St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Image:Village from Harris Hill, St. Johnsbury, VT.jpg

Image:South Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT.jpg

The town was originally granted in 1760 as part of the New Hampshire Grants 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 and author of Rhode Island's act of secession from the Kingdom of Great Britain in May 1776. Arnold left Rhode Island in 1787 and, with six other families, built homes at what is now the town center.{{Cite book | last = Coolidge | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n956 908]–909| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859. }}

File:St Johnsbury Monument.jpg.]]

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 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. (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.{{cite web|url=http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/stjohnsbury.html|title=virtualvermont.com|website=www.virtualvermont.com|date=August 13, 2018 }}{{cite journal

|authorlink=Franklin Benjamin Sanborn

|first=Franklin Benjamin

|last=Sanborn

|title=Hector St. John, An Old Evasive Planter

|journal=Massachusetts Magazine

|volume=9

|number=2

|year=1916

|pages=163–183

|url=https://archive.org/stream/massachusettsmagv9sale#page/n331/mode/2up}}

In the mid-19th century, St. Johnsbury became a minor manufacturing center, with the main products being scales—the platform scale was invented there by Thaddeus Fairbanks in 1830—and maple syrup and related products. With the arrival of the railroad line from Boston to Montreal 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.{{Cite news | first=Joseph | last=Gresser | title=Coffin shares Civil War stories with NVDA | newspaper=the Chronicle | location=Barton, Vermont | page= 12 | date=September 21, 2011 }} The first air flight in Vermont occurred at the fair on April 19, 1910.{{Cite news | title=The Vermont Bicentennial Calendar | newspaper=The NEK Civil War Newsletter 2010 | location=Brownington, Vermont | page= 8 | date=September 2010 }}

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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100327012857/http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/oh/OH0540/OH0540.pdf Oral history], conducted by Richard B. Verrone, Ph.D., The Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University, 2006. Pp 27–8. Quote from former Caledonia reporter Barry Zorthian. Retrieved February 11, 2011.

St. Johnsbury is located at {{Coord|44|25|N|72|01|W}}, elevation 212.4 m (697 ft).{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}} According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of {{convert|95.2|km2|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|94.3|km2|order=flip}} is land and {{convert|0.9|km2|order=flip}}, or 0.96%, is water.{{cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US5000562200| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212163101/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US5000562200| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 12, 2020| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): St. Johnsbury town, Caledonia County, Vermont| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=February 6, 2013}} Situated at the confluence of the Passumpsic, Moose and Sleeper's rivers, the town lies at the heart of the Passumpsic River basin, one of the largest of the upper Connecticut River watershed.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctrivertravel.net/st-johnsbury.htm|title=St. Johnsbury: Connecticut River Byway|website=ctrivertravel.net|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070410105004/http://www.ctrivertravel.net/st-johnsbury.htm|archive-date=April 10, 2007}} 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.[http://home.att.net/~local_history/Caledonia-Co-VT.htm Caledonia County, Vermont Local History and Genealogy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106022904/http://home.att.net/~local_history/Caledonia-Co-VT.htm |date=January 6, 2010 }} The town center, which is defined as a census-designated place (CDP), encompasses the villages of St. Johnsbury and St. Johnsbury Center and covers an area of {{convert|33.9|sqkm|order=flip}}, about 36% of the area of the town.{{cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US5062125| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212202957/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/1600000US5062125| url-status=dead| archive-date=February 12, 2020| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): St. Johnsbury CDP, Vermont| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=February 6, 2013}}

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 {{convert|486|m|order=flip}} above sea level.U.S. Geological Survey St. Johnsbury, VT 7.5 by 15-minute quadrangle, 1983.

