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Tilton, New Hampshire

town located in New Hampshire, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 15, 2026
Entity authorityQ2430019 ↗
Source-derived summary

Tilton is a town on the Winnipesaukee River in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,962 at the 2020 census, and an estimated 4,092 in 2025, up from 3,567 at the 2010 census. It includes the village of Tilton (which makes up part of the census-designated place of Tilton Northfield) and part of the villages of Winnisquam and Lochmere. Tilton is home to the Tilton School, a private preparatory school.

History

Originally the southern part of Sanbornton, the present area of Tilton was known as "Sanbornton Bridge" and "Bridge Village". These two names refer to the bridge, built in 1763, that crossed the Winnipesaukee River from Canterbury to Sanbornton and onto what is now Main Street in Tilton. In 1869, Sanbornton Bridge was set off and incorporated as Tilton, named in honor of Nathaniel Tilton (1726–1814), whose great-grandson Charles E. Tilton (1827–1901) was the owner of textile mills and the community's wealthiest citizen. Nathaniel Tilton established an iron foundry and the area's first hotel, the Dexter House. Charles E. Tilton donated many statues to the town, a unique feature, and his estate is now part of the Tilton School. Tilton Hall, his former mansion built in 1861, houses the Lucian Hunt Library.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Tilton, New Hampshire” as town located in New Hampshire, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tilton, Hampshire and town.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020, 2025, 2010, 1763—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1869. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Tilton, Hampshire and town providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tilton, New Hampshire”, the useful work is to connect “town located in New Hampshire, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2430019. VIAF identifies the subject as 148991903. The Library of Congress control number is n85188637. Authority coordinates are 43.442, -71.589. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2025, 2010 and 1763.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Tilton, New Hampshire”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Tilton, New Hampshire primary sources, Tilton, New Hampshire archive and Tilton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tilton, New Hampshire”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Tilton, New Hampshire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.