FAQs

The 1888 Concord Gasholder is a welcoming landmark for travelers along Interstate 93 in New Hampshire’s state capital. Its round brick walls, conical roof, and tilted cupola spark curiosity about the Gasholder’s history, original purpose, and future potential. Saving the Gasholder and redeveloping the two-acre site for public benefit will serve as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization at the city’s southern gateway, connecting Concord’s industrial past with a new vision for the future.

Fewer than a dozen nineteenth century gasholders still exist across the country, and Concord’s is the only one with all its inner mechanisms in place. The building is authentic and local, built by hand in 1888 from New England timber, bricks, and slate. It was used to store gas that brought light and heat to Concord’s streets, homes, and industry for decades. Generations of families worked at the Gasholder and the many businesses it served. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Gasholder is also recognized internationally for its unique qualities.

Not long ago, the Gasholder was on the verge of catastrophic collapse. Demolition seemed likely, a loss to a community that still mourns the 1959 demolition of its grand nineteenth century train station and other historic resources.

Demolishing the Gasholder would have required property owner Liberty to conduct costly remediation work to meet state environmental requirements. Fortunately, a preserved and weather-tight Gasholder is expected to serve as a highly effective cap at a lower cost than demolition, making it the best and least-cost option for Liberty’s customers. The N.H. Public Utilities Commission authorized Liberty to commit nearly $2.4 million to stabilize, preserve and utilize the Gasholder as part of its ongoing efforts to protect the environment, public health, and safety while minimizing the financial impact on its customers.

Join the effort to Save the Concord, NH Gasholder!

The campaign to save and repurpose the 1888 Concord, NH Gasholder has made tremendous progress toward protecting this last-of-its-kind landmark for public benefit. Property owner Liberty, the City of Concord, and the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance have collaborated to put the Gasholder project on the road to success, with broad support from the community.

Now, the project partners are moving forward with a new phase of complex restoration work. Highly specialized engineers and contractors will be developing plans to restore the round brick building and straighten its conical slate roof and tilted cupola, first damaged in the Hurricane of 1938. The team is working to identify ways to repurpose and revitalize the two-acre former gasworks property, including new opportunities for the public to engage with the site and its history.

Cities around the globe have turned former gasworks into vibrant community destinations. By embracing the industrial past, they are transforming vacant sites into community resources, galvanizing neighborhoods, attracting heritage tourism, and highlighting clean energy generation and environmental progress. Concord’s Gasholder property has the potential to be such a destination.

Not long ago, the Gasholder was on the verge of catastrophic collapse. Demolition seemed likely, a loss to a community that still mourns the 1959 demolition of its grand nineteenth century train station and other historic resources.

In 2021, an anonymous donor pledged $500,000 to the project through the N.H. Preservation Alliance as a call to action. The project partners devised an emergency stabilization plan, which was completed in 2022, to prevent the building’s collapse and buy time to explore next steps.

Demolishing the Gasholder would have required costly remediation work to meet state environmental requirements. As early as 2015, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) had approved preservation of the Gasholder building. Fortunately, in January 2024, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC) concurred with NHDES that a structurally sound and weather-tight Gasholder can be expected to serve as a highly effective cap.

A wonderful mix of Gasholder neighbors, city residents, civic leaders, donors, and industry advisors has come together to support the project. The N.H. Preservation Alliance has engaged the community through a vibrant Save Our Gasholder campaign, website, and public events, and nominated the building for national Most Endangered status and a federal historic preservation grant. News of the Gasholder’s transformation has traveled far beyond its location at 1 Gas Street in Concord, with interest from industry, museum, and industrial heritage organizations across the U.S. and beyond.

The work is far from finished. The total cost to preserve and restore the Gasholder is expected to exceed $3.5 million. The community has stepped up with generous donations and the NH Community Development Finance Authority (NHCDFA) has provided pre-development support.

