The Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company Historic District encompasses a collection of former industrial buildings on the north side of 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 ...

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...

. Located on Franklin and Front Streets west of Main Street, the complex was developed by the Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company, later the

Nashua Corporation The Nashua Corporation (NASDAQ: NSHA) was an American company headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire that made labels, specialty papers, and imaging products and services. On September 15, 2009, it was bought by Cenveo, Inc. As of early 2010, it ...

, beginning in the late 19th century. It was a major manufacturing and employment center for the city until mid-1990s, when the company's business declined. One of its former storehouses was converted to residences in the 2000s, and the main complex is, in 2015-16, undergoing the same process. The complex of surviving buildings was listed 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 v ...

in 2015.

Description and history

The Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company complex is located on the northwest side of downtown Nashua, on the north side of the Nashua River opposite the former

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 ...

plant. It is sandwiched between Front Street and a bend in the river, which is roughly paralleled by Front Street. The complex has six buildings, of which the main one is a large Romanesque four-story brick building with a facade on Front Street. Its core section was built in 1889 as a three-story structure, and it underwent a series of enlargements between then and 1940. A second major mill building is located just to its southwest, with a much more utilitarian appearance. The Nashua Gummed and Coated Paper Company had its origins in a small company founded by three men in 1849 intending to manufacture

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

for gold miners. The company instead made cardboard and glazed paper products, and operated under a variety of names in Nashua until 1889 when it was incorporated as the Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company. It was by the 1870s the largest non-textile manufacturer in the city. Under the leadership of Harry Bixby, a local investor, the main plant was built to a design by W.B. Page of

Clinton, Massachusetts Clinton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,428 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Clinton, please see the article Clinton (CDP), Massach ...

. The firm was heavily in debt by the early 20th century, and was acquired in 1904 by the Carter Rice Company of Boston, Massachusetts, which established the Nashua Gummed & Coated Paper Company as a subsidiary to manage this and other assets related to coated paper products. Over the 20th century the company expanded its products and operations, but contracted in the 1990s, eventually closing its presence in Nashua in 2005.

References

{{NRHP in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Historic districts in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Buildings and structures in Nashua, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

Description and history

See also

References