{{Weather box

|location = St. Johnsbury, Vermont

|single line = Y

|Jan record high F = 63

|Feb record high F = 62

|Mar record high F = 84

|Apr record high F = 92

|May record high F = 94

|Jun record high F = 98

|Jul record high F = 99

|Aug record high F = 98

|Sep record high F = 95

|Oct record high F = 89

|Nov record high F = 77

|Dec record high F = 67

|year record high F= 99

|Jan high F = 27.6

|Feb high F = 32.0

|Mar high F = 42.4

|Apr high F = 55.9

|May high F = 69.9

|Jun high F = 77.1

|Jul high F = 80.8

|Aug high F = 78.2

|Sep high F = 69.3

|Oct high F = 57.6

|Nov high F = 43.4

|Dec high F = 31.5

|Jan low F = 6.4

|Feb low F = 8.3

|Mar low F = 19.6

|Apr low F = 31.1

|May low F = 42.7

|Jun low F = 52.1

|Jul low F = 56.8

|Aug low F = 55.4

|Sep low F = 47.4

|Oct low F = 36.4

|Nov low F = 27.6

|Dec low F = 13.7

|Jan record low F = −35

|Feb record low F = −43

|Mar record low F = −27

|Apr record low F = −2

|May record low F = 20

|Jun record low F = 30

|Jul record low F = 36

|Aug record low F = 33

|Sep record low F = 22

|Oct record low F = 13

|Nov record low F = −13

|Dec record low F = −42

|year record low F= −43

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 2.88

|Feb precipitation inch = 2.04

|Mar precipitation inch = 2.57

|Apr precipitation inch = 2.74

|May precipitation inch = 3.35

|Jun precipitation inch = 3.88

|Jul precipitation inch = 3.84

|Aug precipitation inch = 4.21

|Sep precipitation inch = 3.47

|Oct precipitation inch = 3.24

|Nov precipitation inch = 3.32

|Dec precipitation inch = 3.00

|Jan snow inch = 22.7

|Feb snow inch = 16.8

|Mar snow inch = 15.1

|Apr snow inch = 5.3

|May snow inch = 0.2

|Jun snow inch = 0

|Jul snow inch = 0

|Aug snow inch = 0

|Sep snow inch = 0.1

|Oct snow inch = 0.6

|Nov snow inch = 6.6

|Dec snow inch = 20.8

|year snow inch=

|source 1 = NOAA{{cite web |url=http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/climatenormals/clim20/vt/437054.pdf |title=Climatography of the United States No. 20 |access-date=March 19, 2011 |publisher=NOAA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904075126/http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/climatenormals/clim20/vt/437054.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2014 |url-status=dead }}

|date=March 2011

}}

File:St Jay North Congregational Church.jpg

{{US Census population

|1790= 143

|1800= 663

|1810= 1334

|1820= 1404

|1830= 1592

|1840= 1887

|1850= 2758

|1860= 3469

|1870= 4665

|1880= 5800

|1890= 6567

|1900= 7010

|1910= 8098

|1920= 8708

|1930= 9696

|1940= 9095

|1950= 9292

|1960= 8869

|1970= 8409

|1980= 7938

|1990= 7608

|2000= 7571

|2010= 7604

|2020= 7364

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=May 16, 2015}}

}}

As of the census of 2010, there were 7,604 people, 3,236 households, and 1,917 families residing in the town. The population density 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, 0.8% African American, 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 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 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.

File:Downtown St. Johnsbury.jpg

The U.S. Census Bureau refers to the most developed portion of the town as a census-designated place (CDP).

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,319 people, 2,726 households, and 1,561 families residing in the CDP. The population density 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% White, 0.47% Black or African American, 0.74% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic 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 married couples 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 per capita income for the CDP was $16,561. About 12.8% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.3% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

File:St Johnsbury Academy - Colby Hall.jpg

• 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.{{cite web|url=http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_finance_data.html|title=Programs & Services : School Finance|website=vermont.gov|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224072617/http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pgm_finance_data.html|archive-date=February 24, 2007}} 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.{{cite web| url=http://www.vermonter.com/nek/stjohnsbury4.asp| title=Vermonter.com| date=September 27, 2013}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.stjsd.org|title=Home - St. Johnsbury School|website=www.stjsd.org}} 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.

File:St. Johnsbury Fire Station downtown St. Johnsbury VT September 2012.jpg

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.{{Cite news | first=Lisa | last=Rathke | title=St. Johnsbury debates on-call versus full-time firefighters | publisher=Burlington Free Press | location=Burlington, Vermont | pages= 1B | date=September 18, 2010 }}

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

• File:Caledonia Superior Court.jpgE.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.[http://www.aot.state.vt.us/PressReleases/2008/June/RobertIdetoHeadVtransRailProgram.htm Bio of Robert Ide] retrieved July 8, 2008
• Fairbanks Scales, precision machinery and manufacturing company still in business after more than 190 years, employs 160 workers.{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3675/is_199608/ai_n8754402 |work=Vermont Business Magazine |title=St J loses some, but keeps its eyes level |year=1996 |first=Sylvia |last=Dodge |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616120324/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3675/is_199608/ai_n8754402/ |archive-date=June 16, 2011 }}
• 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.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=69z1qsLK_qkC&q=%22maple+grove+farms%22+st+johnsbury+-.com+largest+in+the+world&pg=PA201|title=Roadtripping USA|first1=Justine|last1=Lescroart|first2=Let's Go|last2=Inc|date=March 31, 2009|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780312385835|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uTBCXqOou0YC&q=%22maple+grove+farms%22+st+johnsbury+-.com&pg=PA259|title=The Vermont Encyclopedia|first1=John J.|last1=Duffy|first2=Samuel B.|last2=Hand|first3=Ralph H.|last3=Orth|date=March 26, 2018|publisher=UPNE|isbn=9781584650867|via=Google Books}} In 2006, they employed 100 and had sales of $75 million. They are a subsidiary of B&G Foods.{{Cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/maple-grove-farms-vermont |title=Maple Grove Farms of Vermont |access-date=July 31, 2017 |author1= Thomson Gale |date=July 31, 2017 |publisher=encyclopedia.com}}

