In 1735, however, some grantees "found it so poor and barren as to be altogether incapable of making settlements," and were instead granted a tract in Greenwich, Massachusetts.

The community was called "Piscataquog Village" and "Shovestown" before being regranted by Masonian proprietor Governor Benning Wentworth in 1748 to new settlers.

A Congregational church was organized about October 30, 1771, and the town made annual small appropriations for preaching.

[3] The Piscataquog River, which bisects the main village of Goffstown and was spanned by a covered bridge, provided water power for industry.

Its textile industry was an example of the economic ties between New England and the American South, which was dependent on slave labor for production of its lucrative cotton commodity crop.

The town was described in 1859 by the following:[3] The surface is comparatively level, the only elevations of note being two in the southwest part, called by the natives Uncanoonuck.

Piscataquog river is the principal stream, which furnishes quite a number of valuable mill privileges.

[3] The town annexed islands on the Amoskeag Falls in the Merrimack River in 1825 and part of New Boston in 1836.

[3] In the early part of 1841, a woman, simply remembered as Miss Parker, commenced preaching here, and shortly more than half the voters in town came into her support.

A town historian notes that "Near the close of her labors she advised her converts to form a Methodist Church.

It also offered outstanding views of the surrounding valley, including Manchester, connected by electric trolley to the railway's base station.

The Hillsborough County Railroad Station was located at Grasmere on the southern side of the river.

Rail-borne freight for Grasmere and other surrounding locales was delivered to this station during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

16.4 miles (26.4 km) of track between Goffstown and Henniker Junction were abandoned in 1937 due in part to damage from the floods of 1936, declining passenger counts and few freight customers.

Notable customers on the branch included Homgas at Grasmere, New Hampshire Doors Co. at Factory Street, and Merrimack Farmers Exchange and Kendall-Hadley Lumber in the village.

The last two rail customers in Goffstown were Kendall-Hadley Lumber and New Hampshire Doors Co; the former elected to truck its shipments from Manchester's railroad yard, while the latter shut down completely in 1980.

The final freight train, led by Boston & Maine EMD GP7 1557, traveled to Goffstown on September 20, 1980, and the line was officially abandoned in February 1981, with the rails being removed in the following years.

[6] In the dawning years of the 21st century, town and local organizations cooperated in a rails-to-trails effort, converting the railbeds into bicycling and walking trails.

A cemetery with numbered headstones is presently maintained by the county on these grounds but the tables relating the markings to the recorded names of the residents who died at the Farm appear to have been lost.

[7] The County Farm grounds were converted to the New Hampshire State Prison for Women, located until 2018 at 317 Mast Road.

Goffstown is located in southern New Hampshire, in the eastern part of Hillsborough County, directly to the west of Manchester, the state's largest city.

[13][14] The Goffstown Historical Society is located in the former Parker Depot Store in the northeastern part of town.

[15] Recycled Percussion, a band who placed third in season 4 of America's Got Talent, are from Goffstown.

[21] During this two-day event, farmers from a cross New England compete in a weigh-off with their giant pumpkins on Saturday, with the winner receiving $10,000.