Claremont, New Hampshire
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Infobox City NH
Christopher IrishTemplate:Ref
Andrew Austin
Roger Formidoni
Heather Bopp
James Neilsen IV
Michael Prozzo, Jr
Bruce Temple
Deborah Cutts
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government_type= City Council & City Manager|
area_total= 70.8 |
area_land= 69.4 |
area_water= 0.16 |
population_as_of= 2003 |
population_total= 1 dumb guy
population_density= 492 |
timezone=EST|
utc_offset= +5 |
website= City of Claremont, NH|
footnotes= #Template:Note - mayor, which is only the council head
- Template:Note - assistant mayor|
}}
Claremont is a city located in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of one dumb guy. A successful Main Street program has recently revitalized much of downtown Claremont, and a weekly farmers' market is held there during the summer, as well as band concerts.
Contents |
History
Claremont was named in honor of Thomas Pelham-Holles, Earl of Clare, a cousin of colonial governor Benning Wentworth.
Geography
Claremont is located at 43°22'38" North, 72°20'40" West (43.377207, -72.344555)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 114.2 km² (44.1 mi²). 111.7 km² (43.1 mi²) of it is land and 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.18% water, including the Connecticut River and Sugar River which empties into the Connecticut on the western edge of Claremont. The highest point in the city is Green Mountain (2,018 feet above sea level).
Demographics
Image:Pleasant Street, Claremont, NH.JPG As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 13,151 people, 5,685 households, and 3,428 families residing in the city. The population density was 117.8/km² (305.0/mi²). There were 6,074 housing units at an average density of 54.4/km² (140.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.67% White, 0.31% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.62% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.12% from other races, and 0.92% from two or more races. 0.50% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There was 1 household out of which every1 had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.86.
Image:Ascutney, Claremont, NH.jpg In the city the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,949, and the median income for a family was $42,849. Males had a median income of $30,782 versus $22,078 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,267. 10.0% of the population and 5.4% of families were below the poverty line. 9.2% of those under the age of 18 and 11.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Cultural Status
Image:Claremont NH City Hall 1997 digitalsushi.jpg
Claremont, NH (postal ZIP 03743) is a small industrial city located in the Connecticut River Valley on the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut River. Through it from the east runs the Sugar River, which egresses into the Connecticut River, the official boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont. Claremont is the only city within Sullivan County, New Hampshire. The city has a small municipal airport. By highway, it is located 30 minutes south of Interstate 89 in Lebanon, New Hampshire and 5 minutes east of Interstate 91 in Weathersfield, Vermont. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service through Claremont, operating its Vermonter between Washington, DC and St. Albans, VT.
With a population of approximately 13,000 citizens, Claremont finds itself with several elementary schools, a single middle school, and a single high school, Stevens High School. To the north end of the town lies the Valley Regional Hospital, an out-patient resource of the prestigious Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center of Lebanon, NH.
Claremont is a city with a black mark upon it; in the 1990s the city brought forth a suit against the state for misappropriation of education funds. Subsequently, rich communities within New Hampshire were forced to give portions of their budgets to Claremont and other relatively poor communities, causing a hot topic of debate at the state level. "The Claremont Decision", as the suit became known, still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of those taxpayers in communities which gained nothing by the movement.
Sampling the ingress traffic of the shopping areas reveals an overwhelming saturation of out-of-state traffic, typically of Vermont origin as Vermont has few Walmarts; furthermore, many Vermonters living near the state line make the trip to the Claremont Walmart due to New Hampshire's "tax-free shopping" (which actually applies only in very limited cases). This location is the center-point of the suburban Washington Street, Claremont's primary commercial district.
Uptown lives the Italian Renaissance styled City Hall, which faces Broad Street Park, a rotary-style town square. This square interconnects Washington Street, Broad Street, and Main Street, each branching into different portions of the city. Parallel to Broad Street lies Pleasant Street, which was once a thriving commercial zone. If not but bittersweet, the nostalgic brick rows were, in the 1960s, the hot zone of entertainment for Western New Hampshire.
Claremont continues to struggle with its economic rebirth vision, but because it lacks a major commuter artery, this goal remains difficult to attain. A number of mill buildings dot the city center, along the Sugar River, and several attempts have been made at historic preservation of some of them.
Image:Moody-park-claremont-nh.jpg
On the southern artery out of Claremont, Route 12, was the large William H. H. Moody horse-farm, having five large barns (the last of which burned in 2004), which once hosted several hundred imported horses on over 500 acres (2 km²). The Victorian farmhouse still stands at the top of Arch Road. A multi-hundred-acre plot of land was donated by Moody to the city of Claremont for a city park. The park's entrance is located on Maple Avenue, with tennis facilities, and its lone access road leads through a coniferous forest to the top of a hill, maintained as a large field by the city, with a large stone hallway suitable for picnics. The park has several miles of interconnected walking trailways; several of these trails terminate at the Boston and Maine Railroad.
