A happening town, but wary of growth
KEENE, N.H.
Times are changing, but 272-year-old Keene, located in the forested southwest corner of New Hampshire, is still rooted in the New England tradition of using it up, wearing it out, making do, or doing without. For example, instead of bulldozing an 1838 textile mill, the locally owned, block-long, red-brick building was renovated into Colony Mill Marketplace, which now boasts 26 retail shops. And instead of razing a dilapidated Greek revival movie house, locals renovated The Colonial Theater into a popular landmark featuring jazz, opera, and first-run films.
Residents of Keene are proud of their happening little town but wary of commercial interlopers. When mega-box developers first lumbered into the community in the mid-1990s, The Keene Sentinel (publishing since 1799) printed boisterous pro and con letters to the editor. Some citizens saw new jobs; others predicted profits blowing out of town. Many vowed never to step through the doors of those conglomerates. But two years ago, Wal-Mart moved into a bankrupt Bradlees building, and last October Home Depot and Borders Bookstore won the big game against cornfields and wetlands.
Also moving to town is a more liberal political base.
This is not the conservative North Country that earned New Hampshire its flinty, tax-wary reputation. Politics here sounds a lot more like Vermont, which is just 14 miles away. In 2000, Keene voted overwhelmingly for Gore (5,856) over Bush (3,704).
Many of those Gore voters were newcomers who have chosen Keene for its small town pace and big city panache. But one issue newcomers and natives agree on is land preservation.
Symbolizing Keene's commitment to the environment is Mount Monadnock, rising 3,165 feet along the Keene horizon. A magnificent mountain that makes up in history what it lacks in height, Monadnock was a 19th-century destination for Henry David Thoreau, Willa Cather, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, and other famous writers and artists. Now, every year more than 100,000 people climb the granite peak, making Monadnock State Park a major tourist attraction and a focus of preservation. Any candidate looking for votes in Keene better have a clean record on the environment.
Once home to pottery works and textile mills, Keene today likes its industries clean. With a payroll of 550, the largest employer is Timken Aerospace & Super Precision Bearing-MPB. As a regional center and county seat for the 23 rural towns in Cheshire County, Keene also provides jobs in insurance, retail, and banking. Unemployment here is low, barely grazing 3 percent, which is less than the statewide average of 4.1 percent, and far lower than the national average of 5.7 percent.
Classic, classy Central Square, with its white gazebo for summertime concerts, is also the scene of "Honk if you agree!" political protests. Nowadays, as the state comes into the stretch of its first-in-the-nation presidential primary, you'll see some of the 5,000 Keene State College students and town residents, promoting their choice of candidates.
In addition to the environment, locals seem particularly concerned about the rising cost of health care, an unsteady economy, and the war in Iraq and its ramifications for the national debt.
Keene is seldom so intense. In October, Central Square is host to The Keene Pumpkin Festival, a real crowd-pleaser. Last year, 28,952 hand-carved pumpkins helped the town break its own entry in Guinness World Records. It's that kind of town.
But when the presidential primary comes along, Keene residents zero in. Candidates risk shunning if they ignore a traditional visit to Lindy's Diner, where politics is served along with the cheeseburgers. At living room "coffees" around town, voters get up close and personal with the presidential wannabes before handlers can package their stump speeches. Keene citizens ask questions seldom heard on TV, like "What do you read that influences your politics?"
The word "citizen" is still used here. Whether voting for town selectmen or the next president of the United States, Keene people like to see the whites of their eyes.
Steve Sherman is a staff reporter for The Keene Sentinel and co-author of "Grand Monadnock." 