We envision the Gasholder having a dramatic impact on the revitalization of Concord’s southern gateway. There have been credible attempts over the years to find a creative and sustainable re-use for the site. The N.H. Preservation Alliance, the City of Concord, and other key stakeholders are working to explore these options, assess market realities, and generate new interest and opportunities.

The Concord, NH Gasholder is believed to be the last remaining intact structure of its kind. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is the statewide nonprofit that strengthens communities and local economies by supporting and encouraging the revitalization and protection of historic buildings and places. We welcome everyone’s ideas and support as we help advance this important project. Learn more and join the effort at www.saveourgasholder.org and www.nhpreservation.org.

For more information, contact the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance at (603) 224-2281 or email projects@nhpreservation.org.

From 1888 to 1952, the Gasholder stored gas that was piped throughout the city for lighting, heating, cooking, and industrial use. But how could a brick building with windows and a cupola store gas? The secret is the innovative mechanisms inside, believed to be the last remaining in the country. You can see a diagram and download an illustrated book on the Save Our Gasholder History page.

The round brick building we see is called the “gasholder house.” Its main function is to keep out the weather. Inside the gasholder house is a huge 80,000-pound metal bell floating open end down in an underground masonry water tank, as deep as the brick gasholder house walls are high.

When the Gasholder was active, workers would produce gas by heating coal in special on-site industrial furnaces. They’d pipe the gas underground through the south side of the water tank and up into the bell. The bell would slowly fill with gas, causing it to float up inside the gasholder house. You could see it rising through the windows. The water in the underground tank created a seal around the open end of the bell, preventing gas from escaping.

The immense weight of the bell would pressurize the gas inside it. Workers would open a valve on the west side of the gasholder house to deliver gas through miles of pipes to customers across the city. Explore the photo gallery at the bottom of the History page to see what the inside of the Gasholder is like.

Saving our Gasholder and creating its future is a community endeavor. Your support is vital! Here are some ways to get involved. Contact information is below.

• Sign up for our e-newsletter.

• Explore this website and share your excitement with a friend.

• Ask us for a Save Our Gasholder yard sign and display it at your home or business.

• Volunteer to help at a Save Our Gasholder event.

• Send your ideas and questions to the N.H. Preservation Alliance.

• Donate to the Save Our Gasholder campaign.

Contact us anytime by phone at 603-224-2281 or email at projects@nhpreservation.org.

After more than a year of intensive planning and seven months of complex engineering and preservation work, the partners completed Emergency Stabilization work in the fall of 2022. Specialized crews prevented the Gasholder’s collapse by erecting interior structural towers to stabilize the compromised roof, installing exterior cabling, and patching the huge, conical slate roof.

The N.H. Preservation Alliance assembled a team of nationally recognized experts to design, engineer and carry out the Emergency Stabilization work, in collaboration with property owner Liberty and the City of Concord. The project team was comprised of specialists in work on historic properties:

• The N.H. Preservation Alliance and an LLC of community members oversaw the development and execution of various aspects of the project.

• John Wathne, Founder-Principal of Structures North Consulting Engineers, was responsible for engineering design and monitoring. A nationally recognized expert in evaluating, stabilizing, and restoring historic structures, John specializes in saving structures for their historic, architectural, and social/cultural significance, and inventing new ways to do so.

• Tom Evarts’s crew at Yankee Steeplejack Company of Harvard, Mass., performed most of the Emergency Stabilization work with help from New England Scaffolding. Initially established to restore church steeples throughout New England and New York, YSC is a full-service restoration and construction contractor.

• Frank Lemay, President of Milestone Engineering & Construction, served as construction manager and advisor. Milestone has managed many preservation projects including the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, Chandler House in Manchester, and North Church in Portsmouth.

• Michael Bruss of Bruss Project Management served as the project representative for the Preservation Alliance. He brought decades of construction management experience to this role.

