Derry is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

Rockingham County, New Hampshire Rockingham County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the population was 314,176, making it New Hampshire's second-most populous county. The county seat is Brentwood. Rockingham County is part of the Boston-Ca ...

, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the state. The town's nickname, "Spacetown", derives from the fact that Derry is the birthplace of Alan Shepard, the first astronaut from the United States in space. Derry was also for a time the home of the poet

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American collo ...

and his family. The Derry census-designated place, with a 2020 population of 22,879, occupies the central part of the town, extending from Derry's downtown in the west to the town of Hampstead in the east. The town also includes the village of East Derry.

History

The area was first settled by Scots-Irish families in 1719 as part of the town of Londonderry, as were present-day Windham and portions of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

and Hudson. The town of Derry was formed in 1827 from the eastern portion of Londonderry and was named, like Londonderry, after the city of

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the Irish word ''Doire'' meaning "oak grove". The first

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Un ...

planted in the United States was sown in Derry in the town's common field in 1719. The town is the location of two of America's oldest private schools, Pinkerton Academy, founded in 1814 and still in operation, and the closed Adams Female Seminary. Derry was once a

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong, absorbent, and dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. It also ...

and

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and ho ...

-making center until

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

industries moved south in the 20th century. As recently as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Derry was also a sleepy

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

community. From 1900 to 1911, poet

lived with his family on a farm in Derry purchased for him by his grandfather. The Robert Frost Farm is now a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

and state park and is open to the public for tours, poetry readings and other cultural events from spring through fall. The

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

suburban boom, the town's proximity to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

in the south and

to the northwest, and the construction of Interstate 93 through town led to a huge population boom. After the 1990s, this growth disappeared, with the population remaining essentially unchanged since 2000. The Manchester and Lawrence branch of the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970 ...

ran through Derry, but is now abandoned, with most of the line in town now a rail trail. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation stated in its I-93 corridor transit study and its 2012 statewide rail plan that it could be feasible to reopen the line.

Historical postcards

File:Broadway, looking west, West Derry, New Hampshire.jpg, Broadway File:Baptist Church, West Derry, NH.jpg, Birch Street File:HEH Shoe Factory, West Derry, NH.jpg, HEH Shoe Factory in 1909 File:Hildreth Hall Derry, N.H. 1914.jpg, Hildreth Hall in 1914 File:Thornton Square, Derry Village, NH.jpg, Thornton Square

Geography

Derry is in southern

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, in southwestern Rockingham County. It is southeast of

, the state's largest city, and northwest of

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachuset ...

. The town is crossed by Interstate 93 and New Hampshire routes 28, 28 Bypass, and 102. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 2.26% of the town. Derry is drained by Beaver Brook, a south-flowing tributary of the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mass ...

Island Pond Island Pond is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Brighton in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 750 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. Geography I ...

is on the southeast border of the town and drains to the

Spicket River The Spicket River is a river located in New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. It is a left tributary of the Merrimack River, part of the Gulf of Maine watershed. It is sometimes spelled "Spickett". The Spicket River begins at the ...

, another tributary of the Merrimack. A small section along the northern border of town drains north to the

Exeter River The Exeter River is a river located in Rockingham County in southeastern New Hampshire, United States. It rises in the town of Chester, southeast of Manchester. It follows a winding course east and northeast to Exeter Exeter () is a city i ...

, part of the

Piscataqua River The Piscataqua River ( Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the ri ...

watershed. The highest point in the town is Warner Hill, at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

, where from the top one can see the Boston skyline on a clear day. Derry's downtown is located near the town's western border at the intersection of Routes 102 and 28, and the village of East Derry is located approximately to the east and close to the geographic center of the town. Both areas are part of the Derry census-designated place.

Adjacent municipalities

* Chester, New Hampshire (north) * Sandown, New Hampshire (northeast) * Hampstead, New Hampshire (east) *

Atkinson, New Hampshire Atkinson is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,087 at the 2020 census. History Atkinson's history dates back to the American Revolution. The community was incorporated September 3,Article i''Stat ...

(southeast) *

Salem, New Hampshire Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 30,089 at the 2020 census. Being located on Interstate 93 as the first town in New Hampshire, which lacks any state sales tax, Salem has grown into a commerci ...

(southeast) * Windham, New Hampshire (south) * Londonderry, New Hampshire (west) *

Auburn, New Hampshire Auburn is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,946 at the 2020 census, up from 4,953 at the 2010 census. History Auburn was originally settled by Native Americans in 1624. It was a fishing settlemen ...

