Incorporated in 1722, it was named for his close friend, Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, brother-in-law to King James II.

In 1737, the Reverend Amos Main became the first settled pastor of the Congregational Church, located on Rochester Hill.

A statue of Parson Main, sculpted by Giuseppe Moretti, today presides over the town square.

Today, the Common is used for community activities such as Memorial Day events and for concerts throughout the summer months, in addition to having a walking track.

This led to the abolishment of this system, because communities across the state including Rochester had many schools with extremely low numbers of students.

[4] Mail service was established in 1768 when a post rider traveled from Portsmouth through Berwick, Dover and Rochester bringing gazettes.

The first large business was lumbering, although it would be overtaken by other industries as Rochester developed into a mill town with the Cochecho River to provide water power.

The Mechanics Company was established in 1834, producing woolen blankets that won the premium quality award at the 1853 New York World's Fair.

The Norway Plains Woolen Company manufactured blankets used by the Union Army in the Civil War, and in 1870 wove 1,600,000 yards (1,500,000 m) of textiles, but by century's end was out of business.

[5] In the early twentieth century, more people were employed in shoe manufacturing than in all other local industries combined.

Carrying the freight were four railroads that once passed through Rochester, a major junction between Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine.

In 1889 and 1900 Jonas Spaulding and his three sons Leon, Huntley, and Rolland, built a leatherboard mill at North Rochester.

Jonas died before the mill became operational, but his three sons ran it well in co-partnership and expanded the company nationally and internationally.

[7] In the early 1900s, Osman Warren, Rochester's postmaster, contacted Andrew Carnegie for help in securing an endowment to build the new library.

The library was built in the Georgian revival style, using brick and granite, and the inside was finished with golden oak and cypress.

[7] Another notable structure is Rochester City Hall, built in 1908, and Opera House designed by George G. Adams.

Only four of his structures survive today (in Waterville, Maine, Montpelier, Vermont, Derry, and Rochester), with many of his buildings destroyed by fires.

Rochester's thriving shoe industry in the early twentieth century attracted entrepreneurs from out of state.

By 1931 the firm had also taken over the Linscott, Tyler, Wilson factory off Wakefield Street in Rochester, which it purchased outright in May 1932.

[9] In 1934 the Maybury Shoe Company began operations on the former E.G. & E. Wallace site on South Main Street.

Both firms survived the Great Depression, providing steady jobs for hundreds of Rochester citizens, and converted to a wartime footing during World War Two, but were unable to compete against the flood of cheap foreign imports in the 1970s.

[11][12] Rochester passed out of the silent film era on May 20, 1929, with the arrival of the first talking motion picture in the city, titled The Wild Party, starring Clara Bow.

There is a real waterfall too, with the water flowing down over actual rocks into a series of three basins, with a pool for goldfish at the bottom.

In a conspicuous place is a great pile of stones, with a fountain at the top, out of which a tiny stream trickles down over the rocks in various small channels and little pools.

The grand opening is set for Saturday evening at 6:00, when Mayor Louis H. McDuffee will press the button and turn on the lights.

On October 21, sparks from a passing train car in Farmington ignited the dry grass on both sides of the track, starting the biggest fire to strike Rochester.

The property damage in New Hampshire was estimated to be 3 million dollars, and 4 inches (100 mm) of rain fell during the storm.

New Hampshire Route 16 (the Spaulding Turnpike) is a six-lane controlled-access highway that passes through the city, leading north towards Conway and south to Dover and Portsmouth.

New Hampshire Route 125 passes north–south through the center of town, leading south to Lee and Epping, and traveling north parallel to NH 16 into Milton.

On the New Hampshire Executive Council, Rochester is in District 2 and is currently represented by Democrat Karen Liot Hill.