Green Mountain Mall is a shopping mall north of downtown St. Johnsbury on U.S. Route 5.{{cite web|url=http://greenmountainmall.com|title=Green Mountain Mall|website=greenmountainmall.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711204146/http://greenmountainmall.com/|archive-date=July 11, 2012}} The anchor store was JCPenney. 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcboston.com/news/business/jc-penney-to-close-more-stores-in-may/2341757/|title=List: JC Penney to Close More Stores in May|website=www.nbcboston.com|date=March 29, 2021 }}

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

File:St Johnsbury Athenaeum.jpg is the only National Historic Landmark in the Northeast Kingdom.]]

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 and Magic 97.7 FM.

There has been an annual First Night community celebration of the arts on New Year's Eve since 1993.{{cite web|url=http://www.firstnightstj.com/index2.html|title=First Night North in St. Johnsbury 2018|website=www.firstnightstj.com}}

The town contains the only National Historic Landmark in the county, as well as the only one in the Northeast Kingdom - the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. The town also contains 13 other places on the list of National Register of Historic Places, the most in Caledonia County or the Northeast Kingdom:

1. Benoit Apartment House-74 Pearl Street (added June 6, 1994)
2. Benoit Apartment House-76 Pearl Street (added June 6, 1994)
3. Caleb H. Marshall House — 53 Summer St. (added September 16, 1994)
4. Cote Apartment House — 16 Elm St. (added June 6, 1994)
5. Franklin Fairbanks House — 30 Western Ave. (added October 27, 1980)
6. Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium – 1302 Main St. (added December 31, 2007)
7. Maple Street-Clarks Avenue Historic District — 17-49 Maple St., 4-34 Clarks Ave., 95{{frac|1|2}}-101 Main St., 4 and 6 Frost Ave. and 3 and 5 Idlewood Terr. (added June 5, 1994)
8. Morency Paint Shop and Apartment Building — 73-77 Portland St. (added June 5, 1994)
9. Railroad Street Historic District — roughly bounded north and south by Railroad St. and Canadian Pacific RR tracks (added July 25, 1974)File:FairbanksMuseum StJohnsburyVT.JPG
10. Shearer and Corser Double House — 81-83 Summer St. (added September 16, 1994)
11. St. Johnsbury Federal Fish Culture Station — 374 Emerson Falls Rd. (added April 18, 2005)
12. St. Johnsbury Historic District — U.S. 5 and U.S. 2 (added May 17, 1980)
13. 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."{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/689|title=Regarding Chainsaws - Poem of the Day|date=March 26, 2018|website=Poetry Foundation}} Carruth lived and farmed in that area of Vermont for many years.{{cite web|url=http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0504/features/carruth.shtml|title=The University of Chicago Magazine|website=magazine.uchicago.edu}}

The Caledonian-Record, a daily newspaper, has been published since 1837. Farming, the Journal of Northeast Agriculture is published locally.{{Cite news | first=Bethany M. | last=Dunbar | title=Editor travels to Germany to learn about renewable energy | publisher=the Chronicle | location=Barton, Vermont | pages= 1B | date=February 24, 2010 }}

The following roads facilitate traffic: Interstate 91, Interstate 93, U.S. Route 2, U.S. Route 5 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, serves the eastern side of St. Johnsbury.

{{Main|List of people from St. Johnsbury, Vermont}}

• Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
• St. Johnsbury Athenaeum

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |title=Images of America: St. Johnsbury |year=1996 |isbn=0-7524-0260-9 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |author=Claire Dunne Johnson}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/19991005031524/http://crs.uvm.edu/profiles/stjohnsbury/history.htm St. Johnsbury history *Speedboat Hubcap Capital of the World]

{{Commons category|St. Johnsbury, Vermont}}

• {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Saint Johnsbury |volume=24 |page=19|short=x}}
• [http://www.stjvt.com/ Town of St. Johnsbury official website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080518070059/http://www.stjathenaeum.org/docs/archive%20guide.pdf St. Johnsbury Community Archives]
• [http://www.nekchamber.com/ Northeast Kingdom Chamber of Commerce]

{{Caledonia County, Vermont}}

{{Vermont}}

{{Vermont county seats}}

{{authority control}}

Saint Johnsbury, Vermont

Category:County seats in Vermont

Saint Johnsbury, Vermont