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129-545: Hampton Falls is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire , United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census . Archaeological excavations have confirmed that what is now Hampton Falls has been occupied by humans for roughly 10,000 years. The first settlers were indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands . The land of Hampton Falls was first settled by Europeans in 1638,

258-562: A New Deal project. A modern turnpike through the Seacoast Region was proposed in the early 1940s as part of a New England regional network that would connect with the Maine Turnpike , which had been announced in 1941 and opened in 1947. Several seacoast towns voiced their opposition, due to fears that traffic would bypass New Hampshire's beaches, and instead favored widening US 1. The state legislature established

387-402: A $ 400,000 surplus (equivalent to $ 4.02 million in 2023) that was returned to the state government by the turnpike authority. Business owners in seacoast towns along US 1 reported major losses in sales following the turnpike's opening as 60 percent of traffic bypassed various towns. Traffic on US 1 later recovered to its original volume by the end of 1951. The Blue Star Turnpike

516-725: A CDP which is coextensive with the entire town. CDPs are only recognized within towns, not cities. Because the primary role of CDPs is to establish "place" data for communities located in unincorporated areas, a CDP cannot be within an incorporated place. Since the Census Bureau recognizes New England cities as incorporated places, a CDP cannot be within a city. Data users from outside New England should be aware that New Englanders usually think in terms of entire towns (i.e., MCD data), making CDP data of marginal local interest. Since virtually all territory in New England outside of Maine

645-461: A borough or city can span more than one town. In practice, though, most cities in Connecticut today do not function any differently from their counterparts elsewhere in New England. See the section below on boroughs and villages for more background on this topic. There are far fewer cities in New England than there are towns, although cities are more common in heavily built-up areas, and most of

774-484: A borough, a city can cover only a portion of a town rather than being coextensive with the town. This is rare today—only one or two examples remain—but it was more common in the past. At least one borough historically spanned more than one town: the borough of Danielsonville originally laid over parts of Killingly and Brooklyn , until the Brooklyn portion petitioned to be reorganized as a fire district and concurrently

903-529: A city, it is coextensive and consolidated with the Town of Hartford; governed by a single governmental entity with the powers and responsibilities of the Town being carried out by the entity referred to as the City of Hartford. In legal theory though not in current practice Connecticut cities and boroughs could be coextensive (covering the same geography as the town) without being consolidated (a single government); also

1032-420: A fair number of unincorporated, named communities that lie within the incorporated territory of a municipality. Connecticut is one of two New England states to have any type of incorporated general-purpose municipality below the town level, namely incorporated boroughs (Vermont has incorporated villages). There are nine remaining in the state, with one, Naugatuck , having consolidated with the town. Additionally,

1161-456: A few cases in Maine where a township or gore does not border any other unorganized land, it is treated as its own MCD rather than being folded into a larger UT. In theory, a CDP could probably be defined within an MCD representing an unorganized area. Due to the extremely sparse population in most such areas, however, there are few if any cases in which the Census Bureau has actually done so. For

1290-490: A former business associate, Charles Morse, who was an associate with the engineering firm that designed portions of the tollway for an inflated price. Morse was fired from his position later that month by Frank Merrill , the new state highway commissioner and former U.S. Army general . Amid the investigations, the state legislature approved an additional $ 280,000 in contingency funds (equivalent to $ 2.84 million in 2023) that would also be used to expand an interchange on

1419-497: A historical example in New Hampshire, see Plantation number four . Most areas of New England never developed municipal forms based on the compact populated place concept. This contrasts with states with civil townships, which typically have extensive networks of villages or boroughs that carve out or overlay the townships. Two of the New England states do have general-purpose municipalities of this type, however, to at least

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1548-486: A household in the town was $ 76,348, and the median income for a family was $ 86,229. Males had a median income of $ 60,250 versus $ 36,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 35,060. About 2.2% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over. According to State figures, "Population in Hampton Falls tripled over

1677-470: A limited extent. Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . Such areas remain a part of their parent town, but assume some responsibilities for municipal services within their boundaries. In both states, they are typically regarded as less important than towns, and both seem to be in decline as institutions. In recent decades, many boroughs and villages have disincorporated, reverting to full town control. The term "village"

1806-478: A list of all New England towns and other town-level municipalities, see the following articles: Note: All population statistics are from the 2020 United States census . Connecticut contains 169 incorporated towns. Put into terms that are equivalent to the other New England states, 20 are cities/boroughs and 149 are towns. (As discussed in the Cities section of Other types of municipalities in New England above,

1935-720: A maximum of 98,000 vehicles near the Spaulding Turnpike. The corridor is also served by several private intercity bus operators and public transit systems, including the Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation . During the summer months, the highway peaks at 125,000 daily vehicles and becomes routinely congested as weekend vacationers from the Greater Boston area travel to destinations in New Hampshire and Maine. The earliest roads traversing New Hampshire's Seacoast were constructed in

2064-416: A new interchange at Market Street in an area marked for urban renewal . On June 24, 1970, four construction workers on the bridge fell to their deaths when a platform gave way on the Maine approach. Traffic volumes on the turnpike grew to an average of over 12,700 vehicles per day by 1962, prompting state officials to propose an expansion. Plans for the new Piscataqua River Bridge had already included

2193-461: A normal-sized town, these areas were known by a variety of names, including gores , grants, locations, purchases, surpluses, and strips. Sometimes these areas were not included in any town due to survey errors (which is the technical meaning of the term "gore"). Sometimes they represent small areas that were left over when a particular region was carved into towns, not large enough to be a town on their own. Some appear to have simply been granted outside

