Durham is a town that is located in the Southeastern corner of New Hampshire, within the Seacoast region of the state. The town is situated in Southern Strafford County and encompasses a total area of 24.8 square miles, of which 22.4 square miles is land. The remaining 2.4 square miles is made up of water, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the city?s area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Durham was home to 14,638 people.
The town was first incorporated in the year 1732 and named Durham in honor of the first Puritan bishop, Richard Barnes, who also served as Bishop of Durham, England. Until 1766, Durham included the area that is now the nearby town of Lee. Originally created in Hanover in 1866, the state agricultural school moved to Durham in 1890. In 1923, the school officially changed its name to the University of New Hampshire.
Durham is a comprised of about 90 percent land, is drained by the Oyster River and fully rests within the Piscataqua River watershed. The town?s highest point is located at Beech Hill, where the elevation reaches 291 feet. Beech Hill can be found at Durham’s northern border.
The town is governed by an elected town council. Children in the area attend schools in the Oyster River Cooperative School District, which includes two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. Dover has a full-time police department, a municipal fire department and municipal emergency medical services. The biggest employers in the area include the University of New Hampshire, Goss International and the Town of Durham. Durham boasts a number of recreational attractions and events such as municipal parks, golf courses, outdoor swimming pools, an indoor ice skating rink, youth organizations, a plethora of youth sports opportunities and bicycle trails. The city is noted to be the hometown of Revolutionary War general John Sullivan, professional baseball player Sam Fuld, Olympic gold medalist Manuela Lutze and the inventor of the Stillson pipe wrench, Daniel C. Stillson.