Wilton NH Information

Wilton

New Hampshire

Established 1762

Wilton NH Town Hall

Wilton Town Hall

Wilton History

Wilton NH was incorporated in 1762 as Wilton, named after a town in England. It was first settled as a part of Salem-Canada, which included Lyndeborough, and was later known as No. 2. In 1768 the western part of the township was added to Temple.

Wilton is a mill town located on the Souhegan River, which it has always made good use of. The town features a mix of industry, commuters, and a growing artists’ community.

The present downtown area, originally East Wilton Village, is on the banks of the river, with old mill buildings all around, changed now from one family textile manufacturer to a wide variety of small companies. From 1851 until 1874 the town was the terminus of the Nashua Railroad and grew accordingly.

Wilton Quick Facts

Total land area: 22.5 square miles

Population: Approx. 3215

Libraries: Wilton Public and Gregg Free

Government: Selectmen

Wilton Landmarks

Wilton Center, the original village high on a hill, is a picture postcard place of large homes, the First Church, a meeting hall that’s now home to Andy’s Summer Playhouse, and one of the town’s original one-room schools. Once the center of town activity, businesses moved to East Wilton when the railroad arrived. The center was once the sight of an informal artists’ colony whose New York- and Boston-based members summered there.

West Wilton, the original site of the town’s industry, also lost its importance when the railroad came. With a pretty tumbling brook, stone arch bridge, and brick houses it is a different kind of village from the center. It is the home of Sheldrick Forest, a large old-growth lot recently saved from development by a huge outpouring of donations. The forest is now owned by the New Hampshire chapter of the Nature Conservancy and is open to the public.

Wilton Highway Access

NH Routes 31 and 101 meet in the downtown area. The closest major highways are in Nashua and Manchester, about 30 minutes away. Wilton is about 50 minutes from Keene, 30 minutes from Nashua, a little more than an hour from Boston, two hours from Portsmouth and over two hours from the White Mountains.

Wilton Business and Industry

Wilton is still a manufacturing site, although no longer a textile center. The largest employers include Paralyzed Veterans of America, makers of greeting cards, Label Art, makers of pressure-sensitive labels, and Bur Bark Machine, Inc. Kimball Physics, a manufacturer of electron optics, received nationwide attention as a totally smoke-free environment.

Miscellaneous

Electric Supplier: PSNH

Natural Gas Supplier: EnergyNorth

Water: Wilton Water Works/Stockwell Brook/wells

Telephone: NYNEX/Wilton Telephone

For more information regarding Wilton, NH please refer to the following:

Community Newspaper:

The Milford Cabinet

673-3100

Online town directory and local government listings:

Wilton Schools

Wilton is part of two school districts, Wilton and Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative. The Wilton School district covers grades 1 – 6 in one building, the Florence Rideout Elementary School. Wilton-Lyndeborough Junior-Senior High School handles grades 7 – 12. Both districts are part of S.A.U. 63. Also in town is a complete Waldorf School System, which consists of Pine Hill Elementary School and High Mowing School.

More Wilton School Information

ELEMENTARY

Florence Rideout Elementary

Grades 1 - 6

Tremont Street

WILTON-LYNDEBOROUGH COOPERATIVE JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Grades 7 - 12

Burns Hill Road

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Pine Hill Waldorf Elementary School

Abbot Hill Road

654-6003

High Mowing School