2322-550: A part of Massachusetts in 1739, including Meshech Weare, but the proposal failed in the end. In 1765, the Presbyterians of the town wanted to form a new parish in the southern portion of the town, where a church of their religion existed. A town meeting was held on December 30 when the rest of the villagers learned of the Presbyterians' plans, and it was decided that the town would be separated into two. The new parish

2451-568: A part of a town — within Barnstable, the seven villages correspond to districts for fire, water, sewer and elementary schooling, for instance. (In Maine and New Hampshire, the term "village corporation" is used for a type of special-purpose district.) Many villages also are recognized as places by the United States Postal Service (some villages have their own post offices , with their names used in mailing addresses) or

2580-527: A particular municipality. All municipalities titled as cities are classified as incorporated places, even if their population-distribution pattern is no different from that of a typical town; towns are never classified as incorporated places, even if they are thoroughly built up. The ambiguity over whether certain municipalities in Massachusetts should be classified as cities or towns, and the Census Bureau's inconsistent handling of these municipalities (see

2709-558: A provisional interchange near Hampton to connect with a future expressway serving Exeter (now NH 101). An additional spur route connecting the south end of the highway to US 1 in Salisbury, Massachusetts, was constructed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works . The Blue Star Turnpike was dedicated on June 24, 1950, by Governor Adams and local officials in a ceremony attended by 5,000 people. It

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2838-413: A result, Maine has developed more of an infrastructure for administration of unincorporated and unorganized areas than the other New England states. The existence of this fallback probably explains why Maine has had significantly more towns disincorporated over the years than any other New England state. There have been numerous instances of towns in Maine disincorporating despite populations that numbered in

2967-521: A similar purpose to MCDs in other states in terms of governmental function or civic-identity importance. New England towns are classified as MCDs not because they are not "incorporated" but rather the data that the census gathers on places is analyzed based on different models (those of compact settled places and open rural places) that is not well represented by the New England Town system of organization. In order to better fit their own purposes,

3096-412: A single compact populated place. Plantations in Maine are similarly classified as MCDs. That New England towns serve, in essence, the same function as incorporated places in other states, but are not treated as incorporated places by the Census Bureau, can be a source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that New England towns are not incorporated, or necessarily serve

3225-423: A somewhat different manner from that of the other New England states. In these areas, towns were often "chartered" long before any settlers moved into a particular area. This was very common in the mid to late 18th century—although there were towns which predated that period and were not part of this process in southeastern New Hampshire, such as Exeter . Once there were enough residents in a town to formally organize

3354-524: A temporary injunction requested by the New Hampshire Gas and Electric Company to allow for the relocation of utility poles in the highway's right-of-way. State highway engineer Daniel Dickenson resigned from his position in August 1949, following an investigation ordered by governor Sherman Adams into the awarding of a design contract for the turnpike project. Dickenson received payments from

3483-423: A town and a city have become blurred. Since the early 20th century, towns have been allowed to modify the town meeting form of government in various ways (e.g., representative town meeting , adding a town manager ). In recent decades, some towns have adopted what effectively amount to city forms of government, although they still refer to themselves as towns. As a practical matter, one municipality that calls itself

3612-719: A town and another that calls itself a city may have exactly the same governmental structure. With these changes in town government, a reluctance to adopt the title of city seems to have developed, and few towns have officially done so since the early 20th century. In Massachusetts, nine municipalities ( Agawam , Barnstable , Braintree , Franklin , Palmer , Randolph , Southbridge , West Springfield and Weymouth ) have adopted Mayor-Council or Council-Manager forms of government in their home rule charters, and are therefore considered to be legally cities, but nevertheless continue to call themselves "towns". They are sometimes referred to in legislation and other legal documents as "the city known as

3741-426: A town disincorporated or a plantation surrendered its organization). The remaining eight counties contain significant amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory. Most of these areas are in very sparsely populated regions, however. Only about 1.3% of the state's population lives in areas not part of a town, city, or plantation. (Since the 2000 Census, two towns, Madrid and Centerville, have disincorporated. Thus, at

3870-550: A town government, no further action was necessary to incorporate. This practice can lead to inconsistencies in the dates of incorporation for towns in this region. Dates given in reference sources sometimes reflect the date when the town was chartered, which may have been long before it was settled, and not the date when its town government became active. In other parts of New England, some "future towns" were laid out along these lines, but such areas would not be formally incorporated as towns until they were sufficiently settled to organize

3999-560: A town government. A typical town in the northern three states was laid out in a 6-by-6-mile (9.7 by 9.7 km) square. Each contained 36 sections, 1 mile (1.6 km) squares or 640 acres (260 ha). One section was reserved for the support of public schools. This was copied when the Continental Congress laid out Ohio in 1785–87. Many early towns covered very large amounts of land. Once areas had become settled, new towns were sometimes formed by breaking areas away from

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4128-562: A town meeting as its legislative body; instead, a city's legislative body is an elected representative body, typically called the city council or town council or board of aldermen . City governments are typically administered by a mayor (and/or city manager ). In common speech, people often generically refer to communities of either type as "towns", drawing no distinction between the two. The presence of incorporated boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont has influenced

4257-499: A town of its own, Kensington. A disease known as the "Throat Distemper" (now thought to have been a malignant form of diphtheria ) infected the town with its symptoms in 1735 and 1736. 214 people of Hampton Falls perished, 96 of them being under the age of ten. Only two homes in town were throat distemper free. It passed through the town again in 1754, with far fewer casualties, but still many. Seventy-two people wanted Hampton Falls (which then included Seabrook and Kensington) to become

4386-460: A unique type of entity called a plantation . Beneath the town level, Connecticut has incorporated boroughs , and Vermont has incorporated villages . In addition to towns, every New England state has incorporated cities. However, cities are treated in the same manner as towns under state law, differing from towns only in their form of government. Most cities are former towns that changed to a city form of government because they grew too large to have

