St. Johnsbury (known locally as "St. J") is the shire

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 ...

(

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

) of Caledonia County,

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. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,364. St. Johnsbury is situated on the Passumpsic River and is located approximately six miles northwest of 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 ...

and south of the Canada–U.S. border. St. Johnsbury is the largest town by population in the

Northeast Kingdom The Northeast Kingdom (also, locally, "The Kingdom" and abbreviated NEK) is the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, approximately comprising Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties and with a population of 64,764 at the 2010 census. T ...

of Vermont and has long served as a commercial center for the region. The more densely settled southern one-third of the town is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the St. Johnsbury

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

, where over 81% of the population resides.

History

The town was originally granted in 1760 as part of the

New Hampshire Grants The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants, totaling about 135 (including 131 towns), were made ...

and named Bessborough. It was regranted by Vermont in 1786 as Dunmore, and settled the same year. An early settler was Jonathan Arnold, a member of the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

and author of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

's act of secession from the

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

in May 1776. Arnold left Rhode Island in 1787 and, with six other families, built homes at what is now the town center. St Johnsbury Monument

By 1790, the village had grown to 143 inhabitants, and the first town meeting took place in Arnold's home that year, where the name St. Johnsbury was adopted. According to local lore, Vermont founder

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, writer, military officer and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War, and wa ...

himself proposed naming the town St. John in honor of his friend Jean de Crèvecœur, a French-born author and agriculturist and a friend of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

. (He was known in the United States as J. Hector St. John.) According to this account, de Crèvecœur suggested instead the unusual St. Johnsbury to differentiate it from Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. In the mid-19th century, St. Johnsbury became a minor manufacturing center, with the main products being

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

—the platform scale was invented there by

Thaddeus Fairbanks Thaddeus Fairbanks (January 17, 1796April 12, 1886) was an American businessman, mechanic, and engineer. He invented furnaces, cooking stoves, cast iron steel plows, and other metal items related to farming. He invented and manufactured the firs ...

in 1830—and

maple syrup Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...

and related products. With the arrival of the railroad line from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in the 1850s, St. Johnsbury grew quickly and was named the shire town (county seat) in 1856, replacing Danville. The oldest occupied residence in St. Johnsbury was built in 1798 and located on the corner of Summer and Central streets, attached to the J. J. Palmer house. The former St. Johnsbury Fairground was located where Interstates 91 and 93 converge, south of the town. The Third Vermont Regiment drilled there prior to joining the Union Army during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The first air flight in Vermont occurred at the fair on April 19, 1910. In the 1940s the town contained three major industrial companies, each then the largest of its type in the world. One was Fairbanks Scales, another was a maple sugar candy company, while a third made candlepins for bowling. The rest of the economy was mostly rural.Oral history
conducted by Richard B. Verrone, Ph.D., The Vietnam Archive at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, 2006. Pp 27–8. Quote from former Caledonia reporter Barry Zorthian. Retrieved February 11, 2011.

Geography

St. Johnsbury is located at , elevation 212.4 m (697 ft). 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 0.96%, is water. Situated at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the Passumpsic,

Moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

and Sleeper's rivers, the town lies at the heart of the Passumpsic River basin, one of the largest of the upper

watershed. St. Johnsbury is on the site of the northernmost boundary of Lake Hitchcock, the post-glacial predecessor to the Connecticut River. The town includes the unincorporated villages of St. Johnsbury, East St. Johnsbury, Goss Hollow, and St. Johnsbury Center. 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 ...

, which is defined as a

(CDP), encompasses the villages of St. Johnsbury and St. Johnsbury Center and covers an area of , about 36% of the area of the town. The highest point in St. Johnsbury is an unnamed hill in the northwestern part of town east of Libby Road. The twin summits of the hill each rise above above sea level.

Climate

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 2010, there were 7,604 people, 3,236 households, and 1,917 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 209 people per square mile (79.7/km²). There were 3,482 housing units at an average density of 94.49/sq mi (36.5/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.5%

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 ...

, 0.8%

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 ...

, 0.7% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.2% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. 1.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 3,197 households, out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.5% 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, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.85. In the town, the population was spread out, with 12.8% under the age of 18, 19.1% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $20,269, and the median income for a family was $41,961. Males had a median income of $30,846 versus $22,131 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 $16,807. 14.7% of the population and 12.0% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 37.8% are under the age of 18 and 11.1% are 65 or older.

Town center

The U.S. Census Bureau refers to the most developed portion of the town as a

(CDP). As of the

of 2000, there were 6,319 people, 2,726 households, and 1,561 families residing in the CDP. The

was 486.8 people per square mile (188.0/km²). There were 2,985 housing units at an average density of 230.0 per square mile (88.8/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.23%

, 0.47%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 0.74% Native American, 0.65% 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 ...

