Prior to the arrival of English colonists, the native people known as the Suncook (seni kok), which translates, “to the rocks” lived along an area of the Suncook River that would become Gilmanton Iron Works. The Suncook, a subsect of the Abenaki, were descendants of natives that arrived 11,000 years ago. They did not own, but rather accessed this ancestral land according to custom and seasonal need. 

From 1688-1763, six wars within the French & Indian campaign were fought over control of territory from Canada, through Maine and south to Massachusetts which at the time included New Hampshire. Although the Suncook largely retreated from the area prior to its English settlement, the ongoing French & Indian Wars were responsible for the 34-year pause between the incorporation and settlement of the town.

During this time, Gilmanton’s founding fathers continued to live and conduct the business of the town from their coastal settlements from which most violent skirmishes occurred. In 1732, surveyors were hired to run the boundary lines and apparently did so without incident.

In 1736, perhaps in an abundance of caution or due to native populations on our bounded area known as “the Weirs,” our Proprietors saw fit to construct two blockhouses as fortification.

• May 20th, 1727 - His Majesty’s Colonial Governor John Wentworth signed the charter for what was to become the town of Gilmanton. The settlement was delayed due to the French & Indians Wars.
• 1736 -  Moses Leavitt, Nathaniel Gilman and Jethro Pearson were appointed to build the first fort. It was called a Block House and was 18 feet square and built of hewn logs. It was named White Hall and was located on the Southeast corner of the first Division of 40 acre lots.
• 1750 - A group of men from Pembroke area spent the winter hunting and felling trees for settling but withdrew from the effort in the spring as “Indian hostilities has not yet ceased.” This location became known as Shell Camp.
• 1761 -  Gilmanton's first settlers Benjamin and Hannah Bean Mudgett arrived at their home on Lot #3 of the 3rd Range of 100-acre lots. Arriving during a snowstorm, they endured the 12-mile trek from Epsom on foot!
• 1762 -  Dorothy Weed was born October 10th, 1762 to Orlando & Sarah Weed. She was the first birth among the settlers.
• 1763 - The Rev. William Parsons became a Proprietor of Gilmanton and was employed by the Corporation to preach to the settlers.  He was also employed as a teacher, traveling to various homes throughout the settlement until the first schoolhouse was built.
• 1763 -  The first grist mill on Mill Brook was operating. The site is down the old road that leads from Rte. 140 (near the School) to the present-day Nighthawk Hollow Brook.
• 1766 - The first Town Selectmen. Prior to 1766 the Proprietors elected their own Selectmen. In order for the town to transition to a publicly elected form of government, a petition requesting a Town Meeting from ten or more inhabitants that were “His Majesties subjects” was required. That meeting, held on July 31st, 1766 elected the first selectmen: Joseph Badger, John Sanborn and Stephen Dudley.
• 1768 - Dr. William Smith, the town's first doctor, arrived October 15, 1768. For some time he was the only doctor north of Concord, and made house calls in Alton, New Durham, Wolfeboro, and Tuftonboro. 
• 1769-1770 - The first schoolhouses were built. The first located near the First Baptist Church on Rte. 107 and the second near Orlando Weeds (Potter Farm).
• 1770 -  Meredith Bridge was built when the Province Road was made. This was a military road built to transport troops and supplies for the defense of Coos County. The village area called Meredith Bridge, Gilmanton on one bank and Meredith on the other, became a large industrial area and is now known as Laconia.
• 1773 -  The First Baptist Church was organized on Nov. 16th. There were 13 original members but no Pastor. Orlando Weed was Standing Moderator, Samuel Weeks was Clerk and Thomas Edgerly, Deacon.

• 1775 - Gilmanton's population is 775.
• 1775 - Mary Butler rides to Charlestown, MA upon receiving news that her husband has been wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• Seven Gilmanton men die during the war.
• 1776 - The first interment took place at the public Smith Meetinghouse cemetery.
• 1778 - Averytown becomes Gilmanton Iron Works. Iron mining begins in Lougee Pond (Crystal Lake).