4515-475: A very rudimentary organization that does not rise to the level of an organized general-purpose municipal government (e.g., a town clerk 's office exists for the purpose of conducting elections for state or federal offices). In general, unorganized areas fall into one of the three categories below. During the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, as town boundaries were being drawn up, small areas would sometimes be left over, not included in any town. Typically smaller than

4644-563: A wider approach, while the south end at the Massachusetts state line was rebuilt as an eight-lane highway in 1968. A 1969 report to the state legislature recommended the addition of four lanes to the existing turnpike and reconstruction of the Hampton toll plaza at a cost of $ 3 million (equivalent to $ 19.1 million in 2023). The widening of the New Hampshire Turnpike to eight lanes began in early 1973 and required

4773-449: Is a kindergarten through 8th grade elementary school and middle school . The school was constructed in 1949 and named after Lincoln Akerman (1916–1942), a local World War II hero and member of the prominent New Hampshire Akerman family. In 1993, kindergarten was added to the school, though it is not required in the state of New Hampshire. In the mid-1990s Dan Brown , future best-selling author of The Da Vinci Code , taught Spanish to

4902-735: Is an Interstate Highway on the east coast of the United States , connecting Florida to Maine . Within the state of New Hampshire , it serves the Seacoast Region and is a toll road named the Blue Star Turnpike or New Hampshire Turnpike . The 16-mile (26 km) turnpike is maintained by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) Bureau of Turnpikes and has a single toll plaza near Hampton . The Blue Star Turnpike begins near

5031-433: Is considered the state's flagship store , with annual sales of $ 33.5 million, and largely serves out-of-state customers. The turnpike passes through the town of Hampton, where it crosses under NH 27 and reaches its sole toll plaza at exit 2. The exit includes an interchange with NH 101 , which provides connections from the turnpike to Exeter and Manchester . I-95 then continues northeast through

5160-425: Is entirely located within Rockingham County and is generally eight lanes wide. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation , which maintains the highway through its Bureau of Turnpikes , measures traffic volumes at various points that are expressed in terms of annual average daily traffic . Traffic volumes on I-95 within the state in 2015 ranged from a minimum of 63,000 vehicles southwest of Portsmouth to

5289-513: Is held annually in the school auditorium, and elections are conducted using a New Hampshire Senate Bill 2 system. Once a farming and lumbering community, the numerous falls on the Taylor River provided water power for mills operating within the town. Today it is largely residential, with numerous antique shops along U.S. 1 . Applecrest Farm Orchards , established in 1913, is the town's largest employer, with 18 employees. Currently,

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5418-411: Is incorporated, CDPs do not really serve the same purpose as they do elsewhere; CDPs in New England invariably represent territory that is not "unincorporated", but part of a larger incorporated town. The extent to which such an area has its own distinct identity can vary, but is not usually as strong as identification with the town as a whole. There are numerous instances where the Census Bureau recognizes

5547-433: Is no area that is outside the bounds of a municipality. Using usual American terminology, there is no "unincorporated" land in Massachusetts. Of the 351 municipalities, the number that are cities and the number that are towns is a matter of some ambiguity. Depending on which source is consulted, anywhere from 39 to 53 are cities. The ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of municipalities that have since

5676-510: Is one of the few states in the region that is an exception to this rule; the Massachusetts Constitution requires a town to have a population of at least 10,000 people before it can switch its government from a town meeting form to a city form. Nevertheless, even without a hard and fast population limit for city status, the practical threshold to become a city seems to be higher in the three southern New England states than in

5805-481: Is sometimes used in New England to describe a distinct, built-up place within a town or city. This may be a town center , which bears the same name as the town or city (almost every town has such a place), or a name related to that of the town, or a completely unrelated name. The town of Barnstable, Massachusetts , for example, includes the villages of Barnstable Village , West Barnstable , Centerville , Marstons Mills , Osterville , Cotuit , and Hyannis . Except for

5934-469: Is sufficiently populated to be covered by a town or a city. In colonial times, Massachusetts also used the term "plantation" for a community in a pre-town stage of development (Maine originally got the term from Massachusetts, as Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820, when it became a state via the Missouri Compromise ). The term "plantation" had not been much used in Massachusetts since

6063-676: The Massachusetts state line in the town of Seabrook and travels north through Hampton and its neighboring municipalities. It then continues around Portsmouth and crosses the Piscataqua River Bridge at the Maine state line, where it becomes the Maine Turnpike . New Hampshire's portion of I-95 is the shortest of any state that the Interstate passes through; the highway is the main thoroughfare between urban areas in Massachusetts and points in Maine. Construction of

6192-537: The Piscataqua River Bridge began in February 1968 and cost $ 50 million (equivalent to $ 276 million in 2023). It opened on November 1, 1972, completing the missing 5-mile (8.0 km) link between the sections of I-95 in New Hampshire and Maine. The project also included an expanded interchange with the Spaulding Turnpike, allowing traffic to bypass the Portsmouth Traffic Circle, and

6321-489: The Portsmouth Circle . The freeway travels through the residential neighborhoods of western Portsmouth and intersects Market Street before crossing over the Piscataqua River Bridge into Maine , where it becomes the Maine Turnpike . The New Hampshire section of the highway is 16 miles (26 km) long, the shortest of any state on I-95, which traverses the entire U.S. East Coast from Florida to Maine. It

6450-508: The United States Census Bureau (which recognizes some villages as census-designated places and tabulates census data for them). Towns with an example of the former, such as Richmond, Rhode Island , do not have a post office themselves, but instead use villages in town or villages in nearby towns as a mailing address. This leads to a weaker town identification in such towns, with residents more strongly identifying with

