City Services
NAME OF SERVICE | TELEPHONE | ADDRESS |
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| Fire Department (Weirs Beach Fire Station) | 603-366-2229 (Dial 911 in an emergency) | Lucerne Avenue at Route 11B |
 Weirs Beach Fire Engine #5 in front of NHVA headquarters  |
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| Police Department | 603-524-5252 (Dial 911 in an emergency) | 126 New Salem St, Laconia |
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| Laconia Library | 603-524-4775 | 695 Main St, Laconia |
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| Weirs Beach Public Docks | The Boardwalk | |
 The docks were reconfigured in 2025. Work began in late January. The official, ribbon cutting, opening ceremony occurred on June 6, 2025. Several dock fingers were removed. The remaining fingers were extended. The purpose was to accommodate larger boats. Boats are now much larger than was typical when the docks were built in 1948 and extended in 1959. In addition, the footbridge was rebuilt slightly (7.5 ") higher, with 7 steps to the top instead of 6. The extra height was to encourage jet skiers and other personal watercraft operators to pass underneath the footbridge and dock in the inner lagoon, rather than take up space at the main docks. Docking is prohibited between 2am and 6am. Between 6am and 9pm, docking is limited to a maximum of three hours. |
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| Weirs Community Center | 603-366-5185 | 25 Lucerne Avenue |
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| Weirs Community Park (27 acres) | 603-524-5046 | 49 Lucerne Avenue |
| Lakeport Community Association | ||
City Hall. 1972-present. Originally built with a flat roof, the gabled roof was added in 1986.
Day and night views of Laconia, Dixon’s Point, and Lake Winnisquam from a hill at the entrance to Laconia. One of the earliest views of Laconia was drawn at this spot in 1875. Click here for the 1875 view, many alternate views, and a history of the hotels that stood atop this hill.
History of the LACONIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
The roots of the Laconia Fire Department go way back. In 1814, the Meredith Bridge Engine Company was formed. The engine had no suction hose; rather, the Company relied on a tank attached to the fire engine that was hand-filled with leather buckets. In 1834, the Meredith Bridge Hose Company was organized. The Company used force pumps on both sides of the Winnipesaukee River downtown. Any fire that occured out of reach of the river pump hoses was out of luck. In 1849, a “Torrent No. 2” fire engine was purchased and a company was formed to “run with the machine”. This was the first professional fire department in Laconia with uniforms. In 1875, the first steam fire engine was purchased, along with a new hose carriage and a hook and ladder truck. A year later, in 1876, a Fire Alarm Telegraph was installed, with “gongs maintained in the residences of members of the Fire Department, and numerous signal boxes throughout the village.” In 1917, the Laconia Fire Department acquired its first “automobile fire engine”, although use of its horse-drawn hose wagons, hook and ladders, and the steamer continued for a number of years longer.
Central Fire Station postcard, postmarked 1908.
J.A. Greene Hose Co. No. 1, The Weirs, N.H. From the cover of a menu for a banquet held on July 2, 1906, at the New Hotel Weirs
The 1893-1935 Weirs fire station, signed J.A. Green Hose 1, hose drying tower, and hose wagon. The wooden bridge to Centenary Avenue is seen behind the building. According to the 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, for the Weirs Fire Department, “Laconia City Dep’t responds to alarms. One volunteer company of 10 men. One hand hose reel. One horse hose wagon. One Ford combination chemical and hose auto truck. One 100 gall. Rex chemical engine. 1500 ft. 2 1/2″ cotton rubber lined hose. Fire alarm by bell.”
Weirs water facilities, as detailed in the 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance map. The reservoir water was for emergency fire suppression, not for general use.
Veterans Square
A 1910s view of Veterans Square, showing both the Laconia Library and the Laconia Tavern.
A similar view of the Square also shows the Soldiers’ Monument.
The Laconia Library
The Gale Memorial Library, named after its benefactor Napoleon Bonaparte Gale , a local banker (died 1894), opened on June 9, 1903. The building, constructed in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, features rock-faced masonry, heavy arches, and broad roofs. Builders used both Deer Island and New Brunswick granite, oak paneling and stained-glass windows. The facade used both pink granite and pressed brick, a higher quality brick that was denser and smoother than the common bricks of the time. The building contained a library of 50,000 volumes, with a reference room and large public reading room on the first floor, and a memorial hall on the second floor. The library was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1985.
