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Third Regiment

The Third Regiment building was the only Veterans building destroyed in the Great Weirs Beach Fire of 1924, which also destroyed the grand New Hotel Weirs, as well as many other buildings. By 1930, a new building had been constructed on this location. Over the years, the new building has had various incarnations and remodelings. First a diner named Jean’s Cafe, then an Italian restaurant of the same name; later a fast food/pizza eatery under different ownerships. The building is currently vacant, and is used only during Motorcycle Week as a tattoo parlor. A Veterans museum is planned for this location; but plans have been ongoing for many years and no museum has been built yet. 

Third Regiment building (1885-1924) in 1897.

A 1922 photo of the American Legion band of Manchester, taken on the front steps of the NHVA headquarters. The history of the Third Regiment was tightly associated with military bands.

Various Third Regiment ribbons and buttons are seen in the photo gallery below. The 1886 ribbon was specific to Company K of the 3rd, which had been recruited “wholly at Dover” (pg 11 in the regimental history). Each Company had a nickname, and the nickname for Company K was the “Old Belknap Rifles”. The 1889 ribbon honored Egbert Ludovicus Viele, a distinguished New York City civil engineer and topographer, and brigadier general during the Civil War. The 1887 and 1891 ribbons are notable for their reproduction of the Third Regiment building. The 1916 ribbon features a button photo but the name of the honoree is unknown.

Interestingly, the ribbons’ anniversaries are 4 years out of sync with the anniversaries of the general NHVA. The 1887 ribbon is marked as the 15th reunion of the Third Regiment, but 1887 was only the 11th reunion of the NHVA. The 1916 reunion was marked as the Third’s 44th, but it was the NHVA’s 40th; and the 1919 reunion was the Third’s 47th, but only the NHVA’s 43rd reunion. The math suggests that the Third Regiment held its first reunion in 1873 and annually after that date.