Central Square also known as Lower Square, is located at the junction of Central Avenue and Washington Street.
Central Square looking south down Central Avenue. The Foster's Daily Democrat is on the left, Belknap Church and Hale House are on the right.
Central Square looking up Washington Street, circa 1890s.
Foster's Daily Democrat building on the corner of old Payne St and what is now Henry Law Avenue.
Central Square circa 1892. Trolley cars ran from 1890-1926. Marston's Block on the left of the photo was built in 1844 and was torn down in 1895 when the new Strafford Bank building was constructed.
In 1803, the N.H. Strafford Bank opened in a two-story wooden building on Central Street near Angle. The following year, the entire building was moved onto Angle Street where it still exists today. In 1821, the bank changed its name to the Strafford Bank and in 1847 moved with The Savings Bank for the Country of Strafford (inc. 1823 at Tuttle Square) to a three-story brick building on Washington Street. In 1895, the two banks (now known as the Strafford National Bank and the Strafford Savings Bank) moved into their new bank building adjacent to their former headquarters. The granite block on the corner of Washington and Central, built for $100,000 and designed by local architect A.T. Ramsdell, was called a “fortress of finance”.
In 1963, the Strafford Banks relocated once again to 353 Central Avenue; that building, now the home of the Strafford National Bank, was expanded in 1969 and 1973. In 1984, the Strafford Savings Bank, now called the Southeast Bank for Savings, moved to its own new brick structure on Washington Street across from the post office.
