Chartered in 1765 by colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, the town is named for Henry Seymour Conway, ambitious son of a prominent English family, who was elected to the House of Commons at age 20, fought at Culloden, and became Secretary of State. Early settlers called the area Pequawket (known colloquially as "Pigwacket"), adopting the name of the Abenaki Indian village which stretched down the Saco River to its stockaded center at Fryeburg, Maine.
Passages that mention North Conway, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Carroll County, New Hampshire1889 · page 890Read the page →
Read the text
rsarge Village is the name given to the little settlement in the what elevated valley of Kesaugh brook,1 in front of which rises Mt • • in lull prospect. lis altitude is from seventy-five to two hundred above the village of North Conway. The drainage is perfect, and all the conditions of healthful living would seem to be present. The early name • Hardscrabble," from the fact that the settlers were poor, and that many of the dwellings were occupied by laborers and were log houses of the in" variety. Joseph Loud and Samuel Rogers were here before 1790.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Carroll County, New Hampshire1889 · page 68Read the page →
Read the text
1865, is the successor of the Great Falls and Conway railroad, chartered June 10, 1844. It runs from Conway Junction, at North Berwick, Maine, to North Conway, seventy-two and one-fifth miles; three miles of the south end being in Maine. It was completed to North Conway June 24, 1875. In 1871 it was leased to the Eastern railroad, and, with that, passed into the control of the Boston and Maine railroad, which now operates it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
North Conway, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1851
1852
1856