The Legacy of Industry and the Future of Community

The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney. 

As communities across northern New England plan for the future, many are looking back to the assets that once powered their economies. Waterways, rail corridors, and mill sites that were centers of industry are increasingly being repurposed as places for recreation, housing, entrepreneurship, and community connection. These assets are becoming catalysts for a different kind of community-driven prosperity.

But to understand how communities are reclaiming these assets today, we must first recognize the role industry played in shaping them. For generations, rivers and lakes were the foundation of the economy. They powered mills and factories, transported raw materials and finished goods, supplied industrial water, and supported activities such as logging and trade. Later, the waterways that dominated the movement of people, goods, and ideas were largely replaced by the railroad. Communities at the intersection of these resources were especially well-positioned for success. The physical design of many downtowns today still reflects this legacy; if you look closely, you’ll notice many Main Streets oriented with their backs to the water. After all, these were places of industry shaped by the noise, congestion, and hazards associated with mills, railroads, and log drives, not intended as community gathering or recreational spaces.

Pike, New Hampshire, a small village in the Town of Haverhill, is but one example of geography shaping industry, and industry shaping community. The Village grew around the Pike Manufacturing Company, established in the 1800’s by Isaac Pike. Later, under the leadership of his sons, Alonzo and Edwin, the Company became internationally recognized for its natural sharpening stones. Pike Manufacturing’s success was driven not only by business acumen, but also by geography. The Oliverian Brook powered the mill, by geographic good fortune, the Concord & Montreal Railroad connected Pike to distant markets, and the mill itself was located one mile downhill from the quarry where stones were extracted. This strategic location reduced transportation, labor, and equipment costs, allowing Pike Manufacturing to ultimately dominate and monopolize the industry.

The Pike family's influence extended far beyond the mill. They built workforce housing, operated the village store and inn, served as postmaster, maintained the dams and water infrastructure, and even sold the land where the community church was constructed. The success of the village was intrinsically tied to the success of the Company; a relationship that created both prosperity and, later, vulnerability. When Pike Manufacturing merged with Norton and closed its Pike operations in 1932, the impacts reverberated throughout the community. Workers lost their livelihoods, younger residents left in search of opportunity, and the village's population, tax base, and sense of identity declined.

Pike's story is not unique. Proctor, Vermont, grew around the Vermont Marble Company. Berlin, New Hampshire, was shaped by the pulp and paper industry. Millinocket, Maine, emerged as a company town built around Great Northern Paper. Like Pike, these communities experienced significant disruption as industries declined or disappeared.

This history offers valuable insight into how the assets that gave rise to communities in the first place can and should be reimagined to serve new purposes. Long-term viability will be contingent on balance; investing in business growth and workforce opportunities alongside investments in housing, infrastructure, recreation, historic preservation, and arts and culture.  By strengthening quality of life and cultivating a strong sense of place alongside a diverse economy, communities become more resilient to changing markets, shifting industries, and evolving demographics.

But redevelopment is not cheap, nor easy. For smaller rural communities, these investments rarely happen through a single funding source or private developer. Instead, they rely on community vision and support, grants, loans, local funding, and public-private partnerships.

Today in Haverhill, that approach looks like ongoing stewardship of the Blackmount Rail Trail where a former transportation corridor is being maintained as a public recreation asset and economic development opportunity; leveraging Land and Community Heritage Investment Program funding to conserve historic, agricultural, and civic resources; and securing Northern Border Regional Commission funding to expand broadband access for residents, businesses, and remote workers, as examples. Together, these initiatives are reinvesting in the physical, historic, and digital infrastructure that makes rural communities viable.

Littleton offers another example of using innovative funding to pull off big projects in undercapitalized towns. The $1.75 million Littleton Riverfront Commons project is transforming underutilized land along the Ammonoosuc River into a public gathering space with new river access, recreation opportunities, and community events like the weekly farmers’ market. Through a carefully assembled funding stack including support from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Northern Border Regional Commission, Community Development Finance Authority Tax Credit Program, Eversource Charitable Giving, individual private donations, and a United States Department of Agriculture Community Facilities grant awarded through Senator Shaheen’s Congressionally Directed Spending, the town reduced its local share to approximately 10% of the overall project cost. The land is now conserved under a 6f Outdoor Recreation Easement, ensuring it remains available to the public forever. 

Similar efforts are underway throughout the region as communities like Newport, Vermont, Berlin, Franklin, and Laconia, New Hampshire, convert former industrial sites and transportation corridors into trails, parks, riverwalks, and recreation destinations that will drive their economies into the future. These efforts are the culmination of partners and stakeholders working collaboratively to achieve a shared vision.

Today, the foundations laid by New England’s historic industries still exist. We do not see logs rolling down the rivers, but dollars are still flowing in these areas. The waterways, rail corridors, and industrial infrastructure that once powered manufacturing economies are fueling a new generation of downtown revitalization. The next chapter will be written not by one company or industry, but by entire communities reimagining themselves through the lens of long-term resilience, quality of life, and community building.