![The Mine Falls at Mine Falls Park, Nashua New Hampshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/The_Mine_Falls_at_Mine_Falls_Park%2C_Nashua_New_Hampshire.JPG)
Mine Falls Park is a park in the city of
Nashua, New Hampshire, United States. Located in the heart of the city, it was purchased in 1969 from the Nashua, New Hampshire Foundation with city and federal
Land and Water Conservation Fund
The United States' Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a federal program that was established by Act of Congress in 1965 to provide funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water, and ...
(LWCF) money. It is bordered on the north by the
Nashua River
The Nashua River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 is a tributary of the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the United States. It i ...
and on the south by the millpond and
power canal system.
History
The park encompasses on both sides of the
Everett Turnpike
The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick ...
.
[Article in the Nashua Telegraph May 28th, 1981](_blank)
on Google newspapers The name "Mine Falls" dates from the 18th century, when low-quality
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
was supposedly mined from the islands below the falls. In the early 19th century, the potential of the Nashua River to drive the wheels of industrial mills was recognized after the success of the
Merrimack Canal, dug in the 1820s in
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, downstream from Nashua.
The first gates were built in 1826, and the
gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mo ...
near Mine falls was built in 1886.
The property was once owned by the
Nashua Manufacturing Company
The Nashua Manufacturing Company was a cotton textile manufacturer in Nashua, New Hampshire that operated from 1823 to 1945. It was one of several textile companies that helped create what became the city of Nashua, creating roads, churches and its ...
, which harnessed the river's flow for power in its mills.
The mills closed in 1948 and the owner
Textron
Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft, and Cessna brands), and Lycoming Engin ...
sold it to the Nashua New Hampshire Foundation. After that, the area was used for various commercial purposes, while the river suffered from severe pollution. A 1973 visit from the
Environmental Protection Agency's ''Program to Photographically Document Subjects of Environmental Concern'' (
DOCUMERICA
Documerica (stylized as DOCUMERICA) was a program sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to "photographically document subjects of environmental concern" in the United States from about 1972 to 1977. The collection, now a ...
) led to the creation of the Mine Falls Park master plan in 1974. In 1981, a regulation-sized soccer playing field was added to the park.
In 1981, a new footbridge over the Nashua River canal was built at the end of Whipple Street, allowing additional access to the playing field area.
The playing area was later expanded to include additional fields for soccer.
The trails provide a highway underpass and a bicycle and pedestrian path to cross the Nashua River.
File:MINE FALLS PARK CONSISTS OF THREE MILES OF ATTRACTIVE WOODLAND ALONG THE SHORE OF THE NASHUA RIVER. THE NASHUA... - NARA - 553415.jpg, Inspectors from DOCUMERICA
Documerica (stylized as DOCUMERICA) was a program sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to "photographically document subjects of environmental concern" in the United States from about 1972 to 1977. The collection, now a ...
looking at the granite walls of the Nashua River power canal in June 1973
File:PRIMARY SETTLING LAGOONS IN MINE FALLS CANAL PARK - NARA - 553456.tif, The former sewage lagoons in 1973, that today are the location of the Soifert Memorial playing fields.
In 1987, the
Nashua River Canal and the
Nashua Manufacturing Company Historic District
The Nashua Manufacturing Company Historic District in Nashua, New Hampshire, is a historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. It encompasses an area just west of downtown Nashua, roughly located ...
(the Millyard) were placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
In 1992, the park trails were designated part of the
New Hampshire Heritage Trail system, which extends along 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 M ...
from
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. In 1986, Mine Falls was commissioned to be the site of a small, city-owned
hydroelectric dam
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
with a capacity of three
megawatts
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...
.
City officials had allowed an encampment of the
homeless, known as "Maple Island", in the park. An attack on a homeless man in 2009 prompted renewed concern about it, and officials cleared the settlement. Some local homeless made a new camp on nearby private land.
![Mine Falls Park map 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Mine_Falls_Park_map_01.png)
Developments
As of April 23, 2022, the bridge across the canal near Nashua South High School is closed to both vehicles and pedestrians. The bridge at the end of Whipple street remains open.
See also
*
1886 Mine Falls Gatehouse
References
{{Reflist
Map of the parkon the City of
Nashua, New Hampshire website
Mine Falls Parkon the
Merrimack River Wildlife Heritage Trail Merrimack may refer to:
* Merrimack, New Hampshire, a town
* Merrimack County, New Hampshire
* Merrimack River, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire
* Merrimack Valley, the region surrounding the river
* Merrimac, California, also spelled Merrimack
...
website of the
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHF&G) is a department within the government of New Hampshire in the United States. The Fish and Game Department manages New Hampshire's fish, game, and aquatic plant resources.
Structure
The Department ...
Tourist attractions in Nashua, New Hampshire
Municipal parks in New Hampshire
Parks in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire