THE inland situation of the State of Vermont and her distance from the great arteries of travel and trade as eventually established, prevented the development of internal improvements and large commercial relations until a comparatively recent date. A large share of the attention of town officers in early days was devoted, as is always the case in new settlements, to the laying out of roads and their subsequent improvement; highways of some description are almost the first public necessity with the pioneer. One of the earliest of the roads passing through this county, and one which has always maintained paramount importance, is still known as the Old Military Road, running from Number Four (Charlestown, N. H.), to Crown Point, N. Y. This thoroughfare was opened chiefly as a military measure. Its course was, in brief, as described by another, from Charlestown (which is one hundred and eight miles from Boston), to Nott's Ferry, to Springfield, on through Wethersfield to Charles Button's Tavern on Mill River in Clarendon; then six miles to MEAD's Tavern in Rutland, on the west side of the creek; thence six miles to WATERS 's Tavern; in Pittsford; thence through "Brown's Camp," in Neshobe (now Brandon), twenty miles to MOOR's Tavern in Shoreham, and thence on to Crown Point. It will be seen that it was the old and first north and south road across the country, on the west side of Otter Creek. This road was greatly improved in the year 1776, and a bridge was built across Otter Creek at Center Rutland.

      In the same year a new road was opened from Mount Independence, on Lake Champlain, through Hubbardton to Center Rutland. The latter was then a point of considerable importance; one of three old forts in the county was situated at the head of the falls (then called Mead's Falls, after Colonel James MEAD, the pioneer of Rutland), and the place bade fair in those days to be the center of the future business of Rutland county.

      Other important early roads, opened before the beginning of the present century, were the north and south road from Clarendon through Rutland to Pittsford, a portion of which is the present main street in Rutland village; this highway was originally given a width of six rods; the Woodstock turnpike, from Rutland to Woodstock; and the road from Rutland through Castleton and Fairhaven to Whitehall; the latter was for many years one of the most important highways in the State; a portion of it now constitutes West street, in Rutland village.

      In the year 1818, Thomas HAMMOND, of Pittsfield, Nathaniel PENNIMAN, of Windsor, and Moses STRONG, of Rutland, were made commissioners to lay out a road from the court-house in Windsor, through Reading, Plymouth and. Shrewsbury to the court-house in Rutland; and others rapidly followed as the demand for travel and business rendered them necessary.

      It is not uncommon to hear old residents speak with a sort of admiration of the days when the principal roads were traveled daily by stage coaches of the old Concord style, drawn by four or more horses; a tinge of regret is sometimes noticeable in their reminiscences, as if they would fain take another ride of that description. Neither was it a very slow or uncomfortable method of travel. Over the main thoroughfares which we have noticed those often heavily-laden vehicles bowled along from stage-house to stage-house, sweeping up to each stopping-place, whither the sound of the horn had preceded them, the drivers wielding the long whip with wonderful skill and manipulating the four-in-hand with the greatest dexterity.

      In early days the old Franklin House in Rutland was a famous stage-house and gained a wide reputation for the excellent accommodations offered to travelers. Those old houses in various parts of the county will be further noticed in the subsequent town histories. Many of the men afterward prominent in business and railroads were identified with the early stage lines of the county. But, with many other ancient institutions which were thought good and rapid enough for the forefathers, the old stages were destined to wholly disappear before the march of improvement.

      In early times it was quite customary to inaugurate lotteries to raise funds for the prosecution of public enterprises. Thus we find that on the 27th of October, 1791, a lottery was authorized to raise three hundred pounds to build the road from Woodstock to Rutland; and in October, 1792, another scheme was inaugurated to raise six hundred pounds to aid in building a court-house in Rutland. Other lotteries were authorized to build roads from Castleton to Sudbury and one in Shrewsbury, all before 1800. These pernicious schemes were not looked upon with the just aversion they now receive. About the beginning of the present century a healthy sentiment was born relative to lotteries and no new grants were made after 1804.

      Facilities for travel and transportation of products and goods into and out of Rutland county were restricted to teams for many years, which undoubtedly long exerted an influence against the growth of this region. The attractive hills and valleys of Western New York, reached easily by canal and railroad long before such means of transportation had touched Vermont to any considerable extent, and, later, the still more alluring fields farther west, drew many home-seekers, not only away from this northern region, but directly out of it. This state of affairs was deplored not only by individuals, but in the public newspapers.

      As railroad and canal builders the American people lead all nations. Previous to the opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823, a large share of the surplus produce of this locality was transported eastward and northward and thus reached the seacoast markets; but with the opening of that waterway all was changed in a day. The tide of commercial transportation and travel turned westward, finding its outlet in New York; an impetus of great importance to Rutland county was also given to all kinds of industry, the effects of which are still apparent. The spectacle which had been witnessed on Lake Champlain in early times, of lumber, pot and pearl ashes and what other products could be spared for market, going northward to Quebec from the western part of Vermont, was no longer seen. Mercantile goods now came up from New York city and breadstuffs from the west. Lake Champlain became a commercial highway, whose blue waters were thickly dotted by white sails and puffing steamers from the opening of navigation to its close; in 1838 Vermont alone had on the lake four steamboats, seventeen sloops, fifteen schooners and thirty-one canal boats. It seemed that a new era of commercial history had begun.

      Some efforts were made during this period to navigate the upper Connecticut by steamboats, the first in 1827, when a boat called the Barnet ascended as far as Bellows Falls; this craft was afterward taken to Hartford and finally broken up. In 1829 a Mr. BLANCHARD built two steamboats, one of which was named for himself and was about the same size as the Barnet, and the other eighty feet long and drawing but twelve or fifteen inches of water. These boats made a few trips between Barnet and Bellows Falls and were then abandoned.

