Coos County, New Hampshire

Infobox U.S. County
county = Coos County
state = New Hampshire


map size = 125
founded = 1803
seat = Lancaster | area_total_sq_mi =1831
area_land_sq_mi =1800
area_water_sq_mi =31
area percentage = 1.70%
census yr = 2000
pop = 33111
density_km2 =7
web =
|

Coos County (pronEng|ˈkoʊ-ɒs, with two syllables) is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, including the whole of the state's northern panhandle. The two-syllable pronunciation is sometimes made visible using diaeresis, notably in the Lancaster-based weekly newspaper "The Coös County Democrat" and on some county-owned vehicles.

Coos has the largest area of the New Hampshire counties, but as of 2000, by far the smallest population, at 33,111. The county seat is Lancaster. Major industries are forestry and tourism, with the once-dominant paper-making industry in sharp decline.

Coos County is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Coos County was separated from the northern part of Grafton County, New Hampshire and organized at Berlin December 24, 1803, although the county seat was later moved to Lancaster, with an additional shire town at Colebrook. The name Coos derives from the Algonquian Indian term meaning "crooked", the Indian name of the Connecticut River, which rises in the northernmost end of the county.

During the American Revolutionary War two units of troops of the Continental Army — Bedel's Regiment and Whitcomb's Rangers — were raised from the settlers of Coos. From the Treaty of Paris of 1783 until 1835 the boundaries in the northern tip of the county (and New Hampshire itself) were disputed with Lower Canada (which was soon to become part of the Province of Canada), and for some years residents of the area formed the independent Republic of Indian Stream.

In the 1810 census there were 3,991 residents, and by 1870 there were nearly 15,000, at which point the entire county was valued at just under $USD 5 million, with farm productivity per acre comparing favorably with that of contemporary Illinois. Other early industries included forestry and manufacturing, using 4,450 water horsepower in 1870.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of convert|1831|sqmi|km2, of which convert|1800|sqmi|km2|abbr=on|sigfig=3 is land and convert|31|sqmi|km2 (1.70%) is water.

Much of its mountainous area is reserved as national forest, wilderness, state parks and other public areas. These encompass most of the northern portion of the White Mountains, including all the named summits of the Presidential Range (though one, Mt. Webster's, lies about 200 feet from the county line). Mt. Washington's peak is the highest in the Northeast.

Mountains of Coos County

* White Mountains (in the White Mountain National Forest)
** Presidential Range

Adjacent counties

*Oxford County, Maine (east)
*Carroll County (southeast)
*Grafton County (southwest)
*Essex County, Vermont (west)
*Coaticook Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada (north)
*Le Haut-Saint-François Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada (north)
*Le Granit Regional County Municipality, Quebec, Canada (north)

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 33,111 people, 13,961 households, and 9,158 families residing in the county. The population density was 18 people per square mile (7/km²). There were 19,623 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 98.05% White, 0.12% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 23.5% were of French, 19.8% French Canadian, 14.2% English, 10.2% Irish and 10.0% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 16.17% of the population speak French at home. [http://www.mla.org/map_data_results&state_id=33&county_id=7&mode=geographic&zip=&place_id=&cty_id=&ll=all&a=&ea=&order=r]

There were 13,961 households out of which 28.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.30% were married couples living together, 8.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.40% were non-families. 28.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.80% under the age of 18, 6.30% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 25.70% from 45 to 64, and 18.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,593, and the median income for a family was $40,654. Males had a median income of $32,152 versus $21,088 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,218. About 6.80% of families and 10.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.70% of those under age 18 and 12.50% of those age 65 or over.

Cities, towns, villages, and unincorporated places*

*Atkinson & Gilmanton Academy Grant*"
*Bean's Grant*"
*Bean's Purchase*"
*Berlin (former county seat)
*Cambridge*"
*Carroll
*Chandler's Purchase*"
*Clarksville
*Colebrook
*Columbia
*Crawford's Purchase*"
*Cutt's Grant*"
*Dalton
*Dix's Grant*"
*Dixville*"
**Dixville Notch (village within Dixville township, best known of the small communities that cast the first dozens of votes in the national presidential primary process)
*Dummer
*Errol
*Erving's Location*"
*Gorham
*Green's Grant*"
*Hadley's Purchase*"
*Jefferson
*Kilkenny*"
*Lancaster
*Low and Burbank's Grant*"
*Martin's Location*"
*Milan
*Millsfield*"
*Northumberland
**Groveton*, the primary settlement in the town of Northumberland
*Odell*"
*Pinkham's Grant*"
*Pittsburg
*Randolph
*Sargent's Purchase* (location of Mount Washington summit and Tuckerman Ravine)
*Second College Grant*
*Shelburne
*Stark
*Stewartstown
*Stratford
*Success*"
*Thompson and Meserve's Purchase*"
*Wentworth's Location*"
*Whitefield*" In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships (which are different from towns), and purchases are unincorporated portions of a county which are not part on any town and have limited self-government (if any, as many are uninhabited). Villages are census divisions of towns or cities, but have no separate corporate existence from the municipality they are located in."

Media in Coos County

Radio stations

* WMOU - 1230 AM, Berlin - Nostalgia
* WKBR - 1450 AM, Lancaster - Construction permit (CP)
* WRTN - 1490 AM, Berlin - Construction permit (CP)
* WOTX - 93.7 FM, Groveton - Classic rock - "The Outlaw"
* WHOM - 94.9 FM, Mount Washington - Soft Adult Contemporary - "America's Superstation"
* W238BP - 95.3 FM, Berlin - Hot Adult Contemporary - "Magic 104" - Rebroadcast of WVMJ, North Conway
* W251BD - 98.1 FM, Berlin - Hot Adult Contemporary - "Magic 104" - Rebroadcast of WVMJ, North Conway
* WXRG - 99.1 FM, Jefferson - Adult Hits - "Free 99.1"
* WRNH - 101.5 FM, Groveton - Construction permit (CP)
* WXXS - 102.3 FM, Lancaster - Eclectic Music Mix (Hot AC/Rock/Dance) - "Kiss 102.3"
* WEVC - 107.1 FM, Gorham - New Hampshire Public Radio(Compiled from [http://radiostationworld.com/Locations/United_States_of_America/Vermont/radio.asp?m=nor Radiostationworld.com] )

Television stations

* W18BO - Pittsburg - Channel 18, New Hampshire Public Television
* W27BL - Berlin - Channel 27, rebroadcast of WMUR

Coos County is part of the Portland-Auburn DMA. Cable companies carry Fox (WPFO), ABC (WMTW), CBS (WGME), NBC (WCSH) and select Burlington, Vermont and Portland stations.

Newspapers

* [http://www.colbsent.com/ "The News and Sentinel"] - Weekly in Colebrook
* [http://www.mountwashingtonvalley.com/BDS/newsbds.shtml "The Berlin Daily Sun"]
* [http://www.breporter.com/ "The Berlin Reporter"] - Weekly published Wednesdays from Berlin
* [http://www.greatnorthwoodsjournal.net/ "Great Northwoods Journal"] - Weekly from Lancaster, circulation 8,900

External links

* [http://www.northnh.com Coos County Website]
* [http://www.ceinfo.unh.edu/Counties/Coos.htm Coos County web pages at the University of New Hampshire]
* [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/NH/Coos/districts.html National Register of Historic Places listing for Coos County]

References