Exeter was one of the four original towns established in New Hampshire, and was first settled in 1638 as Squamscott. It was given the name Exeter by the settlement's managers, known as the Exeter Combination. The riverside location of the town made it a shipbuilding center and West Indies trading port, Exeter's original land charter included the present day towns of Epping, Newmarket, Newfields, and Brentwood. Exeter was the birthplace of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the figure of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Both the Phillips Exeter Academy. endowed by Colonel John Phillips in 1781, and the American Independence Museum are located in Exeter. Today, the Town's Municipal Offices are located at 10 Front Street, Exeter.