History
A Brief History of Dunstable
Dunstable, incorporated on October 15, 1673, once comprised 200 square miles (128,000 acres) extending from Londonderry, New Hampshire, to Chelmsford, Massachusetts. It was originally incorporated upon the petition of 26 proprietors of land along the Merrimack. During the 1700s, section after section broke off until 15 separate towns were formed, leaving Dunstable only 10,500 acres and a population of 380 in 1790.
The original town was named in honor of Mrs. Edward Tyng, who emigrated from Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England. The Tyngs were among the early settlers of the land purchased from the Wamisit and Naticook Indians in 1661 for £20 sterling. As we travel through Dunstable today, we pass houses that can be traced back to some of Dunstable's original settlers... the Proctors, Cummings, Kendalls, Butterfields, Blodgetts, Swallows and others.
From the book: Dunstable, Images of America
Copyright (c) 1998 by Susan Tully and Susan Psaledakis
ISBN 0-7524-1238-8