In 1957, a children’s wing was added to the building. The children’s wing was torn down in late June, 2004, and was replaced by a modernized addition, which opened on July 15, 2005.
Based on an original black and white photo, the postcard artist has colored everything in except for the library itself, which is reddish in color. Card postmarked in 1937.
A modern photo of the library shows the actual color. Part of the 1957-2004 wing can be seen to the right.
A front-on postcard view of the library.
A partial view of the library shows the Laconia Tavern across the street.
“Laconia Tavern”, Laconia, N.H.
The Laconia Tavern
The Laconia Tavern was the main hotel in downtown Laconia from the late 1930s through the 1960s. Built in 1912, the Laconia Tavern had little competition after the nearby Eagle Hotel came down in 1937. The Tavern featured a restaurant, bar, coffee shop, and numerous meeting rooms. Its most famous guest was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who stayed at the hotel on June 23, 1955, during his re-election campaign. In 1969, the hotel was converted to apartments offering affordable senior housing.
Contemporary photo of the Tavern.
The former Laconia Tavern on May 16, 2024, as seen from Main Street. No longer a hotel, the building is now the Tavern Inn Apartments, subsidized housing offered to senior residents who are all 62 years old or older. The Laconia Housing Authority acquired the building in 1997. There are 50 apartments in the building. Eight apartments are efficiency, and 42 are one-bedroom.
Not clearly seen in the old postcards above, here is a modern photo that shows the elaborate brick pattern above the first-floor Tavern windows.
The dining room of the Laconia Tavern, 1920s.
The foyer of the Laconia Tavern.
The dining room of the Laconia Tavern, 1950s.
The Laconia Tavern in the 1950s.
The Laconia Railroad Station
The brick Laconia Railroad Station was dedicated on August 22, 1892, replacing a wooden station that had been located where the headquarters of Bank of New Hampshire is now. The station was designed by NYC architect Bradford L. Gilbert in the Romanesque style of American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886). Rambling platforms capped by expansive hipped roofs and an attached porte cochere give the station a strong sense of heavy horizontality which is broken only by a central, three-story, forty-foot square rotunda enclosed in a pyramid-roofed, squat tower. The building is constructed of rusticated gray granite with red sandstone trim, all set with red mortar. Other Richardsonian features include the eyebrow dormer on the porte cochere and the bands of windows.
(See New Hampshire Railroad: Historic Context Statement, pg. 70)
The Laconia Railroad Station in the 1950s, before the left side of the station was filled in.
The Laconia Railroad Station circa 1905.
The Laconia Railroad station circa 1910, with cars, a horse-drawn cart, and trolley tracks. The trolley tracks are seen at the gradual turn onto Pleasant Street. Before the Laconia Street Railway was electrified in 1898, the trolley tracks made a sharp, 90-degree turn from Church Street onto Main Street, rather than the gradual turn in Veterans Square onto Pleasant Street. The larger, electrified trolley cars could not negotiate the sharp turn like the smaller, horse trolley cars could, so the trolley track was relocated.
The same exact view as previous, but with different cars drawn in by the postcard artist.
A view of the station from the other direction. Seen are the Veterans Square obelisk, a cannon and two piles of cannonballs.
As seen in this contemporary photo taken May 18, 2024, the cannons and cannonballs have been moved to the other side of the Civil War obelisk.
A closer look at the Veterans Square obelisk and cannonballs. The three inscriptions on the obelisk read “1861-1865”; “To Our Country’s Defenders”; and “Erected by Laconia in honor of the heroic valor and patriotic service of her sons during the Civil War.”
There are now plaques in Veterans’ Park memorializing the names of the fallen Laconia heroes of the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There is also a memorial fountain with words circling its base: “May courage, wisdom and perseverence flow through the souls of all who serve and protect this nation each day.”
Depot Square circa 1900
Depot Square postcard showing the Evangelical Baptist Church.
Depot Square in December, 1925.
Depot Square postcard showing the train station, library, Evangelical Baptist and Congregational churches.
Close up of the Congregational Church, with the Evangelical Baptist church behind it, and the library in the background.
Depot, Laconia, N.H.
B. & M. Station, Laconia, N.H.
Laconia Tavern and Gale Memorial Library from Church St., Laconia, N.H.
Railroad station, library, and a trolley car, as viewed from Church Street.
