August 18, 2008 - Is Hannah Grimes Marketplace moving from Main Street to Roxbury Street?" Megan Parker, Hannah Grimes Marketplace Manager, fields questions like this one in response to the new "Hannah Grimes Center" sign at 25 Roxbury Street. The Marketplace is not moving; but there is a new sign in front of the Hannah Grimes Center. Confused?
There are two entities in Keene with the name "Hannah Grimes" in their title: The Hannah Grimes Center and Hannah Grimes Marketplace. Both are related to one another, both are working to weave together business, local economy, and community.
The Hannah Grimes Center is a small business incubator, providing office space and a supportive environment where new and emerging businesses can be launched, developed and graduated. The Hannah Grimes Center also works in the community to create a fertile environment for local entrepreneurs through a diverse range of community-based initiatives. Hannah Grimes Marketplace is a thriving retail store with an exclusive focus on selling local products and helping to build the businesses of the New Hampshire artisans and producers who make these products.
The real Hannah Grimes was born in Keene in 1776. She married in 1806 and moved to Roxbury, where her well-built home is still a home. The skilled artisans of her time - basketmakers, bakers, builders, gardeners, candlemakers, quilters, soapmakers, famers, doctors, orchardists, and furniture makers - live on today through the people of our region. What Hannah and her family could not produce themselves, they bought from friends, neighbors and regional businesses in a local marketplace which positively bustled. Hannah's ethic serves as a guidepost today for the Hannah Grimes Center and Hannah Grimes Marketplace. Together, as a strong local marketplace and an economic center, they offer diverse opportunities for employment and weave people and communities together into interdependent economic relationships.
