Stoddard is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States.

[4] This territory was first granted in 1752 to Colonel Sampson Stoddard of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and others as "Monadnock Number 7".

[5] Colonel Stoddard was appointed to survey southwestern New Hampshire by the colonial government, receiving several land grants for the service.

[6] The town was first settled in 1768 by John and Martha Taggart, immigrants from Derry, Ireland.

[10] After the Stoddard glass industry ended in the early 1870s, the town's population declined; by 1960, the census recorded 146 residents.

The town's abundant forests fed the industry's need for the 1,200 °F (650 °C) temperatures necessary to melt sand into glass.

[12] Among the wide variety of glass pieces turned out by the glass houses were Masonic flasks, containers for liquor and patent medicines, and bottles for mineral water bottled in Saratoga Springs, New York.

[14] Several factors led to the demise of Stoddard's glass industry in the early 1870s.

Other manufacturers had mastered the chemistry needed to create clear glass in quantity; gas and coal were now viable fuels for glassworks, eliminating the need for nearby forests; and improvements in mechanical manufacturing techniques made hand-blown glass economically unviable.

[15] The silica in Stoddard's sand prevented its use in making clear glass, which was in high demand after it became viable for bottles and glassware following the Civil War.

The Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway passes through the western side of the town (near Center Pond) and continues onward toward the highest point in Stoddard, the summit of Pitcher Mountain (at 2,162 feet (659 m) above sea level).