Once upon a time, a community of engineers, tailors, and industrial laborers worked together to build a dream city. The city came with its perks, including nearby scenic hills, a photogenic river, and access to picturesque towns within an hour’s drive. Once the dream city was born, its residents basked in the spotlights of the nation’s journalists. Each year showed growth for the city’s festivities and health. It was one of the best places to live in the world.

Then came the fall of the rust belt. Manufacturing industries moved elsewhere. A teeming community of engineers and workers turned into a desperate mass of unemployment. A city that once gleamed its millyards as bright as one could dream turned into a place of gloomy neglect. People thought it would not happen. But it did.

This was Manchester, New Hampshire. Much like its namesake in England, Manchester was once a center of the industrial revolution. Postcards showed the rushing Merrimack River power the city’s millyards. Newspapers displayed the glories of Manchester’s textile industry. And like its brotherly cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, it experienced bad luck. Some say it still has bad luck.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Manchester is not the crime-riddled city that your parents knew about. Today, it is the first resort for many bright minds. No state income tax. No sales tax. Affordable housing. Lots of history and recreation. Perhaps the biggest highlight for Manchester is the rise of one of the most interesting technology movements in the United States. With Manchester as the movement’s host, Manchester got the catchy name of Silicon Millyard.