Norwich 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 ...

Windsor County, Vermont Windsor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,753. The shire town (county seat) is the town of Woodstock. The county's largest municipality is the town of Hartford. History Winds ...

, United States. The population was 3,612 at the 2020 census. Home to some of the state of Vermont's wealthiest residents, the municipality is a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for nearby

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a New England town, town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university ...

across the

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 into Long Isl ...

. The town is part of the Dresden School District, the first interstate school district in the United States, signed into law by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

. The town contains the Norwich Mid-Century Modern Historic District.

History

The boundaries of Norwich were established on July 4, 1761, when Governor

Benning Wentworth Benning Wentworth (July 24, 1696 – October 14, 1770) was an American merchant, landowner and colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors of New Hampshire, governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766. He is best known ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

defined the boundaries of townships in Vermont. The first settlers reached the area in 1763 and began to clear the wilderness and erect the first hand-hewn log buildings, wintering over for the first time in 1765. Early settlements occurred along the Ompompanoosuc River. Later, the current village site became settled. The first

town meeting Town meeting, also known as an "open town meeting", is a form of local government in which eligible town residents can directly participate in an assembly which determines the governance of their town. Unlike representative town meeting where ...

occurred in April 1768. The first

Congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

was founded in 1770 and a structure built in 1778. The population grew from 206 in 1771 to 1,158 in 1791 and 2,316 in 1830. The town was named after

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic River, Yantic, Shetucket River, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River f ...

, the state from which the first settlers originated. In the original charter, the name was spelled "Norwhich", but the additional 'h' was dropped shortly after the town was chartered. Originally pronounced "Norritch" (similar to the English pronunciation of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

), the town name has in more recent times become more commonly pronounced "Nor-wich".

Alden Partridge and the founding of Norwich University

In 1819 native son,

Alden Partridge Alden Partridge (February 12, 1785 – January 17, 1854) was an American author, legislator, officer, surveyor, an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and a controversial pioneer in U.S. milita ...

, a former Superintendent of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

West Point, New York West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York (state), New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 durin ...

, founded the private "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy" in Norwich. He hoped to establish a new "American system" for training

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

s that included both humanities and science topics in the curriculum, in addition to

military science Military science is the study of military processes, institutions, and behavior, along with the study of warfare, and the theory and application of organized coercive force. It is mainly focused on theory, method, and practice of producing mi ...

. In his six years of Norwich residency, Partridge achieved an academy population of nearly 500 "cadets". He moved that school back to

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...

, in 1825, but returned in 1835 with a charter from the U.S. Congress to found another military academy, which remained in Norwich until 1866, when it burned to the ground. The school then relocated to

Northfield, Vermont Northfield is a New England town, town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The town lies in a valley within the Green Mountains and has been home to Norwich University since 1866. It contains the Northfield (CDP), Vermont, village of No ...

, where it exists today as

Norwich University Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military college, senior militar ...

Geography

Norwich lies on the western bank of the

, which forms Vermont's boundary with

, opposite its companion town,

. The Ledyard Bridge connects the two towns. The Vermont towns bordering Norwich are

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road (England), A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, coverin ...

to the north,

Sharon Sharon ( 'plain'), also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as a Hebrew name. In Anglosphere, English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, but historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, ...

to the west, and

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

to the south. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.05%, is water. The Ompompanoosuc River flows into the Connecticut River in the northeastern part of the town. The landscape is hilly and wooded. The elevation of the

town center A town centre is the commercial or geographical centre or core area of a town. Town centres are traditionally associated with shopping or retail. They are also the centre of communications with major public transport hubs such as train or bus st ...

is . The hills in the town include the Griggs Mountain in the southwestern section and the Gile Mountain in the northwestern section.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,544 people, 1,367 households, and 944 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,505 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 95.97%

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 ...

, 0.48%

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 ...

, 0.20% Native American, 1.61% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.62% from other races, and 1.10% 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 people of any race were 0.79% of the population. There were 1,367 households, out of which 41.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.10. In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.3% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 31.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $66,000, and the median income for a family was $78,178. Males had a median income of $49,350 versus $33,871 for females. The per capita income for the town was $35,285. About 1.5% of families and 3.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.1% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over. Norwich-VT-Winter-Panorama

Commerce and culture

The town commercial center features a traditional, but actively used,

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

. Adjacent to the general store is a restored historic inn with a restaurant and brew pub. The Montshire Museum of Science and King Arthur Baking Company are located in Norwich.