• 1786 - Town approved a ten dollar bounty for every grown wolf and five dollars for every whelp.
• 1796 - Gilmanton Academy erected.
• 1800 - Gilmanton population is 3,752.
• 1801 - The first library, the Social Library of Gilmanton, was incorporated in June of 1801 and was kept near the Smith Meetinghouse. After the death of Rev. Smith, it was moved to Gilmanton Iron Works.
• 1808 - Gilmanton Academy destroyed by fire.
• 1811 - Gunstock Parish (today's Gilford and part of Laconia) secedes from Gilmanton due to distances needed to reach town meetings.
• 1815 - Town auctions off care of paupers.

• 1817 - Gilmanton has 5 meetinghouses, 20 schoolhouses, a court house, a cotton factory, a nail factory, 9 grain mills, 10 saw mills, 2 clothing mills, a carding machine, an oil mill, and 9 trading stores.
• 1833 - Liquor sales prohibited in Gilmanton.
• 1840 - Belknap County seceded from Strafford County.
• 1859 - Gilmanton and Upper Gilmanton (Belmont) split.

• 1860 - Town majority votes for Abraham Lincoln.
• 1860 - Town population is 2,073.
• 1861-1865 - Civil War. Of 134 residents who served, 30 died. Battles included Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, Gettyburg, Antietam, and Port Hudson.
• 1864 - Town majority votes for Abraham Lincoln.

• 1901 Sept. 14th President William McKinley dies of his wounds following an assassination attempt.
• 1902 Odd Fellows build new hall in the Iron Works Village.
• 1903 Ford Motor Company formed & The Wright Brothers make first powered flight.
• 1905 The Lamprey School closes.
• 1907 Iron Works Library is installed on the 2nd story of the post office building.
• 1910 Lougeetown and Guinea Ridge Schools close. The Gilmanton Academy graduates its last class and closes.
• 1912 The Titanic sinks.
• 1913 Allen’s Mills School closes.
• 1914 July 28th WWl is declared. Panama Canal open on August 15th.
• 1915 May 28th Arsonist sets fire to IW Village destroying 13 residences, 3 stores, the town school, hotel, post office, library & tannery.
• 1917 The US enters WWl. Gilmanton sends 36 men and 1 woman, Alice Kelley who was in the Army Corp of Nurses.
• 1918 Nov.11 Armistice signed to end the war.
• 1919 Rogers School closes.

• 1920 Gilmanton population: 814
• 1920 The 18th Amendment is ratified. Prohibition goes into effect. The 19th Amendment is ratified granting women the right to vote.
• 1922 Moving pictures come to the Terrell Block (IW Post office).
• 1923 The Schultz’s “Corner Store” gets a radio. The community is invited to “listen in” 1% of households owned a radio.
• 1929 Oct. 29th Black Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange panic selling causes stock market crash. A factor leading to the Great Depression.
• 1931 Town warrant to change Gilmanton Iron Works to Gilmanton Hills fails.
• 1933 Prohibition ends. President Roosevelt introduces New Deal policies.
• 1936 Congress passes the Rural Electrification. The NH Electric Cooperative formed in 1939 which gradually brought electricity to Gilmanton in the 1940’s.
• 1939 World War ll begins.
• 1940 Gilmanton population:708
• 1940 Kelley Corner, Gale, Potter & Smith Meeting House schools permanently close. Students attend the Iron Works & Corners Schools.
• 1941 Dec. 7th Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. US enters WWll on Dec. 8th 1945 Gilmanton soldiers Duncan A Geddes, Charles W. Levitt & Henry Page Ellis Jr die in service.
• 1945 Sept. WW2 ends.
• 1947 The American Legion Ellis-Geddes-Levitt Post 102 was created and dedicated to these brave service men.
• 1947 The Pines Hotel on Crystal Lake burns.
• 1950 The Korean War begins.
• 1953 July 27th the Korean War ends.

