| City of Berlin | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
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| Nickname(s): The City That Trees Built, Paper City, Hockey Town USA | |||
| Location within New Hampshire | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | New Hampshire | ||
| County | Coos | ||
| Incorporated | |||
| Town | 1829 | ||
| City | 1897 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Paul Grenier | ||
| • City Council | Ryan K Landry Lucie Remillard Robert Danderson Thomas F. McCue Mark Evans Michael Rozek David Poulin Timothy Cayer |
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| Area | |||
| • Total | 62.5 sq mi (161.9 km2) | ||
| • Land | 61.6 sq mi (159.5 km2) | ||
| • Water | 0.9 sq mi (2.3 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 1,020 ft (311 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 10,051 | ||
| • Density | 160.8/sq mi (62.1/km2) | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 03570 | ||
| Area code(s) | 603 | ||
| FIPS code | 33-05140 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0871491 | ||
| Website | www.berlinnh.gov | ||
Berlin ( /ˈbɜrlɨn/) is a city along the Androscoggin River in Coos County in northern New Hampshire, United States. The population was 10,051 at the 2010 census.[1] It includes the village of Cascade. Located on the edge of the White Mountains, the city's boundaries extend into the White Mountain National Forest. Berlin is home to the Moffett House, Northern Forest Heritage Park, the Berlin Fish Hatchery, and the White Mountains Community College, a member of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
Berlin is the principal city of the Berlin Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Coos County, New Hampshire and Essex County, Vermont.
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Around 11,000 years ago, small groups of Native Americans camped around the area of what is now called Berlin. In later years, the Eastern Abenaki tribes came to Berlin to mine rhyolite on Mt. Jasper. When English settlers came here, Berlin was first granted on December 31, 1771 by Colonial Governor John Wentworth, as Maynesborough after Sir William Mayne. But the grantees did not take up their claims, which disappeared with the Revolution. In 1802, Seth Eames and Gideon Tirrell were sent by the descendants of Mayne to explore and mark lots for settlers, and still no one came. Instead, Maynesborough was settled in 1823-1824 by William Sessions and his nephew, Cyrus Wheeler.[2] Both men were from Gilead, Maine. Farming was the first industry. With 65 inhabitants in 1829, the New England town was reincorporated on July 1 as Berlin with the help of Thomas Wheeler, the father of Cyrus.[3]
Situated in a heavily forested region, the community developed early into a center for logging and wood industries. Falls on the Androscoggin River provided water power for sawmills. In 1826, a road was built to Gorham by Thomas, Amos, and Daniel Green, and in 1851 the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad entered Berlin. Acquiring water, timber and rail rights in the early 1850s, the H. Winslow & Company built a large sawmill at the head of "Berlin Falls". In 1868, William Wentworth Brown and Lewis T. Brown bought a controlling interest in the business and changed its name to the Berlin Mills Company. By 1885, the mill town was home to several lumber, pulp and paper mills, including the Riverside Mill, Forest Fibre Company and White Mountain Pulp & Paper Company. Because of the need for labor, immigrants arrived from Italy, Norway, Sweden, Russia and Ireland. Many others were French Canadians from nearby Quebec.
In 1872, a group of Scandinavians founded the nation's oldest ski club that still exists today.[4] It was originally called the North American Ski Club (in Norwegian, Skiklubben Nordamerikansk), but later would be renamed the Nansen Ski Club in honor of Fridtjof Nansen, who in 1888 skied across Greenland. In 1897, Berlin was incorporated as a city, the northernmost in the state.
Berlin's main industry in the early 1900s was the pulp and paper industries, which have been in a long decline since that time. In 1917, the Berlin Mills Company was renamed the Brown Company, because of the war against Germany. The Brown Company went into receivership a short time after the Great Depression. It survived with governmental help, and was bought and sold several times after World War II. American Tissue filed for bankruptcy in 2001, before which it had stopped paying city taxes. Its facilities were purchased in 2002 by Fraser Papers of Canada. But in March 2006, Fraser Papers announced the closing of Berlin's pulp mill. On May 6, 2006, 250 employees were displaced, some moving to Cascade's paper finishing mill, but most were left unemployed.[5] The North American Dismantling Corporation of Michigan announced on October 3, 2006, that it had bought the 121-acre (49 ha) defunct pulp mill site of Fraser Paper, and would spend a year demolishing the property to allow redevelopment.[6] Laidlaw Energy LLC has since purchased a portion of the former Fraser property, including a large recovery boiler which it intends to convert into a 66 megawatt biomass plant in 2010-2011.[7]
Recent economic development has focused on the correctional industry, with the 750 bed Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility built in 1999 and employing approximately 200 people. In fall 2010 the Federal Bureau of Prisons plans on opening a 1200 bed medium security facility which will employ approximately 350 people.
