The Brattleboro Downtown Historic District encompasses most of the central business district of the town of Brattleboro, Vermont. Extending along Main Street between Whetstone Brook and a junction with Pultney Road and Linden and Walnut Streets, this area includes many of the town's prominent civic and institutional buildings. The area's development took place primarily in the 19th century, with surviving buildings from both the 18th and early 20th centuries. The district was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1983, and was enlarged in 2004 to include Plaza Park and the Holstein Building on the south side of Whetstone Brook.

Description and history

The town of Brattleboro, now the major commercial center of southeastern Vermont, was chartered in 1753 and settled in the 1760s. Its present town center grew around mills that were built on Whetstone Brook. A bridge spanned the adjacent

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...

in 1804, making overland travel to points eastward more feasible. In 1811 the first paper mill was built on Whetstone Brook, inaugurating related industries that would come to dominate the town's economy. The railroad arrived in 1849, bringing increased development and commerce. Following a major flood in 1869 and fires in 1869 and 1877, there was a flurry of new development in the downtown area, lasting until about 1910, which gave the area much of its present character. The district is bounded at its northern end by the fourway junction of Main, Linden and Walnut Streets, and Pultney Road. Near this point the 1890 Wells Fountain stands as sentinel marking the upper end of the business district. The district extends from this point southward along Main Street, with a few properties included on side streets that extend westward, to the intersection of Bridge, Canal and Vernon Streets, just south of Whetstone Brook. This intersection is highlighted by Plaza Park, laid out in 1923, which includes as a central feature a casting of

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

's ''Spirit of Life'' statue. The only buildings included in the district south of the brook are the former railroad station, now the

Brattleboro Museum and Art Center The Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (BMAC), a non-collecting museum, was founded in 1972 and is located in the former Central Vermont & Boston & Maine Union Station building in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont. New exhibits by regional and interna ...

, and the Holstein Association Building, its oldest section dating to 1917. Prominent buildings lining Main Street in between include the former Brooks House Hotel, a Second Empire work of Vermont native

Elbridge Boyden Elbridge Boyden (1810–1898) was a prominent 19th-century American architect from Worcester, Massachusetts who designed numerous civil and public buildings throughout New England and other parts of the United States. Perhaps his best known works ...

References

{{NRHP in Windham County, Vermont Georgian Revival architecture in Vermont Greek Revival architecture in Vermont Brattleboro, Vermont Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Windham County, Vermont Historic districts in Windham County, Vermont

Description and history

See also

References