(northwest)

Climate

Derry has a four-season

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

( Köppen ''Dfa''), with long, cold, snowy winters, and very warm and somewhat humid summers; spring and fall in between are crisp and relatively brief transitions. Precipitation is well-spread throughout the year, including snowfall in the winter.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2020, there were 34,317 people residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 88.1% White, 2.3%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

, 1.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.3%

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

n, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Ocea ...

, 0.9% some other race, and 1.7% from two or more races. 4.6% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. As of the census of 2010, there were 12,537 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.4% had a married couple living together, 12.2% had a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 30.1% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62, and the average family size was 3.10. In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 30.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males. At the 2000 census the median income for a household in the town was $54,634, and the median income for a family was $61,625. Males had a median income of $41,271 versus $30,108 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $22,315. 4.6% of the population and 3.3% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 5.0% were under the age of 18 and 7.1% were 65 or older.

Government

In the

New Hampshire Senate The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...

, Derry is in the 19th District and is currently represented by Republican Regina Birdsell. On the Executive Council of New Hampshire, Derry is in District 3 and is currently represented by Republican Janet Stevens. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Derry is included in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district and is currently represented by Democrat Chris Pappas. Derry is part of a reliably Republican belt of dense, populous towns along Interstate 93 near the Massachusetts border. Derry leans Republican in presidential elections, and has even trended rightwards as of late.

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

did manage to carry the town with a plurality of the vote in 1996. No Democrat has won a majority of Derry’s voters since Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide election in 1964.

Economy

Top employers

According to the town's 2020

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report An Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, formerly called Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)) is a set of U.S. government financial statements comprising the financial report of a state, municipal or other governmental entity that comp ...

, the top employers in the town are the following:

Transportation

Five

New Hampshire state highways The New Hampshire Highway System is the public roads system of the U.S. state of New Hampshire containing approximately maintained by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT). All public roads in the state are called "highways", thus ...

and one

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

cross the town of Derry: * NH 28 enters from Salem in the south, follows Rockingham Road north to the southern limit of the town's main business district, then turns west along with Rockingham Road toward an intersection with Windham Road and Kendall Pond Road (Shute's Corner), and then north to follow Birch Street. After crossing NH 102, it becomes Crystal Avenue, and finally at Tsienneto Road changes names again to Manchester Road before entering Londonderry in the western part of town. *

NH 28 Bypass New Hampshire Route 28 is an north–south state highway in eastern New Hampshire. It connects the town of Ossipee in east-central New Hampshire with Salem on the Massachusetts border, while passing through Manchester, the largest city in the stat ...

, known locally as "The Bypass", begins at South Main Street where NH 28 turns along with Rockingham Road, and continues on South Main Street, North Main Street, and Londonderry Turnpike before crossing the extreme northwestern corner of town and entering Auburn. * NH 102 enters in the west from Londonderry, where it is known locally as Broadway. Running southwest to northeast, it crosses North and South Main Street (NH 28 Bypass) and East Derry Road at a traffic circle in the center of town (Danforth Circle), from where it follows Chester Road to the northern border with the town of Chester. * NH 111 crosses the extreme southeastern corner of town, entering from Salem in the south, and passing into Atkinson in the east. There is only one intersection in the town, with Island Pond Road, with NH 111 spending less than 1/2 mile in Derry. * NH 121 crosses the extreme northeastern corner of town for a few hundred feet between Hampstead and Sandown. There are no intersections on this stretch of NH 121 that connect to the rest of Derry, though Hampstead Road intersects NH 121 a few feet from the Derry border with Hampstead some distance to the south. * Interstate 93 crosses the southwestern corner of Derry, for less than 1 mile. There are no interchanges in the town, but the interchange with NH 102 in Londonderry is less than 1,000 feet from the town line. The nearest air transport is Manchester–Boston Regional Airport. There is currently no passenger rail service in Derry, though a former train depot in the center of town has been converted to a hub for the main commercial district in town.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

provides Downeaster service and the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

Haverhill Line The Haverhill Line (formerly named the Haverhill/Reading Line) is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through the cities and towns of Malden, Melrose, Wakefield, Reading, Wilmington, A ...

at Haverhill station, 32 miles to the southeast.