Berlin is located at (44.4686, -71.1839).[8]
Berlin is located in northern New Hampshire, north of the White Mountains. The city is bordered to the south by Randolph and Gorham, north by Milan, east by Success and west by Kilkenny.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.5 square miles (162 km2), of which 61.6 square miles (160 km2) is land and 0.9 square miles (2.3 km2) is water, comprising 1.35% of the town.[9] Berlin is situated at the confluence of the Androscoggin and Dead rivers. The Mahoosuc Range is to the southeast. Jericho Mountain State Park, created from a city park and from private land in 2005, is west of the city center and features a reservoir created in the 1970s and a network of ATV trails. The city's highest point is Mount Weeks, at 3,901 feet (1,189 m) above sea level. Approximately half of Berlin lies within the Connecticut River watershed, and half lies in the Androscoggin River watershed.[10]
| Climate data for Berlin, New Hampshire | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 67 (19) |
65 (18) |
80 (27) |
89 (32) |
94 (34) |
97 (36) |
98 (37) |
97 (36) |
95 (35) |
87 (31) |
77 (25) |
68 (20) |
98 (37) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 26.1 (−3.3) |
29.6 (−1.3) |
38.9 (3.8) |
51.2 (10.7) |
65.4 (18.6) |
73.7 (23.2) |
78.1 (25.6) |
76.2 (24.6) |
67.5 (19.7) |
55.7 (13.2) |
42.7 (5.9) |
30.9 (−0.6) |
53.00 (11.67) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 4.0 (−15.6) |
6.4 (−14.2) |
17.1 (−8.3) |
30.0 (−1.1) |
40.8 (4.9) |
50.4 (10.2) |
54.7 (12.6) |
52.7 (11.5) |
44.2 (6.8) |
34.1 (1.2) |
25.8 (−3.4) |
11.9 (−11.2) |
31.01 (−0.55) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −35 (−37) |
−39 (−39) |
−29 (−34) |
−1 (−18) |
18 (−8) |
29 (−2) |
34 (1) |
32 (0) |
20 (−7) |
0 (−18) |
−13 (−25) |
−41 (−41) |
−41 (−41) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 2.82 (71.6) |
2.18 (55.4) |
2.86 (72.6) |
3.22 (81.8) |
3.46 (87.9) |
3.96 (100.6) |
3.70 (94) |
4.01 (101.9) |
3.59 (91.2) |
4.04 (102.6) |
3.64 (92.5) |
2.98 (75.7) |
40.46 (1,027.7) |
| Snowfall inches (cm) | 18.0 (45.7) |
16.7 (42.4) |
16.0 (40.6) |
5.5 (14) |
trace | 0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
trace | 0.2 (0.5) |
4.9 (12.4) |
18.4 (46.7) |
79.7 (202.4) |
| Source: NOAA [11] | |||||||||||||
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1830 | 73 |
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| 1840 | 116 | 58.9% | |
| 1850 | 173 | 49.1% | |
| 1860 | 433 | 150.3% | |
| 1870 | 529 | 22.2% | |
| 1880 | 1,144 | 116.3% | |
| 1890 | 3,729 | 226.0% | |
| 1900 | 8,886 | 138.3% | |
| 1910 | 11,780 | 32.6% | |
| 1920 | 16,104 | 36.7% | |
| 1930 | 20,018 | 24.3% | |
| 1940 | 19,084 | −4.7% | |
| 1950 | 16,615 | −12.9% | |
| 1960 | 17,821 | 7.3% | |
| 1970 | 15,256 | −14.4% | |
| 1980 | 13,084 | −14.2% | |
| 1990 | 11,824 | −9.6% | |
| 2000 | 10,331 | −12.6% | |
| 2010 | 10,051 | −2.7% | |
As of the census[12] of 2010, there were 10,051 people residing in the city. The population density was 160.8 people per square mile (62.1/km²). There were 4,910 housing units at an average density of 78.6 per square mile (30.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.54% White, 0.81% African American, 0.39% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.51% of the population.
The population of Berlin rose rapidly from 1880 through 1930. The fastest growth more than doubled the population between 1890 and 1900. A slow decline began after 1930, interrupted only by a temporary increase around 1960.
| First ancestries of Berlin residents, 2000[13] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ancestry | Total Respondents 9,079 | Percentage of Total Respondents | |||
| French Canadian | 3,937 | 43.4% | |||
| French | 1,817 | 20.0% | |||
| American | 673 | 7.4% | |||
| Total | 6,427 | 70.8% | |||
Public education is managed by Berlin Public Schools:
The following movies have been filmed in Berlin:
The fowling items were created in Berlin:
Berlin is home to the following sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
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