Photo of "Depot Square" with Odd Fellows Building (1897-1990) and Railroad station with B&M Train arriving, c. early 1900s.
Scenes of Historic Hampton
Compliments of Community Bank & Trust Company Hampton, New Hampshire -- (603) 929-2100
{Photos courtesy of Lane Memorial Library}
[Website compiled by John M. Holman, Hampton History Volunteer]
-- JANUARY 2005 --
Winter view looking north up Lafayette Road towards the Whittier Hotel at the intersection with Winnacunnet Road. The Whittier was the center of social activity in downtown Hampton for many years until it was destroyed by fire in 1916. This location was the site of a public house since the mid 1700's when Jonathan Leavitt first opened his Leavitt's Tavern. Across the road, at left, is the old Toppan farm and homestead, which was replaced by an apartment complex in 1971. The neat rows of elm trees lining the road all succumbed to Dutch Elm disease in the 1950's.
-- FEBRUARY 2005 --
The abandoned Mace House at North Beach opposite the end of High Street. Built by Joseph Mace, and last lived in by his son, Abner, this house was used as a shelter by fishermen who gathered in winter around an old stove to sit and work as if at a country store, baiting their long-line trawls with pogies and alewives to catch mackerel and herring. Lines were then coiled and stored in halved wooden barrels. Beyond the Mace House, several smaller fish houses can be seen.
-- MARCH 2005 --
Local men pose with a new car purchased at the Brooks Ford Garage in Hampton Center. From left to right are Phil Howe, Victor Bogrett, Alex Brown, Leavitt Magrath, and John Brooks, owner of the garage which opened in 1915 or 1916 on the north side of Depot Square. Also known as Hampton Center Garage, it was at the time the only garage on the road between Portsmouth and Newburyport, and was one of the first Ford dealerships in the northeast.
-- APRIL 2005 --
L. C. Ring's Carpentry Shop. Lemuel Churchill Ring (1855-1933) came to Hampton from Haverhill about 1903 with very little money and little more than his carpentry tools for possessions. He prospered in Hampton, becoming an active carpenter and building several of the best cottages and business blocks at the Beach, many of which he owned. Between 1911 and 1916 he also acted as the town's first chief for the then all-volunteer force, and was a Town Selectman from 1924 to 1929.
-- MAY 2005 --
Lawrence Hackett's Chevrolet dealership and Esso Station at the corner of Lafayette Road and Kershaw Avenue. Lawrence Hackett purchased this building from Floyd Gale, who ran a garage here in 1944 and operated his dealership until he retired in 1972. Since that time a succession of other businesses occupied this site until March of 2003 when the building was torn down to make way for the present U.S. Gas station and convenience store.
-- JUNE 2005 --
William Stickney, Sr., Hampton's first motorcycle policemen, with his own bike, in front of the Hampton Beach Police Station, circa 1930. Stickney was also a fireman, and began fire fighting at the beach as a volunteer in 1911 when he fought the blaze at the Pentucket Hotel in fisherman's gear, there being nothing else for firefighters to wear. He helped to form the first volunteer company in 1914, worked on the first fire-alarm system under Chief Whiting, and was instrumental in 1959 in setting up the Firemen's Relief Association. He also worked as a carpenter.
-- JULY 2005 --
The Ocean Side Grange float in a Hampton Beach parade in 1918. Atop the float are Dorothy Hobbs, Phillip Blake, Esther Scott Seavey, Minnie A. Palmer, Ruth Leavitt, Marion Noyes, and Arthur Noyes. The driver is Frank Brown. The North Shore Hotel was at the corner of Ocean Boulevard and Winnacunnet Road and was owned by Arthur Dumas. It was eventually replaced by a condominium complex - The Village By The Sea at 2 King's Highway.
-- AUGUST 2005 --
Photo of "Depot Square" with Odd Fellows Building (1897-1990) in center background, and the new Hampton Center (established 1915) at left. At right, a Boston and Maine train can be seen pulling into the station to pick up passengers waiting and to unload express packages. (Photo courtesy O. R. Cummings, Manchester, N.H.)
-- SEPTEMBER 2005 --
Women of the Hampton Monday Club gather for a luncheon at Palmer's Clamshell Restaurant, North Beach, near the former U. S. Coast Guard Station, now Bicentennial Park, circa 1940's. Palmer's was owned and operated by Ruth and Charles Palmer from the 1920's into the 1950's. According to one of their menus, their famous batter fried clam dinner was 50 cents, a large clam chowder 40 cents, a large lobster salad was $1.10, home baked beans on Saturday were 30 cents, and apple pie was 15 cents.
-- OCTOBER 2005 --
Bernice Glidden Palmer (1899-1985) and grandmother Anna Victoria. Bernice was the first woman to drive a car in Hampton back in 1915. She was born in Medford, Mass. and graduated from Tufts College in 1910, eventually moving to Hampton where she resided for more than 70 years. She was a town Lane Library Trustee from 1944 to 1962.
-- NOVEMBER 2005 -- Massachusetts Northeastern Street Railway trolleys No. 57 & 63, Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway trolley No. 67, and a Portsmouth Electric at far left, parked in front of the Hampton Beach Casino, circa 1910. The old beach bandstand can be seen between the trolleys and the beach. (Photo courtesy O. R. Cummings.)
-- DECEMBER 2005 --
This collection of gentlemen are all Hampton dignitaries lined up for a portrait at the intersection in the center of town in 1898. This view looks west down Exeter Road, which at the time was the center of town, before the railroad overpass was constructed. From left to right (with town offices held at one time or another) are town librarian and selectman Simeon Albert, selectman Clarence M. Dearborn, tax collector and chief of police Clinton J. Eaton, supervisor of the checklist and selectman Hugh Brown, highway agent William S. Brown, selectman Joseph Ballard Brown, and selectman, library Trustee, postmaster and school board member Charles M. Batchelder.