Education

Public schools

* Administration: *
Derry Cooperative School District
* Elementary: *

*

*

*

*

* Middle: ** Gilbert H. Hood Middle School ** West Running Brook Middle School

Private schools

* Pinkerton Academy, serving as the public high school for Derry,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Hampstead, Auburn, Hooksett, and

Candia The name Candia can refer to: People * The House of Candia, a noble family from Savoy (14th-16th) * Alfredo Ovando Candía, 56th president of Bolivia * Cecilia Maria de Candia, British-Italian writer * César di Candia, Uruguayan journalist and wr ...

Nutfield Cooperative School
(pre-school and kindergarten)
Saint Thomas Aquinas School
(pre-kindergarten through grade 8)
Derry Montessori School
(age 3 through grade 3) * Calvary Christian School operated from 1970 to 2009 and educated an average of 400 students in grades K–12.
Next Charter School
(grades 9 through 12)

Media

Derry is home to three media sources, the weekly ''Derry News'', which is owned by '' The Eagle-Tribune'', the weekly ''Nutfield News'', which is locally owned by Nutfield Publishing, and television station WWJE-DT, owned by Univision Communications. Derry is located within the

television market and the

radio market. Derry Community Television, also known as DerryCAM, is the town's

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was cre ...

station on local

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

Notable people

* Samantha Brown (born 1970), former host of

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United ...

, seller on QVC * Caleb Chapman (born 1973), musician *

Charles Cogswell Doe Charles Cogswell Doe (April 11, 1830 – March 9, 1896) was an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of New Hampshire from 1859 to 1874, and then, after a brief period when the court was dissolved to be reorganized as the New Hampshire ...

(1830–1896), Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of New Hampshire The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate ...

, born in Derry * Tricia Dunn-Luoma (born 1974), hockey player; Olympic gold medalist *

Charles Miller Floyd Charles Miller Floyd (June 5, 1861 – February 3, 1923) was an American merchant, and manufacturer, and Republican politician from Manchester, New Hampshire who served as the 51st governor of New Hampshire from 1907 to 1909. Biography Floyd ...

(1861–1923), 51st

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

(1874–1963), four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (to date, the only poet to achieve this feat) * Brendan James (born 1979), singer-songwriter, pianist * Priscilla Lane (1915–1995), actress * David Nelson (born 1974), world-record-holding video game competitor * William Patterson (1789–1838), U.S. congressman * Joe Seiders (born 1980), musician * Alan B. Shepard Jr. (1923–1998), astronaut, first American in space, and as a member of Apollo 14 one of 12 people to have walked on the Moon * Pamela Smart (born 1967), convicted conspirator to murder * John Stark (1728–1822), Continental Army major general in the Revolutionary War *

Aaron Fletcher Stevens Aaron Fletcher Stevens (August 9, 1819 – May 10, 1887) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War and a two-term U.S. Congressman. Birth and early years Stevens was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire on August 9, 1819.Eicher, Jo ...

(1819–1887), brigadier general, U.S. congressman * Matt Taven (born 1985), professional wrestler *

Paul Thompson Paul Thompson may refer to: Education *Paul Thompson (professor) (born 1951), British management professor at the University of Strathclyde *Paul B. Thompson (philosopher) (born 1951), American philosopher at Michigan State University *Paul H. Tho ...

(born 1988), hockey player * Matthew Thornton (1714–1803), Irish-born

Founding Father of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britain ...

who signed the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...

as a representative of New Hampshire * Nikki Tilroe (1941–2005), performer, puppeteer * Ryan Tuerck (born 1985), Formula D Drift professional driver

Sites of interest

Adams Memorial Building The Adams Memorial Building, now also known as the Derry Opera House, is a historic municipal building at 29 West Broadway near the center of Derry, New Hampshire. Built in 1904, it is a remarkably sophisticated Colonial Revival structure for what ...

* Derry Historical Society and Museum * Robert Frost Farm, National Historic Landmark * Taylor Mill State Historic Site * Rockingham Recreational Trail, rail trail to Fremont

Sister cities

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲɛts) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir ...

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast ( rus, Вологодская область, p=vəlɐˈɡotskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Vologodskaya oblast, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The Oblast has a population of 1,202, ...

, Russia

References

External links

*
Derry Public Library

''Derry News''
covering Derry and Londonderry
''Nutfield News''

Derry Community Access Media

{{authority control Scotch-Irish American culture in New Hampshire Towns in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Towns in New Hampshire