Lisbon is a

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

Grafton County Grafton County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,118. Its county seat is North Haverhill, a village within the town of Haverhill. Until 1972, the county courthouse and other office ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, 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 t ...

, United States. The population was 1,621 at the 2020 census. Lisbon hosts an annual

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and widely and commonl ...

festival on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

weekend. The main village, where 965 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Lisbon census-designated place (CDP) and is located along

U.S. Route 302 U.S. Route 302 (US 302) is an east–west spur of U.S. Route 2 in northern New England in the United States. It currently runs from Montpelier, Vermont, beginning at US 2, to Portland, Maine, at U.S. Route 1. It passes through the states of Ver ...

and the

Ammonoosuc River The Ammonoosuc River is a river in northwestern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Island Sound. ''Ammonoosuc'' is Abnaki for "small, narrow fishing place". The Ammonoosuc rises ...

in the southwestern corner of the town.

History

Lisbon was first granted in 1763 by

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

Governor

Benning Wentworth Benning Wentworth (July 24, 1696 – October 14, 1770) was an American merchant and colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors of New Hampshire, governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766. While serving as governor, W ...

as "Concord". In 1764 the town was renamed "Chiswick", after the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and ha ...

's castle, while Rumford in central New Hampshire took the name "Concord" in 1765. In 1768, the town was settled and renamed again, this time to "Gunthwaite", after a relation of colonial Governor John Wentworth. The name "Lisbon" was selected by Governor Levi Woodbury when it was incorporated in 1824. His friend, Colonel William Jarvis, had been consul at

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. The town once included land that is now part of Littleton and Sugar Hill.

Charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ...

-making was an early industry.

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and other

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

s were mined here. The narrow, steep falls of the

provided

water power Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a ...

for numerous

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

s and factories, and the Parker Young Company was at one time the largest manufacturer of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

sounding boards in the world. Lisbon was the site of the first rope

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

tow in

. The Lisbon Area Historical Society promotes the public's interest in and appreciation for the towns of Lisbon, Landaff and Lyman, and maintains the collection, preservation and cataloging of materials which establish or illustrate the history of the three towns, their indigenous history and heritage, their exploration, settlement and development, as well as their cultural and artistic heritage.

Geography

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. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 1.60% of the town. The town is drained by the

and its tributary, the

Gale River The Gale River is a tributary of the Ammonoosuc River in northwestern New Hampshire in the United States. Via the Ammonoosuc, it is part of the watershed of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Island Sound. The Gale River flows for its e ...

. The highest point in town is an unnamed hill east of Pearl Lake which reaches 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 standardis ...

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 inc ...

of 2010, there were 1,595 people, 659 households, and 439 families residing in the town. There were 809 housing units, of which 150, or 18.5%, were vacant. 81 of the vacant units were for seasonal or recreational use. The racial makeup of the town was 97.8%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.0%

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 are ...

n, 0.0%

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

or Pacific Islander, 0.4% some other race, and 1.4% from two or more races. 0.9% 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. Of the 659 households, 30.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.7% were headed by

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.4% were non-families. 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42, and the average family size was 2.87. In the town, 22.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.0% were from 18 to 24, 23.4% from 25 to 44, 32.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males. For the period 2011–2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $47,946, and the median income for a family was $53,700. Male full-time workers had a median income of $36,490 versus $31,845 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 $23,897. 16.6% of the population and 8.9% of families were below the poverty line. 27.8% of the population under the age of 18 and 11.0% of those 65 or older were living in poverty.

Notable people

* Franklin Gilman (1825–1880), Wisconsin State Assemblyman and farmer; born in Lisbon'Wisconsin Blue Book 18880,' Biographical Sketch of Franklin Gilman, pg. 609 * Herbert Archer "H.A." Richardson (1852–1942), California pioneer, timber baron, shipping magnate * C. C. Young (1869–1947),

governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constitution of California, t ...

References

External links

*
Lisbon Public Library

Lisbon Area Historical Society

Lisbon 1763–2013: Celebrating 250 Years
{{authority control Towns in Grafton County, New Hampshire Populated places established in 1763 Towns in New Hampshire 1763 establishments in New Hampshire