6579-549: The United States Census Bureau does not classify New England towns as "incorporated places". They are instead classified as " minor civil divisions " (MCDs), the same category into which civil townships fall. The Census Bureau classifies New England towns in this manner because they are conceptually similar to civil townships from a geographic standpoint, typically exhibiting similar population-distribution patterns. Like civil townships, but unlike most incorporated municipalities in other states, New England towns do not usually represent

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6708-624: The United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 12.7 square miles (32.8 km), of which 12.2 square miles (31.7 km) are land and 0.42 square miles (1.1 km) are water, comprising 3.39% of the town. The town is drained by the Hampton Falls and Taylor rivers and is part of the Hampton River watershed leading to the Atlantic Ocean via Hampton Harbor. Of roughly 4,400 acres (18 km) of salt marsh in

6837-528: The 17th century to connect Hampton to the Massachusetts Colony . They were later upgraded in the 18th century for stagecoach service and replaced by a toll road named "The Turnpike" that operated from 1810 to 1826. The toll road was purchased by the towns of Hampton and Hampton Falls in 1826 and renamed "Lafayette Road" for the Marquis de Lafayette in 1830. These roads were later acquired by

6966-446: The 1840s, and for many years prior to the 1860s Vermont had just one city. Even Massachusetts, historically New England's most populous state, did not have any cities until 1822, when Boston was granted a city form of government by the state legislature. In most of New England, population is not a determining factor for what makes a city or town, and there are many examples of towns with larger populations than nearby cities. Massachusetts

7095-717: The 18th and 19th centuries as what might be termed "future towns", but never saw enough settlement to actually commence operation of a formal town government. All three of the northern New England states also include at least one unorganized township that was once a town but has disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory, generally due to population loss. Maine also has some unorganized townships that were once organized as plantations. Maine has significantly more unorganized territory than Vermont or New Hampshire. Fewer than 100 Vermont residents and fewer than 250 New Hampshire residents live in unorganized areas. In Maine, by contrast, about 10,000 residents live in unorganized areas. As

7224-497: The 18th century. Massachusetts also once had "districts", which served much the same purpose. They were considered to be incorporated, but lacked the full privileges of a town. On August 23, 1775, in order for more representation for the Revolutionary War, 36 towns in Massachusetts and 6 in Maine were incorporated, effectively eliminating the district meaning. Maine and Rhode Island are also known to have made limited use of

7353-490: The 1930s for a bypass that would connect with a new bridge over the Piscataqua River near Portsmouth. The US 1 Bypass was opened in 1940 as a divided highway with grade separation and traveled around Portsmouth, connecting to Maine via a new lift bridge . The highway and bridge cost $ 3 million to construct (equivalent to $ 51.1 million in 2023) and were partially funded by the federal government as

7482-457: The 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted corporate charters approved by the state legislature with forms of government that resemble city government and do not include elements traditionally associated with town government (especially, a board of selectmen and a town meeting). Of the fourteen communities that have done so, all but three call themselves a "town" in their municipal operations, and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but

7611-450: The 20th century, however. One late instance was the separation of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire , from the town of Lisbon in 1962. It has not taken place anywhere in New England in the last fifty years; boundary changes of any type are fairly rare. Towns are the basic building block of the New England municipality system, although several other types of municipalities also exist. Every New England state has cities . In addition, Maine also has

7740-648: The 42 municipalities that title themselves as cities are recognized as cities. This includes the 39 cities that adopted city forms of government through pre-home rule procedures. The other 309 municipalities in the state are treated as towns below. The same classification is used for identifying Massachusetts cities on the list of New England towns and its attendant pages with historical census population statistics. For further information, see this section of Massachusetts government . Interstate 95 in New Hampshire Interstate 95 ( I-95 )

7869-582: The Blue Star Turnpike and commonly known as the New Hampshire Turnpike, and parallels U.S. Route 1 (US 1) through the inland areas of southeastern New Hampshire's Seacoast Region . In Hampton Falls , I-95 crosses over NH 84 and NH 88 without connecting interchanges; it then serves a pair of state-run liquor stores operated by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission . The northbound Hampton outlet

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7998-478: The CDP. At the same time, not all built-up places with significant populations are recognized as CDPs. The Census Bureau has historically recognized relatively few CDPs within urbanized areas in particular. Many towns located in such areas do not contain any recognized CDPs and will thus be completely absent from Census materials presenting the population of "places". Greenwich, Connecticut, is one prominent example. While

8127-410: The Census Bureau, can be another source of confusion. The Census classifications should not be understood to imply that cities are incorporated but towns are not, or that cities and towns represent two fundamentally different types of entities. The Census classifies New England municipalities strictly based on whether they are towns or cities, with no regard to the actual population-distribution pattern in

8256-452: The Census only counts cities and certain fully urbanized towns as "places" in its categorization. In other towns, those with small built-up central villages, the Census designates one or more census-designated places (CDPs) and considers all other land to be parts of "minor civil divisions". This classification is done only for the Census's own data analysis, and otherwise has no connection to

8385-531: The Hampton Side Toll Plaza, for traffic traveling to and from NH 101 with four lanes in each direction—two reserved for E-ZPass use and two with cash booths. As of 2020 , two-axle vehicles using the turnpike are charged $ 2 in cash fare or $ 1.40 with an E-ZPass at the main Hampton toll plaza. Two-axle vehicles using the side toll plaza connected to NH 101 are charged $ 0.75 in cash or $ 0.53 with an E-ZPass. Traffic using other sections of

8514-527: The Killingly portion was renamed Danielson by the General Assembly. There are no legal restrictions in Connecticut that would prevent a city or borough today from similarly overlaying the territory of more than one town, provided it is not consolidated with one of the underlying towns. Cities actually developed earlier in Connecticut than in the other New England states, and were originally based on

