The town was chartered with the name Bromley in 1761 by Benning Wentworth, governor of the Province of New Hampshire. The first white settlement is said to have been in 1773, by William Barlow of Woodstock, Connecticut. The town of Bromley was organized at a town meeting in March 1802. As of the autumn of 1802 there were 14 families living in the town. In late 1803 or early 1804 the name of the town was changed to Peru. The new name was adopted to attract more people to the town by associating it with the South American country Peru, which was considered to be a place of great wealth, apparently due to the rich silver mining industry there.
Seth r,., Duane, Merrill G., and Peter j., were all born in Peru and received their education in the village schools. 'I'hey worked on the farm with their father until they were twenty-one years of age. .\ll of them married and first settled on farms in Peru, John d. being the first one to i)reak the ring and leave town. He has lived in several towns, but has spent most of the time in Peru, and has owned different farms and tlealt in real estate. Ira R. has lived on several farms, but for nu)re than twenty )-ears has occupied the house where
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The waters of Peru run to the ocean in three different directions. 'I'he streams are small but afford good mill ])rivileges for the use of man, and there is not any country on earth that affords cleaner or purer water than flows from the sides of these mountains. IJuffom Pond is high on the mountain, containing several acres; it lies in Peru and Mount Tabor, is noted for its good trout fishing. Mud Pond isin the southeasterly part of the town, is a small pond, but is noted for its blood-suckers. The west part of the town is not
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Peru, 1761 to 1894
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1761, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Peru’s post office opened in 1815, and the first U.S. census counted 71 people here in 1790.
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, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
![The waters of Peru run to the ocean in three different directions. 'I'he streams are small but afford good mill ])rivileges for the use of man, and there is not any country on earth that affords cleaner or purer water than flows from the sides of these mountains. IJuffom Pond is high on the mountai…](https://images.townratings.com/story/34183/bk-565a11ce58d84f49-l.jpg)
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