• 1956 Gilmanton resident Grace Metalious publishes her controversial novel Peyton Place.
• 1958 Aug.23rd Old Home Day dedication of new war memorial honoring the 98 Gilmanton veterans of WWll & Korean War.
• 1960 Gilmanton population:736
• 1963 Nov. 22nd Assassination of President John F Kennedy.
• 1965 American combat troops deployed to Vietnam.
• 1966 The last 2 schools permanently close and the new Gilmanton Elementary School opens. Gilmanton Conservation Commission is established.
• 1967 Gilmanton Historical Society founded.
• 1968 April 4th Martin Luther King assassinated.
• 1968 June 6th Robert F. Kennedy assassinated.
• 1969 June 29th Fire overtakes the home of the Stevens family in the Iron Works. 4 daughters; Vickie, Bonny, Debbie & Hope perish.
• 1969 July 16-24th Apollo 11 mission. First humans walk on the moon.
• 1969 Dec. 1st Vietnam War draft lottery instituted.

• 1973 January 27th Peace agreement signed to end US involvement in Vietnam War.
• 1974 The first home computer enters the market.
• 1977 Feb. Belknap County police raid the home on the corner of Stage & Beauty Hill Rd discovering a man deceased and a 6-ton cache of marijuana.
• 1977 Aug. 20th Old Home Day dedication of a plaque honoring the veterans of the Vietnam War.
• 1978 Feb 6th The Great Blizzard of 1978. Snow fell for 3 days accumulating 27 inches.
• 1980 Gilmanton population 1941.
• 1983 Both the Centre Congregational Church & the Gilmanton Academy are placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• 1986 Jan.28th U. S. space shuttle Challenge explodes killing entire crew including 1st teacher in space Christa McAuliffe of Concord.
• 1989 The First Baptist Church of Gilmanton (Lower Gilmanton) is added to the National Register of Historic Places.
• 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War.
• 1993 The World Wide Web is opened to the public.
• 1998 Smith Meeting House is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• 2000 Gilmanton population 3060
• 2000 June 26th The Human Genome Project sequenced the entire human genome revolutionizing medicine.
• 2001 September 11th Radical Al-Qaeda suicide terrorists hijack 4 planes to attack the World Trade Center, The Pentagon & the last plane crashed in Shanksville Pa. 2977 people lost their lives.
• 2001 October 7th War with Afghanistan begins when US-led troops launch attacks.
• 2003 February 1: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts on board.
March 20th US invades Iraq thus beginning the Iraq War. May 3rd NH Old Man of the Mountain collapses.
• 2007 The first iPhone released for sale in the U.S.
• 2007-2009 The Great Recession. The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
• 2009 January 20th The Inauguration of the first African American President Barack Obama.
• 2009 The Gilmanton Year-Round Library opens.
• 2010 Gilmanton population 3777. New Public safety complex opens on Rte 140. Largest oil spill in US history in the Gulf of Mexico on the Deepwater Horizon.
• 2011 Iraq War ends. Osama bin Laden (9/11 mastermind) killed by American forces.
• 2011 Gilmanton Youth Organization founded.
• 2012 March 13 Last Town Meeting held. Town voters approved adoption of SB2 or the Official Ballot Act.
• 2015-The U.S. legalizes same-sex marriage.
• 2018 August 3rd Microburst damage near Sawyer Lake causes significant damage.
• 2020 Gilmanton population 3945. May 30th SWAT standoff & fatal shooting at Shellcamp residence.
• 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic begins. March 27th Governor Sununu issues a “Stay at Home” order.
• 2021 January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump who was defeated in the 2020 presidential election.
• 2022 Town receives LCHIP funds to make repairs to the Old Town Hall.
• 2023 July 7th Boy scout dies in boating accident on Manning Lake. Family sues the Boy Scouts of America.
• 2026 America celebrates the 250th of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
• 2026 February 28th War begins with Iran as the U.S. & Israel launch attacks