8643-703: The Lincoln Akerman School is the only public school in town. But at one point, five public schools existed, the North, South, West, and two East schools. One of the East Schools, founded around the time of the Civil War , burned down in 1947 when its furnace exploded, and the Lincoln Akerman School replaced it in 1949. While a new school was being built, students had to travel to the neighboring town of Seabrook to attend school. The other East School

8772-702: The Maine Turnpike, but was modified to include ramps to the new Spaulding Turnpike when it opened in August 1957. The Hampton interchange was expanded in 1963 to connect with the Exeter–Hampton Expressway (now part of NH 101). The US 1 Bypass, which bridged the disconnected sections of I-95 between the north end of the turnpike and the south end of the Maine Turnpike in Kittery, was an expressway with partial grade separation that did not meet Interstate Highway standards . Its crossing over

8901-641: The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth's Office considers all fourteen to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all fourteen municipalities as towns, however. The U.S. Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were listed by the Federal government as towns and some as cities, a situation that continues in Census materials since 2000. Massachusetts appears to be

9030-627: The Memorial Day weekend test period using the open road tolling lanes. The Blue Star Turnpike is the shortest of three toll roads maintained by the NHDOT Bureau of Turnpikes. The Hampton toll plaza at exit 2 is the sole toll collection point on the turnpike and is the largest facility of its kind in New Hampshire. Its main plaza has six booths and two open road lanes in each direction for vehicles with E-ZPass transponders. The interchange also includes an auxiliary toll plaza, named

9159-552: The New Hampshire Turnpike Authority in 1947 to oversee construction of a 15-mile (24 km) turnpike with four lanes and a limited number of exits. It would be funded with a $ 7.5 million (equivalent to $ 80.4 million in 2023) bond issue that would be retired by 1977. The state government formally approved the construction of the turnpike in February 1948, setting up a tollway commission to purchase and condemn land for right-of-way . Among

9288-480: The Piscataqua River, the Maine–New Hampshire Interstate Bridge, was also a movable lift bridge that caused delays for motorists, especially during busy holiday weekends. A high-level, six-lane bridge over the Piscataqua River, connecting with extensions of I-95 through Portsmouth and Kittery, was proposed in the early 1960s to complete the missing link in the freeway. A competing plan to twin

9417-572: The Seabrook-Hamptons Estuary, nearly 1,000 acres (4.0 km) lie within Hampton Falls. The town is served by Interstate 95 , U.S. Route 1 , New Hampshire Route 84 and New Hampshire Route 88 . As of the census of 2000, there were 1,890 people, 704 households, and 546 families residing in the town. The population density was 153.9 inhabitants per square mile (59.4/km). There were 729 housing units at an average density of 59.7 per square mile (23.1/km). The racial makeup of

9546-472: The Statistics and Superlatives section below), further blurs matters. To fill in some of the "place" data, the Census Bureau sometimes recognizes census-designated places (CDPs) within New England towns. These often correspond to town centers or other villages, although not all such areas are recognized as CDPs. In cases where a town is entirely or almost entirely built-up, the Census sometimes recognizes

9675-517: The Town of ..." Greenfield, in December 2017, dropped the "town" designation, which some called "embarrassing" and which legislators said made paperwork more difficult. Common parlance labeling a community a "city" or a "town" may have more to do with its current size, whether its current size or its historical size and reputation. In addition to towns and cities, Maine has a third type of town-like municipality not found in any other New England state,

9804-527: The Town of Greenwich appears in MCD materials, the Census Bureau does not recognize Greenwich as a "place". In New Hampshire and Vermont, the Census Bureau treats each individual unorganized entity (township, gore, grant, etc.) as an MCD. In Maine, it seems, due to the extent of unorganized area, the Census Bureau typically lumps contiguous townships, gores, and the like together into larger units called "unorganized territories" (UTs), which are then treated as MCDs. In

9933-611: The U.S., except that it uses the town as its basic unit rather than the county. Even though the Census Bureau does not treat New England towns as "incorporated places", it does classify cities in New England as such. The rationale behind this is that cities are likely to be more thoroughly built-up and therefore more readily comparable to cities in other states than towns are. Boroughs in Connecticut and incorporated villages in Vermont are also treated as incorporated places. That New England states, in general, regard cities and towns on equal footing, yet they are handled in two different ways by

10062-564: The US Census Bureau treats Groton Long Point as a borough, as an act of the state legislature gives it the same powers as a borough, although it has never formally organized as one. They were once more numerous. Many of those that remain are very small. Connecticut also has at least one remaining city ( Groton ) that is within, but not coextensive with, its parent town . A second non-coextensive city, Winsted , still exists on paper, but its government has been consolidated with that of

10191-712: The Weare Monument now is in 1665, but when it was first built is unknown. It was not until 1709 that the town was officially established as the Third Parish of Hampton . The Third Parish originally consisted of all land south of the Taylor River and north of the New Hampshire/ Massachusetts border, or the modern-day towns of Seabrook , Kensington , and Hampton Falls. A meeting house was built shortly after, and Thomas Crosby became

10320-417: The acquisition of 271 properties and the rebuilding of several bridges. During construction, several major holiday backups—some as long as 14 miles (23 km)—plagued the turnpike. The Hampton toll plaza was relocated north and expanded in February 1977, coinciding with the completion of the widening project. Toll collection was temporarily suspended from 1979 until 1981 to encourage motorists to switch from

10449-476: The actual organization or legal status of New England towns. The census bureau does uniquely recognize towns, however, in that it classifies metropolitan areas in New England on the basis of town boundaries rather than county boundaries as it does in other parts of the U.S. Unique to New England is the New England city and town area , which is analogous to Metropolitan Statistical Areas in other parts of

