A commercial and retail center for surrounding towns, the town of Milford grew around a mill, located on a ford on the Souhegan River. Its proximity along the river supported the development of a textile industry whose buildings have been converted to contemporary uses. Union Square, which is called the Milford Oval and is really a triangle, is at its center, graced by the Pillsbury Bandstand and the river.

Home to numerous granite quarries, stone from Milford was used for the columns of the U.S. Treasury Building in Washington, DC. Although only one granite company remains, Milford’s nickname is “The Granite Town.”

A stop on the Underground Railroad, Milford was the home of Harriet E. Wilson, who published the semi-autobiographical novel Our Nig: Or Sketches in the Life of a Free Black in 1859, the first novel by an African-American woman published in North America.