Written By
The Leadership Greater Nashua Class of 2025 took the time to slow down and stroll through the history of Nashua. After an energizing breakfast, courtesy of
Dunkin’ Donuts, our group of 36 leaders set out with our extremely knowledgeable tour guide, Dean Shalhoup, to explore Main Street. Dean Shalhoup is a Nashua native, former Telegraph writer and photographer, and current president of the Nashua Historical Society.
We began our tour of Nashua at First Church Nashua where we learned about Daniel Abbot, the father of Nashua. At one time, the location of Nashua’s town hall was such a hot topic issue that it quite literally led to the division of Nashua into two towns. Luckily, the city reunited in 1853, before Daniel Abbot passed away. From the First Church, we set off towards the Hunt Memorial Building and Fody’s Tavern. We learned that the traffic in Nashua used to be much worse (if you can imagine) due to a very steep hill outside of the Hunt Memorial Building. This hill was so steep that fire engines were unable to climb it, resulting in the necessity for a fire station to be built on each side to ensure the safety of all Nashuans.
Our tour continued and highlighted such landmarks as the Deschenes Oval, 120 Main Street (the location of the old town hall), Spaulding House, the Exchange Building, and many others. We learned a bit about the history of the textile industry and mill buildings along the river as well as the renovations to turn many of these buildings into housing. We witnessed some of the current construction for the Riverwalk Project and learned of the importance of the river in the development of Nashua.
We ended our tour at the Nashua Historical Society (5 Abbott Street). We had the privilege of meeting some of the amazing staff, including Mary Foran and Beth McCarthy. It is impossible to visit the Nashua Historical Society and not take notice of the amount of time, consideration, and devotion that has gone into preserving the history of this city. Our tour of the Historical Society became a bit of a competition as we broke into small groups to complete a scavenger hunt throughout the museum. Objects to be found included spinning wheels, top hats, souvenir tea cups, and replica glider planes. From this list, I hope you can imagine the breadth of history that the Nashua Historical Society possesses. Our morning ended with a delicious lunch, courtesy of Texas Roadhouse, and a surprise presentation from Paula Lochead with two historic dresses from the 1800s.
Written by
Kendra Phillis
Focused Eye Care
We had the pleasure of having Betsy Houde of LGN Class of 2000 join us for the afternoon portion of the day. Betsy is the Executive Director of Community Partnerships at Southern NH Health Systems. She discussed her leadership journey and shared some valuable advice from lessons she’s learned over the years. These are the lessons that led her to become the leader she is today.
Betsy’s Words of Wisdom
- Figure out what you’re healing from and deal with it
- Pay attention to the details
- Don’t let other people define you
- You don’t need to have all the answers
- Take enough “down time” to recharge
- Shift the energy
- Become someone you’d be interested in meeting
- Surround yourself with brilliant people
- Learn how (and when) to say no
- Use “confusion” as the best form of confrontation
After lunch, our class embarked on a competitive scavenger hunt to find as many Positive Street Art’s murals as we could which took us on a fun adventure downtown. These murals we saw provided a unique perspective on Nashua’s rich history and culture over the years. By integrating history, community, and culture into urban art, Positive Street Art plays an important role in community storytelling while inspiring a love of art.
After the mural scavenger hunt, our class was taken on a tour of Nashua Center of the Arts by Colleen Pentland Lally and Rich Lannan. Colleen works for Spectacle Live as the Director of Corporate Partnerships. Rich is the Chair of Board of Trustees for the Nashua Center of the Arts and the President of The Lannan Company. Rich played an instrumental role in bringing Nashua’s vision of a performing arts center to reality and shared the history behind the Nashua Center of the Arts which opened last year. The location was previously home to the Alec’s Shoe Store which has since moved to a new home in North Nashua.
Colleen took us on a tour of the building and shared the thought process behind the designs that ensured the space could host a variety of different events from galas to weddings to concerts and comedy shows. We checked out the the second, third, and fourth floors of the building and the available seating options at each. In addition to touring the theater, we had the opportunity to visit the private terrace which offered a beautiful view of Nashua’s downtown. The Nashua Center of the Arts offers modern dressing rooms and artist spaces which include showers, washers, dryers, and kitchens which are a draw for many performers. In just its first year, the Nashua Center of the Arts hosted 90 events and had over 100,000 visitors. The performing arts center has certainly been a great addition to the Nashua community!
Written By
Maitri Chittidi
Eversource
