Weybridge Town Hall is located on Quaker Village Road in northern
Weybridge, Vermont
Weybridge is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 814 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Weybridge is located in central Addison County in the Champlain Valley. It is bordered by the town of Middlebury to the southeast ...
. It was built in 1847, originally serving as the Wesleyan Methodist Church before becoming the town's first and only town hall in 1893. A fine example of Greek Revival architecture, it 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 1996.
Description and history
Weybridge Town Hall stands on the west side of Quaker Village Road in a dispersed village setting in northern Weybridge, arrayed mainly on the east bank of
Otter Creek. It is a single-story wood-frame structure with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. The roof is capped by a tower that rises from a low flushboarded square base to a six-sided louvered belfry to an ogee-shaped dome. The main facade has paneled corner pilasters rising to an entablature and a fully pedimented gable with sunburst planking. The interior retains significant Greek Revival woodwork, as well as original bench pews and early 20th-century light fixtures.
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The building was built in 1847 following the split of the local Methodist congregation over the matter of
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. The abolitionist faction had withdrawn from the original congregation established in 1798, and built this church. Its builders clearly drew inspiration from the published works of
Asher Benjamin
Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities a ...
: a number of its exterior and interior details are clearly drawn from plates in his pattern books. The Methodist congregations reunited after the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, but declined in size, and in 1893 leased the building to the town for use as its town hall. It is the town's first town hall, and continues to serve in that capacity, in addition to hosting community events. The building originally housed the town's library in its basement, until 1911 when the adjacent
Cotton Free Library was built. The building underwent significant restoration in the 1990s.
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See also
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References
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Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont
Churches completed in 1847
19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States
Buildings and structures in Weybridge, Vermont
Churches in Addison County, Vermont
1847 establishments in Vermont
1893 establishments in Vermont
National Register of Historic Places in Addison County, Vermont
Town halls in Vermont