Manchester Public Television Service, Inc © 2010

Manchester is the largest city in northern New England. It is located along the banks of the Merrimack River with a population of about 110,000.  Pennacook Indians called it Namoskeag, meaning "good fishing place"— In 1722, John Goffe settled beside Cohas Brook, later building a dam and sawmill at what was dubbed Old Harry's Town, later rechartered the town in 1751 as Derryfield.

In 1807, Samuel Blodget envisioned here a great industrial center, "the Manchester of America", like the Industrial Revolution's Manchester in England, the first industrialized city in the world. Derryfield was renamed Manchester in 1810, the year the mill was incorporated as the Amoskeag Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing Company.

Amoskeag engineers planned a model company town, founded in 1838 with Elm Street as its main thoroughfare. Incorporated as a city in 1846, Manchester would become home to the largest cotton mill in the world— The rapid growth of the mills demanded a large influx of workers, resulting in a flood of immigrants, particularly French Canadians. The Amoskeag Company went out of business in 1935, although its red brick mills have been renovated for other uses. Indeed, the mill town's 19th century affluence left behind some of the finest Victorian commercial, municipal, and residential architecture in the state. Manchester’s culture is steeped in history, art, and music. At any given time in the city visitors and citizens alike can enjoy local theatre, music, dance, festivals, farmers markets, expositions and so much more.