[8] Local industry produced lumber, textiles, shoes, hosiery, knitting machinery and needles.

[9] The railroad entered town in 1849, carrying both freight and an increasing number of summer tourists to popular Weirs Beach.

In 1855, Laconia was incorporated as a town from land in Meredith Bridge, Lakeport, Weirs and part of Gilmanton.

The name was probably derived from the old Laconia Company, formed by Captain John Mason and the Masonian Proprietors to sell parcels of land during the colonial era.

Downtown Laconia, where the Belknap County Courthouse is located, can be found in the southern tip of the city, along the Winnipesaukee River between Opechee Bay to the north and Lake Winnisquam to the southwest.

Weirs Beach, around the channel connecting Paugus Bay with Lake Winnipesaukee, lies at the northern edge of the city.

New Hampshire Route 106 runs north-south through downtown, leading south to Concord and north to Meredith.

The former Boston and Maine Railroad White Mountain Branch, originally built as the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, enters Laconia at the Belmont town line near Lake Winnisquam and runs north through the city, through Lakeport and along Paugus Bay to Weirs Beach and Meredith.

The line is also a vital active link to the National rail network for the tourist operator to ship and receive equipment for their own use and also to perform contract work at the railroad's Lincoln repair shops.

Trail (Winnipesaukee–Opechee–Winnisquam) links several parts of the city, following the railroad tracks from Lake Winnisquam, skirting the downtown area, and running to Lakeport.

[14] A desire to extend the trail to Weirs Beach has been contested by residents in private communities abutting the rail corridor.

[17] The highest point in Laconia is a 960-foot (290 m) hill in the northern part of the city, west of Paugus Bay's Pickerel Cove and just east of Route 106.

On the New Hampshire Executive Council, Laconia is in the 1st district, represented by Republican Joseph Kenney.

[25] Each winter, the city hosts the Laconia World Championship Sled Dog Derby.

Held annually, the Laconia Multicultural Festival is a community event that highlights the music, arts, crafts and cuisine of cultural artists.

[28] The twenty-fifth New Hampshire Pumpkin Fest was held on October 24, 2015, with fewer than ten thousand jack-o'-lanterns lit.

The city has multiple sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places: The Jack Reacher novel, Past Tense, was set in and around Laconia.