10578-464: The affected landowners was then-Governor Charles M. Dale , who opted to donate part of his North Hampton farm instead of accepting a payment from the state government. A $ 5.25 million (equivalent to $ 53.2 million in 2023) bid from a Connecticut -based construction firm was accepted in October 1948 and construction on the turnpike began the following month. Early construction was slowed by

10707-505: The borough concept. At one time, all cities were non-coextensive; the practice of making cities coextensive with their towns was a later adaptation intended to mimic the city concept that had emerged in the other New England states. Over time, many non-coextensive cities have expanded to become coextensive with their parent town. As with boroughs, many have also disincorporated and reverted to full town control. These two trends have combined to make non-coextensive cities very rare in recent times;

10836-653: The boundary with New York State , housing the Stratford Shoal Light , is not part of any town and is administered directly by the United States Coast Guard . In general, inhabited minor off-shore islands are administered as part of a nearby town and in some cases, are their own independent towns, such as the town of Gosnold , Massachusetts, which encompasses the Elizabeth Islands . Unlike municipalities in most other states,

10965-415: The built-up area around a town center as a CDP, resulting in a CDP that bears the same name as the town. In these cases, data for the CDP is, in general, meaningless to local residents, who seldom draw any particular distinction between the built-up area around the town center and outlying areas of the town. A local source citing data for such a community will almost always use the data for the entire town, not

11094-670: The congested NH 101. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission opened its southbound Hampton store on the turnpike in 1981, which was followed by the northbound outlet in 1992. Another expansion of the Hampton toll plaza was completed in May 1991 and was followed by the addition of a reversible lane at the toll plaza in July 1995. Further expansions were completed in 1997 and 2002. The turnpike has been used for several tolling experiments by NHDOT, including automatic tolling from 1995 to 1996 and one-way tolling from 2003 to 2004. The Hampton toll plaza

11223-434: The district concept. Districts have not been at all common since the first half of the 19th century, and there have not been any districts anywhere in New England in over a century. Maine is the only New England state that currently has a significant amount of territory that is not sufficiently populated to support town governments; thus, it is the only New England state that still needs the plantation type of municipality. For

11352-400: The evolution of cities in those states. In Connecticut in particular, the historical development of cities was quite different from in the other New England states, and at least technically, the relationship between towns and cities is today different from elsewhere in New England. Just as boroughs in Connecticut overlay towns, so do cities; for example, while Hartford is commonly thought of as

11481-490: The exception rather than the rule in the New England system, and the number of New England residents who live in them is extremely small in comparison to those who live in towns and cities, even in Maine. Most such areas are located in very sparsely populated regions. Much of the barely inhabited interior of Maine is unorganized, for example. The majority of the unincorporated areas in New Hampshire are in Coos County , and

11610-487: The existing Maine–New Hampshire Interstate Bridge was submitted by the Maine government, but was determined to be more costly due to land required for its approaches, which were already occupied by buildings. Following a four-year debate, the New Hampshire state legislature approved designs for the high-level bridge in early 1965 despite some opposition from Portsmouth residents. A concurrent bill had been passed by Maine in 1963 but rejected by New Hampshire. Construction of

11739-470: The existing US 1 Bypass. Major work on the toll road's main elements, including 14 overpasses, three bridges, and an 800-foot (240 m) traffic circle in Portsmouth, was mostly completed by December 1949. The turnpike would comprise four lanes on a macadam asphalt surface with granite curbs, 11-foot (3.4 m) shoulders, and a 24-foot (7.3 m) grass median. The project also included

11868-805: The hundreds. While these were not large communities, they were large enough to realistically operate a town government if they wanted to, but simply elected not to. In Vermont and New Hampshire, disincorporation has, in general, not been brought up for discussion unless a town's population has approached single digits. In general, coastal waters in the New England states are administered directly by either state or federal agencies and are not part of any town. Several towns, however, have chosen to include all or part of their corresponding coastal waters in their territory. Coastal waters include human-made structures built within them. In Connecticut, for example, an artificial, uninhabited island in Long Island Sound at

11997-490: The incorporated villages in Vermont, these "villages" are not incorporated municipalities and should not be understood as such. Towns do sometimes grant a certain measure of recognition to such areas, using highway signs that identify them as "villages", for example. These informal "villages" also sometimes correspond to underlying special-purpose districts such as fire or water districts, which are separately incorporated quasi-municipal entities that provide specific services within

12126-464: The largest municipalities in the region are titled as cities. Across New England as a whole, only about 5% of all incorporated municipalities are cities. Cities are more common in the three southern New England states, which are much more densely populated, than they are in the three northern New England states. In early colonial times, all incorporated municipalities in New England were towns; there were no cities. Springfield, Massachusetts , for instance,

12255-522: The last fifty years, growing above the statewide average rate in three of the five decades. Decennial growth rates ranged from a nine percent increase between 1970–1980 to a 42 percent increase between 1960–1970. Population in Hampton Falls grew by a total of 1,251 residents, going from 629 in 1950 to 1,880 residents in 2000." Like many New England towns , Hampton Falls has a town meeting / board of selectmen form of government. The current selectmen are Edward Beattie, Mark Lane, and Lou Gargiulo. Town meeting

12384-618: The majority of the unincorporated areas in Vermont are in Essex County . Two additional counties in New Hampshire and three additional counties in Vermont contain smaller amounts of unincorporated territory. In Maine, eight of the state's sixteen counties contain significant amounts of unorganized territory (in essence, those counties in the northern and interior parts of the state). Four other counties contain smaller amounts. Most of these areas have no local government at all; indeed, some have no permanent population whatsoever. Some areas have

