Derry, New Hampshire, United States

🇺🇸 Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the state. The town's nickname, "Spacetown", derives from the fact that Derry is the birthplace of Alan Shepard, the first astronaut from the United States in space. Derry was also for a time the home of the poet Robert Frost and his family.

The central part of the town extends from Derry's downtown in the west to the town of Hampstead in the east. The town also includes the village of East Derry.

History The area was first settled by Scots-Irish families in 1719 as part of the town of Londonderry, as were present-day Windham and portions of Manchester, Salem and Hudson. The town of Derry was formed in 1827 from the eastern portion of Londonderry and was named, like Londonderry, after the city of Derry in Ireland, the Irish word Doire meaning "oak grove". The first potato planted in the United States was sown in Derry in the town's common field in 1719. The town is the location of two of America's oldest private schools, Pinkerton Academy, founded in 1814 and still in operation, and the closed Adams Female Seminary.

Derry was once a linen and leather-making centre until New England textile industries moved south in the 20th century. As recently as World War II, Derry was also a sleepy farming community. From 1900 to 1911, poet Robert Frost lived with his family on a farm in Derry purchased for him by his grandfather. The Robert Frost Farm is now a National Historic Landmark and state park and is open to the public for tours, poetry readings and other cultural events from spring through fall.

The post-war suburban boom, the town's proximity to Boston in the south and Manchester to the north-west, and the construction of Interstate 93 through town led to a huge population boom. After the 1990s, this growth disappeared, with the population remaining essentially unchanged since 2000.

The Manchester and Lawrence branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad ran through Derry, but is now abandoned, with most of the line in town now a rail trail. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation stated in its I-93 corridor transit study and its 2012 statewide rail plan that it could be feasible to reopen the line.

Geography Derry is in southern New Hampshire, in south-western Rockingham County. It is 12 miles (19 km) south-east of Manchester, the state's largest city, and 16 miles (26 km) north-west of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The town is crossed by Interstate 93 and New Hampshire routes 28, 28 Bypass, and 102.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 36.3 square miles (94.0 km²), of which 35.5 square miles (91.9 km²) are land and 0.81 square miles (2.1 km²) are water, comprising 2.26% of the town. Derry is drained by Beaver Brook, a south-flowing tributary of the Merrimack River. Island Pond is on the south-east border of the town and drains to the Spicket River, another tributary of the Merrimack. A small section along the northern border of town drains north to the Exeter River, part of the Piscataqua River watershed. The highest point in the town is Warner Hill, at 605 feet (184 m) above sea level, where from the top one can see the Boston skyline on a clear day.

Derry's downtown is located near the town's western border at the intersection of Routes 102 and 28, and the village of East Derry is located approximately 2 miles (3 km) to the east and close to the geographic centre of the town. Both areas are part of the Derry place.

Adjacent municipalities • Chester, New Hampshire (north) • Sandown, New Hampshire (northeast) • Hampstead, New Hampshire (east) • Atkinson, New Hampshire (southeast) • Salem, New Hampshire (southeast) • Windham, New Hampshire (south) • Londonderry, New Hampshire (west) • Auburn, New Hampshire (northwest).

Economy: Top employers According to a recent Financial Reports, the top employers include: 1 Derry Cooperative School District; 2 HCA Health Services of New Hampshire (Parkland Medical Center); 3 Pinkerton Academy; 4 Town of Derry; 5 Walmart; 6 Hannaford; 7 Shaw's; 8 Fireye; 9 Total Air Supply; 10 Cedar Point Communications.

Transport Five New Hampshire state highways and one Interstate Highway cross the town of Derry: • NH 28 enters from Salem in the south, follows Rockingham Road north to the southern limit of the town's main business district, then turns west along with Rockingham Road toward an intersection with Windham Road and Kendall Pond Road (Shute's Corner), and then north to follow Birch Street. After crossing NH 102, it becomes Crystal Avenue, and finally at Tsienneto Road changes names again to Manchester Road before entering Londonderry in the western part of town. • NH 28 Bypass, known locally as "The Bypass", begins at South Main Street where NH 28 turns along with Rockingham Road, and continues on South Main Street, North Main Street, and Londonderry Turnpike before crossing the extreme north-western corner of town and entering Auburn. • NH 102 enters in the west from Londonderry, where it is known locally as Broadway. Running south-west to north-east, it crosses North and South Main Street (NH 28 Bypass) and East Derry Road at a traffic circle in the centre of town (Danforth Circle), from where it follows Chester Road to the northern border with the town of Chester. • NH 111 crosses the extreme south-eastern corner of town, entering from Salem in the south, and passing into Atkinson in the east. There is only one intersection in the town, with Island Pond Road, with NH 111 spending less than 1/2 mile in Derry. • NH 121 crosses the extreme north-eastern corner of town for a few hundred feet between Hampstead and Sandown. There are no intersections on this stretch of NH 121 that connect to the rest of Derry, though Hampstead Road intersects NH 121 a few feet from the Derry border with Hampstead some distance to the south. • Interstate 93 crosses the south-western corner of Derry, for less than 1 mile. There are no interchanges in the town, but the interchange with NH 102 in Londonderry is less than 1,000 feet from the town line.

The nearest air transport is Manchester–Boston Regional Airport. There is currently no passenger rail service in Derry, though a former train depot in the centre of town has been converted to a hub for the main commercial district in town. Amtrak provides Downeaster service and the MBTA' Haverhill Line at Haverhill station, 32 miles to the southeast.

Education Public schools • Administration: ◦ Derry Cooperative School District • Elementary: ◦ Ernest P. Barka Elementary School; ◦ Derry Village School; ◦ East Derry Memorial Elementary School; ◦ Grinnell Elementary School; ◦ South Range Elementary School • Middle: ◦ Gilbert H. Hood Middle School; ◦ West Running Brook Middle School; Private schools • Pinkerton Academy, serving as the public high school for Derry, Chester, Hampstead, Auburn, Hooksett, and Candia • Nutfield Cooperative School (pre-school and kindergarten) • Saint Thomas Aquinas School (pre-kindergarten through grade 8) • Derry Montessori School (age 3 through grade 3) • Calvary Christian School operated from 1970 to 2009 and educated an average of 400 students in grades K–12. • Next Charter School (grades 9 through 12).

Media Derry is home to two media sources, the weekly Derry News, which is owned by The Eagle-Tribune and television station WWJE-DT, owned by Univision Communications. Derry is located within the Boston television market and the Manchester radio market. Derry Community Television, also known as DerryCAM, is the town's public-access television station on local cable TV.

The weekly Nutfield News, which was locally owned by Nutfield Publishing, was published until December 2022.