Waterbury is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in
Washington County in central
Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
, United States. Although the town is still home to the
Waterbury Village Historic District, the village sharing the name of the town officially dissolved as a municipality in 2018.
As of the
2020 census, the population was 5,331.
History
The townsite was once the frontier between the
Mahican and
Pennacook people. European settlement dates from 1763, when King
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
granted a charter for land in the
Winooski River valley. James Marsh became the first permanent white settler in the region in 1783. Many of the early settlers came from
Waterbury
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, and named their new town in honor of the hometown. The
village of Waterbury was incorporated in 1882 with a population of over 2,000.
The
Central Vermont Railroad came to Waterbury in 1849.
The railroad expanded a passenger station for the railroad in 1875, making the station a more major stop on the ''Vermonter''.
The
Green Mountain Seminary was built in
Waterbury Center in 1869.
The state opened the Vermont State Asylum for the Insane in Waterbury in 1891. The hospital, renamed the
Vermont State Hospital
Vermont State Hospital, alternately known as the Vermont State Asylum for the Insane and the Waterbury Asylum, was a mental institution built in 1890 in Waterbury, Vermont to help relieve overcrowding at the privately run Vermont Asylum for th ...
, grew to occupy over 40 buildings, but by the 1980s the number of patients had declined to the point where only one building was required. The remainder of the campus came to be used for state offices.
Like many
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
towns, Waterbury's economy was based around the local river mill industry and the surrounding agricultural producers. The mills produced products such as
lumber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...
and finished wood products, wicker products, leather, starch, and alcohol. The agriculture was based on
sheep
Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...
through the 19th century but switched over to
dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...
by the 20th century. Waterbury had a ski factory in the 1940s, the Derby & Ball Company.
In 1927, Waterbury, like many other Vermont communities, was devastated by
flood
A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
ing. Inscriptions on the sides of some buildings in Waterbury village purport to show where the level of the water rose during the
1927 flood. The village recovered, and in 1938 the
Waterbury Dam was built on the Little River by the
Army Corps of Engineers to control future flooding in areas downstream of the town center.
On August 29, 2011,
Tropical Storm Irene flooded downtown Waterbury and filled the buildings of the Vermont State Hospital, Vermont's public psychiatric complex, with up to of water. Patients from the mental hospital were temporarily housed in various locations around Vermont, and over 1,100 of the 1,586 state employees were working in office space in other towns as of October 2011. The state was expected to decide by 2012 whether to relocate all or part of the workforce back to Waterbury.
In 2017, the citizens within the Village of Waterbury voted to dissolve it as a municipality, completing their merger with the Town of Waterbury. The Village dissolved on June 30, 2018.
Economy
Waterbury is the location of
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, whose factory tours have become one of Vermont's most popular
tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural beaut ...
s.
Other local businesses include a number of restaurants and bars. Businesses in the town, which sits between several major mountains including
Mount Mansfield, typically thrive during the month of October, when tourism swells thanks to
fall foliage.
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 4,915 people, 2,011 households, and 1,321 families residing in the town. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 810.4 people per square mile (312.9/km
2). There were 2,106 housing units at an average density of 347.2 per square mile (134.1/km
2). The racial makeup of the town was 97.80%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.26%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.12%
Native American, 0.65%
Asian, 0.26% from
other races, and 0.89% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 0.67% of the population.
There were 2,011 households, out of which 24.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.7 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $44,940, and the median income for a family was $60,547. Males had a median income of $35,566 versus $25,838 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $25,858. About 3.3% of families and 6.1% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
Government and infrastructure
The State of Vermont operates the Waterbury Office Complex. The
Vermont Department of Corrections has its headquarters in the Waterbury Office Complex.
Education
Waterbury belongs to the Washington West Supervisory Union. Students attend Brookside Primary School for grades preschool and Kindergarten through 4th grade, Crossett Brook Middle School for grades 5–8, and
Harwood Union High School
Harwood Union High School is a mid-sized public secondary school located in Duxbury, Vermont. As a member of the Washington West Supervisory Union, the school serves the towns of Duxbury, Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield, Warren, and Waterbury ...
for grades 9–12.
Transportation
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service to Waterbury, operating its ''
Vermonter'' between
St. Albans and
Washington, D.C.
The Green Mountain Transit Agency (GMTA) provides public transit bus services to
Burlington,
Montpelier,
Morrisville, and
Stowe.
Waterbury is served by
Interstate 89,
U.S. Route 2, and
Route 100.
Media
Radio station
WDEV
WDEV (550 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Waterbury, Vermont, United States. Programming is simulcast on WDEV-FM (96.1 MHz) licensed to Warren, Vermont. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbu ...
-550 AM & 96.1 FM (News/Talk), is located in town, with its offices and studios on Stowe Street.
WAVJ –103.3 FM is officially licensed to Waterbury and has its transmission tower located on Ricker Mountain (which it shares with former sister station
WNCS Montpelier), but its programming originates with the
Air1 network in
Franklin, Tennessee
Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...
.
The Waterbury Record was a weekly newspaper that served the local area. On March 26, 2020, the
Vermont Community Newspaper Group announced that it was suspending publication of the Waterbury Record, after 13 years of publication, citing the lack of widespread advertising support and now the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In May 2020 a web-based publication, the Waterbury Roundabout, was founded by Lisa Scagliotti to provide local news with support from the University of Vermont’s Community News Service. A partnership was formed with the
Barre Montpelier Times Argus to distribute a free weekly printed "Waterbury Reader" to residents of Waterbury. That partnership ended in September 2022 and the Waterbury Roundabout returned to being a web-only publication.
Notable people
*
Charles J. Adams,
Vermont Attorney General
The Vermont attorney general is a statewide elected executive official in the U.S. state of Vermont who is elected every two years. It was created by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1790, repealed in 1797, and revived in 1904. The office ...
*
Elmer Ellsworth Adams, Minnesota newspaper editor and politician
*
Harold D. Campbell, Major general in the
Marine Corps during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
*
Paul Dillingham, 29th
Governor of Vermont
*
William P. Dillingham, 42nd
Governor of Vermont
*
Wallace M. Greene, commandant of the Marine Corps
*
Henry Janes, soldier, humanitarian and chief surgeon at
Gettysburg
*
Thomas D. Kinley, US Army major general, lived in Waterbury Center
*
Ken Squier,
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
commentator for
CBS, owner of
WDEV
WDEV (550 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Waterbury, Vermont, United States. Programming is simulcast on WDEV-FM (96.1 MHz) licensed to Warren, Vermont. The stations' studios and offices are located near U.S. Route 2 in Waterbu ...
Radio and co-owner of the
Thunder Road International SpeedBowl
Thunder Road International Speedbowl, more commonly known as just Thunder Road, is a high-banked, Road surface, paved short track motor racing, short track speedway located in the town of Barre (town), Vermont, Barre, Vermont. The track was fou ...
auto-racing track in
Barre
*
William Wells, merchant, Civil War general and Medal of Honor recipient
Climate
This
climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers that are known to occasionally reach 90 to 100 degrees and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Waterbury has a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.
References
External links
Town of Waterbury official websiteWaterbury Public Library
{{authority control
Towns in Vermont
Towns in Washington County, Vermont