[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7937]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE 250TH ANNIVERSARY

 Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, New Hampshire's capital city, 
Concord, is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. To be exact, 
this is the anniversary of the city's being rechristened as Concord in 
recognition of a peaceful agreement that resolved a boundary dispute 
with the adjacent town of Bow in 1765.
  The city's beginnings go back to 1725, when the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay established the area as the Plantation of Penacook, 
borrowing an Abenaki Native American word meaning ``crooked place,'' 
which refers to the serpentine bends of the Merrimack River just east 
of the city. Since 1808, when Concord became our capital city, it has 
been the civic and cultural heart of the Granite State. Along with its 
central place in New Hampshire geography and history, Concord has 
retained the friendliness and charm of a classic New England community.
  In a sense, it was in Concord that the United States of America was 
born as a constitutional republic. In June 21, 1788, in the city's Old 
North Meeting House, deputies from across the State approved the new 
federal constitution. And because New Hampshire was the decisive ninth 
of the original 13 States to approve the document, the Constitution was 
declared ratified and became the law of the land.
  Likewise, it was men from Concord who were in the forefront of 
defending the Constitution during the Civil War. Following the 
bombardment of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 troops. 
In Concord, a recruiting station was set up near the Statehouse, and 50 
volunteers enlisted by the end of the first day. The first to volunteer 
was Concord police constable Edward Sturtevant, who 20 months later 
made the ultimate sacrifice at the Battle of Fredericksburg. It is said 
that the First New Hampshire Volunteer Regiment, mustered in Concord, 
was the first fully equipped regiment of volunteers to go to the front 
in 1861. Today, prominently displayed in the State capitol building in 
Concord, are the tattered, bloodstained regimental flags carried by 
Granite State soldiers at Bull Run, Antietam, Gettysburg, and other 
Civil War battlefields.
  The magnificent gold-domed Statehouse, at the center of Main Street, 
was completed in 1819, and is the oldest State capitol in which both 
houses of the legislature meet in their original chambers. The house of 
representatives consists of 400 members and is the third largest 
legislative body in the English-speaking world, exceeded only by the 
U.S. House and the British House of Commons.
  For two centuries, Concord has been a commercial center and 
transportation hub, connected first by canal and later by railway and 
highway with Boston. In the first half of the 19th century, the city's 
Abbot Downing carriage manufacturer was known worldwide for its Concord 
Stagecoach, famed as ``the coach that won the West.''
  Since the late 1800s and continuing today, the city has been famous 
for its granite quarries. The local granite type, Concord granite, is 
prized for its fine texture and absence of discoloring oxides and 
minerals. It has been used in the construction of countless Civil War 
monuments, the Library of Congress, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the 
Pentagon, including portions of the Pentagon lost on 9/11.
  Concord has been home to many people of renown, including Franklin 
Pierce, our Nation's 14th President. As a former public school teacher, 
my personal hero is Christa McAuliffe, a Concord High School social 
studies teacher who was selected by NASA from more than 11,000 
applicants to become the first teacher in space. Tragically, she 
perished aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, but she is memorialized 
in Concord at the Christa McAuliffe School and the McAuliffe-Shephard 
Discover Center.
  From my 6 years as Governor, I can testify that Concord's greatest 
assets are the everyday people of the city, who are unfailingly 
gracious and friendly. And, though I am far from objective, I think 
that Concord's Main Street is one of the very best in New England. It 
takes its character not only from the historic architecture, but also 
from the stores, cafes, and restaurants--places where people know your 
name, and where the small business owners are right there, every day.
  Concord is marking its 250th anniversary, this year, with multiple 
events and festivities, including a week-long celebration in August. 
And the city is also looking to the future, with an ambitious project 
to renew the city's center. Mayor Jim Bouley and the people of Concord 
are determined to preserve the historic character and charm of 
downtown, while also creating a 21st century Main Street. I salute 
their city's rich past and present, and I look forward to joining in 
the anniversary celebrations in the near future.

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