Education

Norwich maintains one of the few interstate public school systems, the Dresden School District, commissioned by President

, which is shared by the towns of Norwich and

. Students attend Marion Cross School in Norwich for kindergarten through sixth grade, Richmond Middle School in Hanover for grades seven and eight, and Hanover High School in Hanover for grades nine through twelve.

Transportation

Major transportation routes, which run parallel through the Connecticut River valley, include

Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It is the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. Its southern terminus is in New Haven, Connecticut, at I-95, whi ...

(Exit 13 serves the town),

U.S. Route 5 U.S. Route 5 (US 5) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway running through the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Significant cities along the route include New Haven, Connecticut; Hartford, Conn ...

and the former

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

right of way, now owned by the State of Vermont. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

passes south to east through the town from

Notable people

* Elizabeth Emerson Atwater, 19th-century botanist * William Barron,

United States Marshal The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

for the District of Vermont * Charles L. Bartlett, Mayor of

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high ...

* Paul Brigham, second

governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of the U.S. state of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold guberna ...

Heinrich Brüning Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932. A political scientis ...

, German chancellor of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

* Daniel Azro Ashley Buck, US congressman * Nicholas A. Christakis, sociologist, professor and physician * Zerah Colburn, child prodigy "mental calculator"

W. W. Rouse Ball Walter William Rouse Ball (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925), known as W. W. Rouse Ball, was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding ...

(1960) ''Calculating Prodigies'', in Mathematical Recreations and Essays, Macmillan, New York, chapter 13. * George A. Converse, Spanish–American War era navy admiral *

Pamela Kyle Crossley Pamela Kyle Crossley (born 18 November 1955) is an American historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history and is the Charles and Elfriede Collis Professor of History, Dartmouth College. She is a founding appointment of the Dartmou ...

, historian * Jonathan Finer, current deputy national security advisor in Biden administration; prior chief of staff and

director of policy planning The director of policy planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the policy planning staff, with a rank equivalent to assistant secretary. The position has traditionally been he ...

for former secretary

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

at the U.S. Department of State * Joseph D. Hatch, Vermont state legislator and mayor of

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

* Jim Holland, Olympic ski jumper (1992 & 1994) * Joe Holland, Olympic Nordic combined skier (1988 & 1992) * Mike Holland, Olympic ski jumper (1984 & 1988) * Norris Hoyt, politician and lawyer * Hannah Kearney, Olympic medalist mogul skier (2010 gold, 2014 bronze) * Bob Keeshan, television's ''"

Captain Kangaroo ''Captain Kangaroo'' is an American children's television series that aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for 29 years, from 1955 to 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program ...

"'' * Laurence G. Leavitt, headmaster of Vermont Academy, Saxtons River * Tony Lupien, first baseman with the

Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ch ...

, Phillies and

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The club plays its home games at Rate Fie ...

* David Macaulay, author and illustrator * Felix McGrath, Olympic alpine skier * Freya von Moltke, author and lecturer on German resistance to

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

* Robby Mook, presidential campaign manager for

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

* George Sylvester Morris, educator and philosophical writer *

, founder of

* Lewis Samuel Partridge, nephew of Alden Partridge, U.S. Marshal for Vermont, and Adjutant General of the Vermont Militia * Kevin Pearce, snowboarder * Simon Pearce, glassblower; designer; restaurateur * Thomas E. G. Ransom, general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy (; July 6, 1888February 24, 1973) was a historian and social philosophy, social philosopher, whose work spanned the disciplines of history, theology, sociology, linguistics and beyond. Born in Berlin, Germany into a non-obs ...

, historian and social philosopher * Paul Sample, artist * Walter H. Stockmayer, chemist and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

professor *

Peter Welch Peter Francis Welch (born May 2, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2023 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party (Unit ...

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

; former U.S. Congressman and Minority Leader of the

Vermont Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members elected from multi-member districts. Each senator repre ...

* Andrew Wheating, Olympic 800-meter runner (2008) * Edward Bancroft Williston,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient * George Wright, general in the

References

External links

Town of Norwich official website

{{Authority control Vermont populated places on the Connecticut River Towns in Vermont Towns in Windsor County, Vermont Populated places established in 1761 1761 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies