Claremont, New Hampshire
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Claremont is a city located in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 13,151. A successful Main Streets program has recently revitalized much of downtown Claremont, and a farmers' market is held there during the summer, as well as band concerts.
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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.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 13,151 people, 5,685 households, and 3,428 families residing in the city. The population density is 117.8/km² (305.0/mi²). There are 6,074 housing units at an average density of 54.4/km² (140.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 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 are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 5,685 households out of which 27.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% are married couples living together, 10.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% are non-families. 32.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 14.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.28 and the average family size is 2.86.
In the city the population is 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 are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $34,949, and the median income for a family is $42,849. Males have a median income of $30,782 versus $22,078 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,267. 10.0% of the population and 5.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 9.2% of those under the age of 18 and 11.3% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Cultural Status
Claremont_NH_City_Hall_1997_digitalsushi.jpg
Claremont, New Hampshire
Claremont, NH (postal ZIP 03743) is a small industrial town 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 an official Amtrak terminal (with direct service to New York City) and small municipal airport, and is located 30 minutes south of Interstate 89 in Lebanon, New Hampshire and 5 minutes east of Interstate 91 in Weathersfield, Vermont.
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 pretigious Mary Hitchcock Medical Center of Hanover, 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 communities which gained nothing by the movement.
The main cultural, social, and economic hub is the Walmart "Super Center" chain store located on the eastern edge of the city. Sampling the ingress traffic 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 to enjoy New Hampshire's tax-free shopping. 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. From this square interconnects Washington Street, Broad Street, and Main Street, each branching into different portions of the city. Parallel to Broad Street lies West 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 due to its lack of major commuter artery, this goal remains difficult to attain.
Moody-park-claremont-nh.jpg
Moody Park
On the southern artery out of Claremont, Route 12, was the large 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. 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 the purposes of 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 trailways; several of these trailways terminate at the Boston and Maine Railway.
External links
- Interactive Aerial foto (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=14&x=223&y=1501&z=18&w=1&qs=%7cclaremont%7cnh%7c)
- Claremont Stream Tunnels @ www.thisplaceiknow.com (http://www.thisplaceiknow.com/place_view.cfm?PlaceID=77)
- Public Domain Photographs of Claremont NH (http://digitalsushi.com/midashi/photos/nh/claremont/)
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State of New Hampshire
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| Capital: | Concord |
| Regions: | Dartmouth Sunapee | Great North Woods | Lakes Region | Merrimack Valley | Monadnock | Seacoast |White Mountains |
| Major Metros: | Manchester | Nashua |
| Smaller Cities: | Berlin | Claremont | Concord | Dover | Franklin | Keene | Laconia | Lebanon | Portsmouth | Rochester | Somersworth |
| Counties: | Belknap | Carroll | Cheshire | Coos | Grafton | Hillsborough | Merrimack | Rockingham | Strafford | Sullivan |