, 0.27% from other races, and 1.60% 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 1.35% of the population. There were 2,726 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.6% were

living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.7% were non-families. 35.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.83. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 22.3% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.4 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $26,702, and the median income for a family was $39,890. Males had a median income of $31,454 versus $21,283 for females. The

for the CDP was $16,561. About 12.8% of families and 15.8% 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 24.3% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

* St. Johnsbury Academy is a private high school founded by the Fairbanks family, including Erastus Fairbanks, in 1842. The town of St. Johnsbury does not operate a public school for grades 9–12, but Vermont law requires towns not operating schools to pay tuition to other approved schools for students in the grades not provided, an amount up to the Average Announced Tuition for union schools. A majority of St. Johnsbury secondary school students choose to be educated at St. Johnsbury Academy at the town's expense. * St. Johnsbury Trade School opened in September 1918, offering the only four year vocational education in the area. The school's founders, Fairbanks, Morse and Company, wanted to provide young people with the opportunity to learn a trade while providing them a base for earning more money and high school courses. After serving the community for over 50 years, the Trade School was closed, and the building then became the junior high. In 1981, it became the St. Johnsbury Middle School. After consolidating the local school system, the old trade school became the site of the St. Johnsbury School serving students from K–8th grade. * St. Johnsbury School now serves pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. * Good Shepherd School is operated by St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church and serves pre-school through 8th grade.

Government

Fire department

In 2010, the town employed ten firefighters. The department had an annual budget of $945,920. It has had a professional department since ''circa'' 1910.

Social services

Social services are provided in part by Northeast Kingdom Community Action located here and in other Northeast Kingdom sites.

Economy

Industry

E.T. & H.K. Ide Company, a grain wholesaler founded in 1813, was the oldest continuously operating business in town when the family stopped operations in 2003. It is no longer operational. * Fairbanks Scales, precision machinery and manufacturing company still in business after more than 190 years, employs 160 workers. * Maple Grove Farms of Vermont was founded by Katharine Ide Gray in 1915. It is the largest packer of pure maple syrup in the United States. In 2006, they employed 100 and had sales of $75 million. They are a subsidiary of B&G Foods.

Retail

Green Mountain Mall is a shopping mall north of downtown St. Johnsbury on

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 ...

. The anchor store was

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

. On December 16, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing as part of a plan to close 15 stores nationwide. The store closed in May 2021.

Medical

The Northeast Kingdom Human Services aids mental health needs. The Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital is located in the town.

Culture

St. Johnsbury is the home of the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium which opened in 1891 as a gift of Franklin Fairbanks, a businessman, naturalist and philanthropist, to the community. His donated collections remain northern New England’s most extensive natural history display, and the National Register-listed building is a splendid example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Fairbanks Museum is well known in Vermont for producing the "Eye on the Sky" weather forecast which is broadcast on

Vermont Public Radio Vermont Public Co. is the public broadcaster serving the U.S. state of Vermont. Its headquarters, newsroom, and radio studios are located in Colchester, with television studios in Winooski. It operates two statewide radio services aligned wit ...

and Magic 97.7 FM. There has been an annual First Night community celebration of the arts on New Year's Eve since 1993. The town contains the only

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in the county, as well as the only one in the

- the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. The town also contains 13 other places on the list of

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, the most in Caledonia County or the Northeast Kingdom: # Benoit Apartment House-74 Pearl Street (added June 6, 1994) # Benoit Apartment House-76 Pearl Street (added June 6, 1994) # Caleb H. Marshall House — 53 Summer St. (added September 16, 1994) # Cote Apartment House — 16 Elm St. (added June 6, 1994) # Franklin Fairbanks House — 30 Western Ave. (added October 27, 1980) # Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium – 1302 Main St. (added December 31, 2007) # Maple Street-Clarks Avenue Historic District — 17-49 Maple St., 4-34 Clarks Ave., 95-101 Main St., 4 and 6 Frost Ave. and 3 and 5 Idlewood Terr. (added June 5, 1994) # Morency Paint Shop and Apartment Building — 73-77 Portland St. (added June 5, 1994) # Railroad Street Historic District — roughly bounded north and south by Railroad St. and Canadian Pacific RR tracks (added July 25, 1974) FairbanksMuseum StJohnsburyVT

# Shearer and Corser Double House — 81-83 Summer St. (added September 16, 1994) # St. Johnsbury Federal Fish Culture Station — 374 Emerson Falls Rd. (added April 18, 2005) # St. Johnsbury Historic District — U.S. 5 and U.S. 2 (added May 17, 1980) # St. Johnsbury Main Street Historic District — area along Main St. including intersecting streets (added June 28, 1975) The town is mentioned in Hayden Carruth's classic poem "Regarding Chainsaws." Carruth lived and farmed in that area of Vermont for many years.

Media

'' The Caledonian-Record'', a daily newspaper, has been published since 1837. ''Farming, the Journal of Northeast Agriculture'' is published locally.

Infrastructure

Transportation

The following roads facilitate traffic:

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 ...

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

U.S. Route 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected ...

and Vermont Route 2B. Three exits from Interstate 91 serve the town. The northern terminus of Interstate 93 is at I-91 at the southern border of the town, and I-93 Exit 1, while just over the line in the town of

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, serves the eastern side of St. Johnsbury.

Notable people

Footnotes

References

*
St. Johnsbury history *Speedboat Hubcap Capital of the World

External links

*
Town of St. Johnsbury official website

St. Johnsbury Community Archives

Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Saint Johnsbury, Vermont County seats in Vermont Saint Johnsbury, Vermont