Peterborough is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,418 at the 2020 census.
thumb|left|Main Street,
thumb|left|Peterborough, 1907
The Contoocook River and Nubanusit Brook offered numerous sites for watermills, and Peterborough became a prosperous mill town. In 1810, the first cotton factory was established. By 1859, when the population was 2,222, there were four more cotton factories and a woolen mill. Other industries included two paper mills, an iron foundry, a machine shop, a carriage factory, a basket-maker, a maker of trusses and supporters, a boot and shoe factory, seven sawmills, and three gristmills. He founded the town's first prep school, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum, and the first free library in the US, all in Peterborough.
Peterborough established the first tax-supported free public library in the United States, in 1833. Its success led the New Hampshire State Legislature to pass legislation in 1849 authorizing towns to raise money to establish and maintain their own libraries. The library was in the town's general store and post office, and the postmaster served as librarian. The library moved to the town hall in 1873.
Other early cultural institutions include Mariarden, a summer theatre, where Paul Robeson played in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. Bette Davis performed there in her teens.
Performance blossomed again in 1976, when Widdie and Jonathon Hall founded the Peterborough Folkway. "Within a few years, it became a 'must play' on the East Coast for folk musicians"; it remained popular for two decades. Regular performers included Tom Paxton, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Suzanne Vega.
In the 1980s, thanks to publisher Wayne Green, "Peterborough was clearly the per capita magazine production capital of the world." Over 100 magazines, mostly about computers and technology, were published there; these included Byte and MacComputing.
Peterborough's leadership in environmental protection began in the 1990s, when its Earth Day USA office supported the United States Air Force's annual Earth Day events around the world.
Geography
The town is , of which are land and (1.06%) are water.
| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census
As of the 2010 United States census, there were 6,284 people, 2,713 households, and 1,629 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,956 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.1% White, 1.8% Asian, 0.7% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.4% some other race, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.4% of the population.
There were 2,713 households, out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were headed by married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. Of all households 33.6% were made up of individuals, and 15.2% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24, and the average family size was 2.85.
Economy
Peterborough is a global village and entrepreneurial seedbed. Start-ups in Peterborough have included New Hampshire Ball Bearing, Microspec, Pure Flow, Peterboro Basket Company, Borrego Solar, MobileRobots Inc., Toadstool Bookshops, Froling Energy, Brookstone, SoClean and Hyndsight Vision Systems. Approximately a third of Peterborough workers are home-based entrepreneurs or remote workers.
Like the rest of New Hampshire and the Monadnock region, Peterborough's third largest industry is tourism.
Its cultural attractions include the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, the exhibition gallery and craft gallery of the Sharon Arts Center, the Peterborough Players theatre, Peterborough Community Theater cinema, Monadnock Music concerts, the Monadnock Summer Lyceum, MAXT Makerspace and Mariposa Children's Museum. Peterborough's First Saturday contradances are a place for singles and dance enthusiasts to enjoy live music in the spacious Peterborough Town Hall.