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is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,743 at the 2000 census. Like many small New England towns it grew up around water-powered textile mills, but is now a rural bedroom community with some manufacturing and service employment.
The compact town center, where over 33% of the population resides, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Wilton census-designated place and is located near the junction of New Hampshire Routes 31 and 101, at the confluence of Stony Brook with the Souhegan River.
The town was first part of a township chartered as "Salem-Canada" in 1735 by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts, which then held authority over New Hampshire. It was granted to soldiers from Salem, Massachusetts, who had served in 1690 under Sir William Phips in the war against Canada. "Salem-Canada" was one of the towns on the state's borders intended to provide protection against Indian attack.
It would be regranted in 1749 by Governor Benning Wentworth as "Number Two", before being incorporated in 1762 as "Wilton". It was either named for Wilton, England, or for Sir Joseph Wilton, a famous English sculptor. Sir Wilton's coach design for King George III's coronation was later used as a model for the Concord coach.
The Souhegan River originally provided water power for mills. Today, Wilton is a rural town with orchards, farms and woodlands.