<P> The textile industry was hit hard by the depression and growing competition from southern mills . The closing of the Amoskeag Mills in 1935 was a major blow to Manchester, as was the closing of the former Nashua Manufacturing Company mill in Nashua in 1949 and the bankruptcy of the Brown Company paper mill in Berlin in the 1940s, which led to new ownership . </P> <P> The post-World War II decades have seen New Hampshire increase its economic and cultural links with the greater Boston, Massachusetts, region . This reflects a national trend, in which improved highway networks have helped metropolitan areas expand into formerly rural areas or small nearby cities . </P> <P> The replacement of the Nashua textile mill with defense electronics contractor Sanders Associates in 1952 and the arrival of minicomputer giant Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1970s helped lead the way toward southern New Hampshire's role as a high - tech adjunct of the Route 128 corridor . </P> <P> The postwar years saw the rise of New Hampshire's political primary for President of the United States, which as the first primary in the quadrennial campaign season draws enormous attention . </P>

New hampshire's first colonist came from plymouth