This farm was purchased by the Low in 1897. The house was built by Gilbert Alexander in 1835. He was engaged in the timber business for a number of years “getting out ship timber.” of https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/75/31
This property was owned by Richard and Barbara Fellows for many years after they purchased it from Perley Knowlton in 1946. This farm’s land stretchs across Route 111 and included where the municipal buildings are today. The name of the farm on the sign over the door is “Brookside” which is appropriate since Collins Brook ran through the property. Here’s to hoping that the improvements to Route 111 will again make the “brookside” a focal point of the drive through the center of Windham. The house was built in 1750 by Robert Hemphill whose family lived here until 1880 when it was purchased by James Cochran.
The Following is from the book, “Looking Back,” by Frank R. Johnson. “If you only recently came to town, you have missed seeing the little red house on the hill just up Range Road on the right past the farm. You may of heard of ‘the little red house with the windows always open.’ Born in Germany, Gus and Max Kretzig lived in this Windham house for many years after leaving Lawrence where they lived with their family and worked first in Lawrence, later in Lowell. I may have told you about Gus on his Saturday night walk home from Lowell to find old Kenyon sitting up in his casket on that cold, wintry moonlight night. The Kretzig brothers are long gone and their house has been replaced…However… in the Cemetery on the Hill…the brothers are buried with their mother.”
“These brothers could not have been more unlike each other in appearance or personality. Where Gud was very congenial and comfortable meeting people and talking with them, Max was intense and energetic, always busy with a shop project. Gus was the older brother, good naturedly putting up with Max’s constant complaints and criticism of anything and everything…But why the open windows? Even on the coldest winter days, they kept the windows open! Not all the way, of course, but about ten inches. Max often told me fresh air and exercise was the secret of staying healthy; that and drinking lots of water…A pioneer in the early development of flying machines, Max built these ‘machines’ and covered the wooden frames with fabric, usually linen bed sheets. ‘…Our airfields were farm pastures…He sensed that all this was too long ago for me to appreciate, so he said, ‘Did you ever wonder how we could buy groceries without money?’ I hadn’t even thought of it, I said. ‘Did you ever notice on modern airline aircraft how the flaps slide out and extend from the back of the wing?’ Yes I had noticed. ’Well, I and a man named Fowler invented them. They are called Fowler Flaps, but I still collected part of the royalties all those years. Didn’t know that did you?’ ’No,’ I said.” For more interesting stories about Windham past check out “Looking Back.” https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/77/31
This older home is still standing on North Lowell Road in Windham. Interestingly, we know these people were also once in the “egg business” because of the large chicken barn on the left. The field to the right became the subdivision where Bedros Road is today. The barn at back right is very old with similar design as the one on the Merrill Farm which burned. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/75/20
I chose a photograph by Baldwin Coolidge of this farm for the cover of “Images of America-Windham. At the time of the photograph it was the Albert Cambell Farm. The home was built in 1753 by James Betton. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/74/15
This property is located on Range Road and is currently the home of Northstar Financial Planning. According to “Rural Oasis” the house was built sometime before 1780 and was owned by William Jameson. It was later sold to Phillip Haseltine and remained in the Haselton family until 1952. Mr. Haselton paid 2,061 Spanish milled dollars for the property. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/77/30
This home is still standing on Londonderry Road in Windham. At the time of this photograph Iin1966, their were many chicken sheds on the property so it must have been part of the poultry business in town. John Campbell was born in Windham in 1817. He bought this farm from John Graham. In 1841, The house was built by Annis Clark. In the old militia days he was a Captain…He was a farmer and a shoe manufacturer. His shoe factory was located on property near what is now New Road. He carried on the shoe manufacturing business in Windham for 23 years. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/74/10
The “Rocky Motel” was located on Route 111 in Windham. At one point, it became quite notorious, about the same time as the cruising grounds were in action on a discontinued section of Route 111, where Shaw’s is today. Chief of Police Crawford, found himself quite the attraction there once, when he was patrolling, undercover, on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. That was also the location of “Torres Nudist Spa”, which was adorned with a very large sign, created by vivid teenage imaginations from a box of old sign letters. It was the talk of the Windham Country Store, coffee parlor, one Sunday morning. My poor dad! vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/76/15
So this interesting photograph is of the Nesmith Farm, on North Lowell Road, in Windham. Apparently. there was an auction taking place at the time that this picture was taken. The field behind the barn is were the Camelot Road neighborhood is now. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/75/30
So again, these aerial photos were taken in 1966. In this shot, you can see the Brown home that once stood of Route 111 where Klemm’s Bakery is today. Many of the Browns were on the Windham Fire Department and they ran a local oil business. You can see the oil truck in the garage. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/new-hampshire/rockingham/1966/PRO/76/17 The inset photograph is of the same house as it looked about the year 1900.
Windham NH History 