Gorham was first settled about 1802, by Robert Sargent and others,[4] but for years it contained little more than rocky farms, small logging operations, and a few stores and stables.

[4] Located halfway between Montreal and the New England seacoast, Gorham developed into a railroad town, with a major locomotive yard and repair facility.

[5] Crowds went from Boston and the seacoast to White Mountain Station, and from there to the Glen House in Pinkham Notch and Mount Washington.

In 1861, travelers made the first trek up the Mount Washington Carriage Road, winding 8 miles (13 km) to the summit of the 6,288-foot (1,917 m) mountain.

"The Road to the Sky" was an engineering feat of its day, advertised as "the first man-made attraction in the United States".

Railroads benefited local industries as well, hauling freight for mills run by water power from the Androscoggin River.

Logging flourished, with boards and building timber manufactured by the Libby and the Peabody lumber companies.

It features displays on area history, with a collection including locomotives, boxcars and a caboose.

The highest point in Gorham is along its western border, on a spur of Mount Madison, where the elevation reaches 3,030 feet (920 m) above sea level.

[9] Howard Mansfield of The Washington Post wrote that in the 1920s, "When you spoke of prejudice in all-white Gorham, it was between the Protestants and the Catholic French Canadians.