All Politics are Local

Town-Gownrelations wereinteresting evenbefore there weregowns an and a town.

1761

Royal Governor Benning Wentworth grants a charter for the town of Hanover, New Hampshire. He reserves a 500- acre tract for himself. A smaller tract goes to the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The town remains empty for four years.

1765

The first settler arrives. Town meeting is held in Connecticut.

1770

Eleazar Wheelock moves his Indian charity school from Lebanon, Connecticut.

1775

Hanover becomes the temporary capital of New Hampshire.

1778

Hanover joins the state of Vermont and declares a new name of Dresden.

1782

The town renames itself Hanover and returns to New Hampshire.

1784

Suspicious of Hanover’s “radical” academics, New Hampshire bans College professors and presidents from holding seats in the legislature.

1800

Rumors abound in New Hampshire about the radicals in Hanover. But the town, like the rest of the state, is Federalist.

1856

Hanover becomes a Republican stronghold

1875

Sally Perry Smith, the daughter of the College president, dictates that people living south of the Inn not be invited to faculty dances.

1949

The Chicago Tribune launches attacks on Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivy League. “Most of the profs at Dartmouth are New Dealish,” says the paper. In Hanover, Dewey defeats Truman by a four- to-one margin.

1968

Broadcasting over WDCR, Gloria Steinem lashes out against the old-boy net- work that governs Hanover while its numbers sip morning coffee at Lou’s.

1969

Hanover and the College reach an agreement about ice skating on Occom Pond. Town crews will clear the snow and College crews will groom the ice.

1986

Hanover officials warn the College administration that building permits are needed if student antiapartheid protesters sleep in shanties on the Green.

1992

Students challenge a $10 resident tax. They argue that the tax is an impedi- ment to voting. The tax is rescinded. "