No. The Gasholder and its accompanying two acres are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (thanks to the Concord Heritage Commission) and may well be worthy of even higher National Historic Landmark status. However, neither designation prohibits demolition, although they do afford recognition and access to important preservation funding resources. Similarly, Concord’s demolition delay ordinance would allow time to explore alternatives to demolition but would not prevent it.

The N.H. Preservation Alliance, Liberty, and the City of Concord have partnered to avoid demolition and proceed toward full preservation. This is a complicated, long-range project with many obstacles, but we’re making progress with enthusiastic public support from people like you.

The Concord, NH Gasholder was taken out of service in 1952 when then-owner Concord Gas Company switched from manufactured gas to natural gas. Current and past owners have addressed many aspects of environmental remediation. Further study of the whole site will likely be required to fully assess clean-up and management needs depending on how the property is redeveloped.

Manufacturing gas from coal and storing it in an underground tank was state-of-the-art energy production back in 1888 when the Gasholder was built. Freight trains delivered coal directly to the site where it was heated in special industrial ovens to produce gas in a process called “destructive distillation.” Later, the gas’s illuminating power was increased by adding steam and oil to the process, creating “carbureted water gas.” Learn more in this short video. Experts now know that this kind of activity results in environmental contamination that was not fully contained or addressed when the gas plant was active.

Fortunately, Liberty and the N.H. Public Utilities Commission expect that a stabilized and weather-tight Gasholder will serve as a highly effective cap on any environmental contamination that remains underneath it from the 1888 - 1952 period of active use. By bringing historic preservation expertise to the table, the N.H. Preservation Alliance is offering property owner Liberty an economical alternative to demolition and costly remediation, while helping Liberty minimize the financial impact on its customers, meet N.H. Department of Environmental Services remediation requirements, and save an irreplaceable historic resource.

A wonderful mix of Gasholder neighbors, city residents, civic leaders, donors, and industry advisors has come together to support the project. The N.H. Preservation Alliance has engaged the community through a vibrant Save Our Gasholder campaign, website, and public events, and nominated the building for national Most Endangered status and a federal historic preservation grant. News of the Gasholder’s transformation has traveled far beyond its location at 1 Gas Street in Concord, with interest from industry, museum, and industrial heritage organizations across the U.S. and beyond.

In 2021, an anonymous donor pledged $500,000 to the project through the N.H. Preservation Alliance as a call to action to save the Gasholder. The project partners devised an emergency stabilization plan, which was completed in 2022, to prevent the building’s collapse and buy time to explore options. Additional support has come from individuals, businesses, the N.H. Community Development Finance Authority, and private foundations.

In early 2024, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NHPUC) determined that a preserved and weather-tight Gasholder can be expected to serve as a highly effective cap at a lower cost than demolition, making it the best and least-cost option for Liberty’s customers. The NHPUC authorized Liberty to commit as much as $2.4 million to stabilize, preserve and utilize the Gasholder as part of its ongoing efforts to protect the environment, public health, and safety while minimizing the financial impact on its customers.

Liberty’s $2.4 million commitment and other generous funding has given the project a significant financial boost, but more fundraising is needed; the total cost is expected to exceed $3.5 million.

Substantial additional resources will be needed to achieve preservation and community goals. The availability of private capital and financing as well as public sector funds depends on the property’s ownership and use. Preservation grant monies and tax incentives could be available if certain preservation standards are met. Public infrastructure improvements and downtown tax relief programs are ways the City of Concord has helped similar properties in the past. Private fundraising has also been considered as a possible way to fill gaps.

How can I donate to the Save Our Gasholder campaign?

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is the statewide nonprofit that strengthens communities and local economies by supporting and encouraging the revitalization and protection of historic buildings and places. We welcome everyone’s ideas and support as we help advance this groundbreaking project. Learn more at www.nhpreservation.org. Contact the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance at (603) 224-2281 or email projects@nhpreservation.org.