12513-443: The only New England state where this issue has arisen, though other New England states also have municipalities that have adopted what amounts to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other New England states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified. For purposes of determining the "largest town" and "smallest city", in this article, only

12642-530: The only one currently incorporated is the city of Groton , located in the southwestern part of the town of Groton, Connecticut . In Vermont, if a village becomes a city, it does not continue to overlay its parent town, but breaks away and becomes a completely separate municipality. Most cities in Vermont today are actually former villages rather than former towns, and are much smaller than a typical town in terms of land area. The above process has created several instances where there are adjacent towns and cities with

12771-411: The original existing towns. This was an especially common practice during the 18th and early 19th centuries. More heavily populated areas were often subdivided on multiple occasions. As a result, towns and cities in urbanized areas are often smaller in terms of land area than an average town in a rural area. Formation of new towns in this manner slowed in the later part of the 19th century and early part of

12900-524: The plantation. A plantation is, in essence, a town-like community that does not have enough population to require full town government or services. Plantations are organized at the county level and typically found in sparsely populated areas. There is no bright-line population divider between a town and a plantation, but no plantation currently has any more than about 300 residents. Plantations are considered to be "organized" but not "incorporated." Not all counties have them; in some southern counties, all territory

13029-421: The relationship between towns and cities in Connecticut is different from the other New England states, at least on paper; thus, in the technical sense, all 169 of the above municipalities are really towns, with 20 overlaid by a coextensive city or borough of the same name.) Together, these 169 municipalities cover the entire state. There is no unincorporated territory, but, as in all New England states, there are

13158-439: The remaining 32 are organized as plantations. These 485 organized municipalities together cover much of, but not all of, the state's territory. Of Maine's sixteen counties, only four are entirely incorporated. Four other counties are almost entirely incorporated, but include small amounts of unincorporated/unorganized territory (three of these four counties were entirely incorporated or organized at one time, but lost that status when

13287-506: The same name. In all cases, the city was originally the "town center" of the town, but later incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality. All three of the northern New England states ( Vermont , New Hampshire , and Maine ) contain some areas that are unincorporated and unorganized, not part of any town, city or plantation. Maine has significantly more such area than the other two states. While these areas do exist, their importance should not be overstated. They are certainly

13416-486: The same time as Hampton , of which it was then a part. The settlement of Hampton joined Norfolk County, Massachusetts Colony , in 1643, along with Exeter , Dover , Portsmouth , Salisbury and Haverhill . The county existed until 1679, when the modern-day New Hampshire towns separated from the Massachusetts Bay Colony . Records indicate a building that became a church may have existed near where

13545-655: The school's 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. In 2003, Lincoln Akerman was cited in The Hampton Union for, according to the New Hampshire Educational Improvement and Assessment Program (NHEIAP), being notable for having scores that were "significantly above the state average" and climbing. Specific subjects cited were social studies , language arts , and math . The current principal is Beth Raucci, who has held that position since 2018. New England town Towns date back to

13674-544: The state government to form a modern highway system for automobiles and were incorporated into a single highway, which was assigned the designation of NH 1 in 1909. NH 1 was succeeded by US 1 in 1926, which was established as part of a national numbered highway system . The highway was paved from 1929 to 1931 and later upgraded with traffic signals to handle increased use. Heavy congestion on US 1, particularly tourists from Massachusetts traveling to destinations in New Hampshire and Maine, led to proposals in

13803-457: The three northern New England states. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, almost every city has at least 10,000 people, and all but a few have at least 20,000. In Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, however, there are a number of cities with fewer than 10,000 people, and there are five (three in Maine and two in Vermont) with fewer than 5,000. Over time, some of the distinctions between

13932-399: The time of the 2000 Census, Maine had 22 cities, 434 towns, and 34 plantations, for a total of 490 organized municipalities. Also since the 2010 Census, Sanford adopted a new charter that included designation as a city.) Massachusetts contains 351 municipal corporations, consisting of cities and towns. These 351 municipalities together encompass the entire territory of Massachusetts; there

14061-475: The time of the earliest English colonial settlement , which predominated in New England, and they pre-date the development of counties in the region. Areas were organized as towns as they were settled, throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Town boundaries were not usually laid out on any kind of regular grid, but were drawn to reflect local settlement and transportation patterns, often affected by natural features. In early colonial times, recognition of towns

14190-500: The town at around 6:30 p.m. EST. It was near Interstate 95 where it overturned a truck, leaving two injured men and a kayak in a tree. The city of Boston is 45 miles (72 km) to the south, and Portsmouth is 13 miles (21 km) to the north. The highest point in town is the summit of Great Hill, at 246 feet (75 m) above sea level ), just north of Weares Mill on the Hampton Falls River . According to

14319-487: The town of Seabrook , north of Salisbury, Massachusetts . The crossing includes a pair of welcome centers for the respective states and a southbound ramp serving a connector to Massachusetts Route 286 . The highway then intersects New Hampshire Route 107 (NH 107), which serves Seabrook and the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant , at exit 1. The freeway continues as a toll road , named

14448-444: The town of Winchester for many years, making it more of a special-purpose district than a true municipality. Winsted is no longer recognized by the Census Bureau as an incorporated place, although data is tabulated for a Census Designated Place that is coextensive with that of the original city. As of the 2020 census, Maine contains 485 organized municipalities, of which 23 are incorporated as cities, 430 are incorporated as towns, and

14577-516: The town of Hampton Falls had a new meeting-house erected. Where in town it existed is unknown. On the night between October 29 and 30 in 1827, an earthquake struck the small town. A flash of light from a fault in the southern region of the town occurred, with violent trembling shortly following. It caused at least three chimneys to collapse partially or completely, with several others cracked. A more severe earthquake had struck Hampton Falls on November 18, 1755. On May 21, 2006, an F2 tornado formed in

