[1] On January 17, 1725, the Province of Massachusetts Bay granted the Concord area as the Plantation of Penacook,[7]: 107  and it was incorporated on February 9, 1734, as the Town of Rumford.

The city's eastern boundary is formed by the Soucook River, which separates Concord from the town of Pembroke.

Concord's Old North Cemetery is the final resting place of Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States.

The area that would become Concord was originally settled thousands of years ago by Abenaki Native Americans called the Pennacook.

[7]: 65  The tribe fished for migrating salmon, sturgeon, and alewives with nets strung across the rapids of the Merrimack River.

The stream was also the transportation route for their birch bark canoes, which could travel from Lake Winnipesaukee to the Atlantic Ocean.

The broad sweep of the Merrimack River valley floodplain provided good soil for farming beans, gourds, pumpkins, melons and maize.

[1] On January 17, 1725, the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which then claimed territories west of the Merrimack, granted the Concord area as the Plantation of Penacook.

Concord grew in prominence throughout the 18th century, and some of the earliest houses from this period survive at the northern end of Main Street.

[15] In the years following the Revolution, Concord's central geographical location made it a logical choice for the state capital, particularly after Samuel Blodget in 1807 opened a canal and lock system to allow vessels passage around the Amoskeag Falls downriver, connecting Concord with Boston by way of the Middlesex Canal.

[7]: 339–340  Their most famous product was their Concord coach, widely used in the development of the American West, and their enterprise largely boosted and changed the city economy in the mid-19th century.

In subsequent years, Concord would also become a hub for the railroad industry, with Penacook a textile manufacturing center using water power from the Contoocook River.

The city developed into a center for national politics due to New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, and many presidential candidates still visit the Concord area during campaign season.

To the east of the Merrimack, atop a 100-foot (30 m) bluff, is a flat, sandy plain known as Concord Heights, which has seen most of the city's commercial development since 1960.

The eastern boundary of Concord (with the town of Pembroke) is formed by the Soucook River, a tributary of the Merrimack.

In winter, successive storms deliver moderate to at times heavy snowfall amounts, contributing to the relatively reliable snow cover.

In addition, lows reach below 0 °F (−18 °C) on an average 15 nights per year, and the city straddles the border between USDA Hardiness Zone 5b and 6a.

At the 2010 Census there were 42,695 residents and 10,052 families in the city, as well as 18,852 housing units at an average density of 293.2 per square mile (113.2/km2).

[37] For 13 months in 1980 and 1981, MBTA Commuter Rail ran two round trips a day between Boston and Concord.

[39] Regional bus service provided by Concord Coach Lines and Greyhound Lines is available from the Concord Transportation Center at 30 Stickney Avenue next to Exit 14 on Interstate 93, with service south to Boston and points in between, as well as north to Littleton and northeast to Berlin.

General aviation services are available through Concord Municipal Airport, located 2 miles (3 km) east of downtown.

Concord's downtown underwent a significant renovation between 2015 and 2016, during the city's "Complete Streets Improvement Project".

At a proposed cost of $12 million, the project promised to deliver on categories of maintenance to aging infrastructure, improved accessibility, increased sustainability, a safer experience for walkers, bikers and motorists alike, and to stimulate economic growth in an increasingly idle downtown.

The freed-up space would contribute to extra width for bikes to ride in either direction, increased curb size and an added median where there is no need for a turning lane.

[45] Although adding final aesthetic touches with the extra money were debated, the city council ended up deciding to save for financially straining years ahead.

Concord leans strongly Democratic in presidential elections; the last Republican nominee to carry the city was then Vice President George H. W. Bush in 1988.

U.S. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison all dined there, and Franklin Pierce spent the night before departing for his inauguration.

Other well-known guests included Jefferson Davis, Charles Lindbergh, Eleanor Roosevelt, Richard M. Nixon (who carried New Hampshire in all three of his presidential bids), and Thomas E. Dewey.

[60] Besides this golf course, other important sporting venues in Concord include Everett Arena and Memorial Field.

[61] Other sites of interest include the Capitol Center for the Arts, the New Hampshire Historical Society, which has two facilities in Concord, and the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, a science museum named after Christa McAuliffe, the Concord teacher who died during the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, and Alan Shepard, the Derry-born astronaut who was the second person and first American in space as well as the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon.