Keene is, first and foremost, a city of reinvention. Since its founding in 1736, it has prospered as an agricultural community, an industrial and transportation center, the home of a major state college, and, most recently, a hub for culture and the arts. Throughout all these changes, it has remained resilient, and many of the older buildings are still there, repurposed to new businesses. This volume traces those changes and shows how the past is still inextricably intertwined with the present.