Of the five Upper Connecticut River valley towns chartered by the royal governor of New Hampshire on July 4, 1761, the town of Hartford became the most diverse and pivotal within the region. Located at the intersection of the Connecticut and White River valleys, by the early 19th century Hartford played an important role in the development of river travel, as well as the turnpikes and stage lines crossing northern New England. By mid-century, White River Junction, one of Hartford's many diverse villages, was the region's most important railroad center. Within other areas of Hartford, abundant...

The town of Hanover, chartered in 1761, began as a sleepy, idyllic community nestled in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. In 1770, noted Connecticut minister Eleazar Wheelock chose to relocate his school, Dartmouth College, to a virgin wilderness corner of the struggling young township. In spite of hardships, within several years Wheelock and his small college had taken root on the Hanover Plain, joining together with the local community that would come to be known as the "Village at the College." Over the next two centuries, the college and the village would grow together in triumph and...

To Hanover residents past and present, to the tens of thousands of Dartmouth College graduates around the world, and to the thousands of visitors to the town and college campus each year, Hanover is a very special place, treasured in their hearts and minds. In the early 1890s, Dartmouth's new president Reverend William Jewett Tucker laid plans for the college and the village of Hanover that guided their evolution from a sleepy New England community supporting a student population of about 350 into the modern, thriving community it is today. In the early decades of the twentieth century,...