This area is defined by a roughly square bend in the Suncook River, whose power provided an impetus for the development of the town in the 19th century.

The dominant feature of the district was the 1827 Joy Cotton Mill, a four-story brick building at the base of Main Street.

Taverns were built near the meeting house soon afterward, creating the nucleus of a town center.

One boarding house, built in 1827 for single women who worked in an early textile mill, is among the oldest buildings of its type in the state.

The arrival of the railroad in 1869 spurred another development boom, in which the shoe industry took hold.