Weare is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 7,776 at the 2000 census. As of 2006, it is estimated to be home to 8,234 people. It is growing extremely fast, and there has been a limit on the number of houses that can be built in the town. This is preventing the town from taking advantage of the rapid growth of the Manchester, NH area.

History

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Starting as a 1735 grant by Massachusetts Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher to soldiers in the Canadian wars, this town was named "Beverly-Canada," for the soldiers' hometown of Beverly, Massachusetts. It then went through the names "Halestown," "Robiestown," and "Wearestown." In 1764, it was incorporated by Governor Benning Wentworth as "Weare," in honor of Meshech Weare, who served as the town's first clerk.

In 1834, Moses Cartland founded "Clinton Grove Academy," the first Quaker seminary in the state. A cousin of John Greenleaf Whittier, Cartland named the village where the school was located "Clinton Grove," in honor of Dewitt Clinton, chief sponsor of the Erie Canal. The original academy served as a private high school. The complex, which included a classroom building, boarding house, barn and sheds, burned in 1872. Classes were then held in the Quaker meetinghouse across the common until 1874, when a new building was completed. It would serve as the Weare school district from 1877 to 1938.

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