hampshire (110,000). It was named by the merchant and inventor Samuel Blodget, after whom the Samuel Blodget Park in Manchester North is named. Blodget’s vision was to create a great industrial center similar to that of Manchester in England, which was the world’s first industrialized city.

It is located in Hillsborough County along the banks of the Merrimack River, which divides the city into eastern and western sections. The state’s largest city has enjoyed a renaissance over the past several years. Once home to extensive manufacturing operations devoted to producing textiles, the area has a vibrant and largely service-oriented economy.

Manchester is home to several area institutions of higher education including Southern New Hampshire University and St. Anselm College.

Seniors Discover A Highly Rated City In Manchester

Manchester often appears favorably in lists ranking the affordability and livability of American cities. In 2009, CNNMoney.com rated Manchester 13th in a list of the 100 best cities to live and launch a business in the United States.

In 1998 Money Magazine named Manchester the “Number One Small City in the East”.  I don’t call 100,000 population “small.” My hometown in Iowa was “small” (pop. 300).

In addition, Kiplinger voted Manchester the second most tax-friendly city in the United States, second only to Anchorage, Alaska. Also in 2009, Forbes magazine ranked the Manchester region first on its list of “America’s 100 Cheapest Places to Live,” and that just might attract a few senior retirees to the city.

TripAdvisor suggests the Currier Museum of Art with a collection of works by Pablo Picasso, Edgar Monet, and Georgia O’Keefe. The restored  870-seat Palace Theatre is a restored theater that features plays, concerts, and other live performances.

The Zimmerman House, open to the public, is the only residence in New England designed by legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

 Seniors Enjoy Historical City

I’d want to be sure to visit the Millyard Museum with exhibits on the history of the city, including early colonial settlement, and the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company which at its peak was the largest textile producer in the world. 

The Amoskeag Company went out of business in 1935, although its red brick mills have been renovated for other uses.

The mill town’s 19th century affluence left behind some of the finest Victorian commercial, municipal, and residential architecture in New Hampshire. First settled in 1722, Manchester began as a farming community known as Derryfield until being renamed Manchester in 1810.

Its new name was based on Samuel Blodgett’s efforts to facilitate a trade route from Boston to Concord by opening a canal and lock system to allow vessels passage around the Amoskeag Falls.

 Seniors find sites of interest in Manchester that include the Majestic Theatre, the SEE Science Center, the Massabesic Audubon Center, the Amoskeag Fishways Learning and Visitors Center; and the centerpiece of downtown Manchester, the Verizon Wireless Arena, a multi-purpose civic center. Enjoy your visit. -jeb