14706-515: The town was 98.46% White , 0.05% African American , 0.74% Asian , 0.05% from other races , and 0.69% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population. There were 704 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.5% were married couples living together, 5.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.4% were non-families. Of all households, 16.5% were made up of individuals, and 7.8% had someone living alone who

14835-480: The town's minister for the church. Forty-nine members of the Hampton Church were dismissed late in 1711, only to become members of the new church in the Third Parish. Parish officers and a representative were chosen in 1718. The first town meeting was held and town records began that year also. The 7,400-acre (30 km) town received its grant as an independent town with the name "Hampton falls" in 1726, but

14964-468: The towns of North Hampton and Greenland and crosses over several highways before reaching its next interchange. The turnpike enters the city of Portsmouth and intersects NH 33 near the city's international airport . After passing Portsmouth Regional Hospital , I-95 intersects the Spaulding Turnpike ( US 4 / NH 16 ) and U.S. Route 1 Bypass (US 1 Byp.) via ramps to

15093-499: The turnpike was approved in 1947 and began a year later in an effort to bypass congestion on U.S. Route 1 (US 1), the main seacoast highway. It opened to traffic on June 24, 1950, and was later designated as part of I-95 in 1957. The northernmost section in Portsmouth, connecting to the Maine Turnpike, was left incomplete until the Piscataqua River Bridge opened in 1972. I-95 crosses into New Hampshire in

15222-621: The usual town structure, sometimes in areas where it was probably not contemplated that towns would ever develop. Over time, those located in more populated areas were, in general, annexed to neighboring towns or incorporated as towns in their own right. No such areas exist today in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, but some remain in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. All three of the northern New England states contain some town-sized unorganized entities, referred to as "unorganized townships" (sometimes, just "townships") or "unorganized towns". Most of these are areas that were drawn up on maps in

15351-451: The village they live in. However, villages or CDPs have no existence as general-purpose municipalities separate from the town (if they even have any legal existence at all), and are usually regarded by local residents as a part of the town in which they are located, less important than the whole. It is possible for a Connecticut borough or Vermont village to become a city. In Connecticut, cities overlay towns just as boroughs do, and, just like

15480-451: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.03. In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 30.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.3 males. The median income for

15609-591: Was a town for the first two centuries of its existence. The entire land areas of Connecticut and Rhode Island had been divided into towns by the late 18th century, and Massachusetts was almost completely covered early in the 19th century. By 1850, the only New England state that still had large unincorporated areas was Maine ; by the end of the 19th century, most areas in Maine that could realistically be settled had been organized into towns. Early town organization in Vermont and much of New Hampshire proceeded in

15738-498: Was expanded again in June 2010 with the opening of open road tolling lanes that could read E-ZPass transponders. It was the first facility in New England to support open road tolling. The existing tollbooths at the plaza were demolished to make way for the lanes and relocated tollbooths. The project cost $ 17.8 million to construct (equivalent to $ 24.3 million in 2023) and implement and resulted in 50 percent of users during

15867-417: Was formed in 1768, and became incorporated under the name Seabrook shortly after. Hampton Falls was considered one of the leading manufacturing towns in the entire state of New Hampshire around the time of 1770. A plan to unite Seabrook and portions of Hampton Falls was proposed in 1782. The town would have been called "New Hampton Falls", but Hampton Falls was successful in making the proposal fail. In 1835,

15996-568: Was immediately opened to traffic for a day of toll-free use and carried 12,416 vehicles on its first day. The initial toll was 10 to 15 cents for automobiles (equivalent to $ 1.27 to $ 1.90 in 2023) and 20 to 50 cents for trucks (equivalent to $ 2.53 to $ 6.33 in 2023), and the speed limit was set at 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). The turnpike had no services and was monitored by state police and highway workers, offering free vehicle towing and tire changes. It cost $ 7.4 million to construct (equivalent to $ 74.3 million in 2023), resulting in

16125-533: Was moved to an area near the new library. Another school was turned into a home, and another was crushed by a boulder one winter when students pushed it off a hill. High school students attend Winnacunnet High School in the neighboring town of Hampton . Heronfield Academy, a private Episcopal middle school, is located on Exeter Road on the border of Hampton Falls and Exeter. Lincoln H. Akerman School ( 42°54′59″N 70°52′01″W  /  42.91639°N 70.86694°W  / 42.91639; -70.86694 )

16254-649: Was one of several toll roads grandfathered into the Interstate Highway System and designated as part of I-95 in 1957. The designation also included the Maine Turnpike to the north as well as a new freeway bypassing US 1 in northeastern Massachusetts that opened in September 1954 and connected Boston to the Blue Star Turnpike near Seabrook. The northern end at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle had an indirect connection to

16383-442: Was settled as a "plantation" (in colonial Massachusetts, the term was synonymous with town) as early as 1636, but the city of Springfield was not established until 1852. The oldest cities in New England date to the last few decades of the 18th century, (e.g. New Haven, Connecticut , was chartered as a city in 1784). In New England, cities were not widespread until well into the 19th century. New Hampshire did not have any cities until

16512-486: Was still referred to as a parish until the Revolutionary War . Those who did use its actual name in writing spelled it with a lowercase f until around the same time. An attempt was made in 1732 to separate the western portion of Hampton Falls and make it a parish of Kingston . The proposal failed in a way, yet succeeded in another; the land was separated, but it did not become part of Kingston—in 1737 it became

16641-431: Was very informal, generally connected to local church divisions. By 1700, colonial governments had become more involved in the official establishment of new towns. Towns were typically governed by a town meeting form of government, as many still are today. Towns originally were the only form of incorporated municipality in New England. The city form of government was not introduced until much later. Boston , for instance,

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