      The success and business importance of the Champlain Canal and the Erie Canal in New York State inaugurated a sort of canal fever throughout the country, the latter named State being especially affected by it, while Vermont nearly escaped. One enterprise of this nature, however, interested this county for a brief period. On the 17th of November, 1825, the "Otter Creek and Castleton River Canal Company" was incorporated, under the names of Eliakim JOHNSON, Moseley HALL, Henry HODGES, Frederick BUTTON, Moses STRONG, Francis SLASON, Thomas HAMMOND, Sturgis PENFIELD, John CONANT, Henry OLIVER, A. W. BROUGHTON, Aaron BARROWS, Harvey DEMING, Ira STEWART, Jonathan HAGAR, John MEACHAM, James ARMS, Reuben MOULTON, Elisha PARKHILL, John P. COLBURN and Jacob DAVY; several of these gentlemen were prominent citizens of Rutland county. The objectives of this company were to "maintain a canal or railways, or improve the navigation of Castleton River and Otter Creek, by canals, railways, or other streams from the village of Middlebury to the village of Wallingford, from the creek in Rutland to the East Bay, or to the line of the State of New York, to intersect a canal such as may be branched out from the northern canal in the State of New York to the east line of the said State." This was a nick-looking enterprise, but it moved very little farther than the incorporation. Other navigation enterprises were suggested and discussed; but the State of Vermont was destined to prosper without canals.
 
 

      Between the years 1830 and 1840 the people of this region began to believe that if they would enjoy the degree of prosperity allotted to other States, they must have railroads. This feeling culminated in vigorous efforts, which for several years promised to be successful, to build the Rutland and Whitehall Railroad. It was seen by such men as Moses M. STRONG (who was always foremost in enterprises of this nature), George T. HODGES, Solomon FOOT, E. L. ORMSBEE and many others of energy, that if this distance between the places named, over which Rutland county had to transport almost all of her products, goods and travel, could be spanned by a railroad, it must inevitably prove a prosperous line and give this county just the outlet it needed. The first notice of a public railroad meeting in the county called a gathering at "Beaman's Hotel" (the Franklin Hotel), April 13, 1836. The proceedings of this meeting are not extant. The charter for the road had been obtained, bearing date November 9, 1831. The first charter was allowed to expire and in 1836 a new charter was granted. In November of the same year the Legislature passed the bill incorporating the Rutland and Whitehall Railroad Bank, with a capital of $250,000, the railroad company having an equal amount; the incorporators being Moses STRONG, George T. HODGES, A. L. BROWN, E. L. ORMSBEE, B. F. LANGDON and C. W. CONANT. The early consummation of the enterprise seemed certain. Stock subscription books were opened in Whitehall on the 15th and 16th of May, 1837, and subscriptions were liberal. The selectmen of Rutland had already been instructed to petition the Legislature for an act authorizing the town to subscribe $20,000 for the road. The newspapers of the spring of 1827 called loudly on the citizens of the town to arouse themselves in aid of the enterprise and pay no heed to the rumors of approaching "hard times." But the work languished, even after a large portion of the stock had been subscribed. A public meeting in aid of the road was held at the court-house in Rutland April 10, 1838, with William C. KITTRIDGE in the chair. A committee, previously appointed, submitted a plan through the hands of E. L. ORMSBEE. Another committee of three (Solomon FOOT, Moses STRONG and E. L. ORMSBEE) was appointed to examine the condition of the charter and the enterprise, and report upon its advantages as an investment for capitalists. The subsequent report was long and exhaustive, giving estimates of cost, probable business, profits, etc. On the 19th of June in that year it was announced that one-fourth of the stock necessary to be taken in this town had been subscribed. But the enterprise was doomed, not through its lack of promise, or any cause outside of the oncoming financial crisis which paralyzed all similar enterprises. Rutland county was forced to wait a period for its railroad. 

      On the 1st of November, 1843, a company was incorporated with the right and for the purpose of building a railroad "from some point on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, thence up the valley of Onion River, and extending to a point on the Connecticut River most convenient to meet a railroad either from Concord, N. H., or Fitchburgh, Mass." Stock was subscribed for the enterprise, and in the spring of 1847 work upon the construction of the Vermont Central Railroad was commenced. Various financial difficulties and controversies with other enterprises of a like kind followed, delaying its completion until 1849, when, in November of that year, the first train of cars passed over it. Its final route was decided upon as follows: commencing at Windsor, it follows the Connecticut River to the mouth of White River, thence up that stream to the source of its third branch; thence, reaching the summit in Roxbury, and passing down the valley of Dog River, it enters the Winooski valley, near Montpelier; and thence, continuing in the Winooski valley, near Montpelier; and thence continuing in the Winooski valley, its terminus is reached at Burlington, a distance of one hundred and seventeen miles.

      The Vermont and Canada Railroad Company was incorporated by the General Assembly, October 31, 1845, and amended and altered, November 15, 1847, giving a right to build a railroad "from some point in Highgate, on the Canada line, thence through the village of St. Albans, to some point or points in Chittenden county, most convenient for meeting, at the village of Burlington, a railroad to be built on the route described in the acts to incorporate the Champlain and Connecticut River Railroad Company, and the Vermont Central Railroad Company." The route decided upon was from Rouse's Point to Burlington, a distance of fifty-three miles, passing through the towns of Colchester, Milton, Georgia, St. Albans, Swanton and Alburgh. Ground was broken for its construction early in September, 1848, in the northern part of Georgia, and completed and opened to the public early in 1851.

      By the subsequent organization of the present Central Vermont Railroad Company, however, these roads all came under its control, and are now operated by the same, as different branches of the Central Vermont Railroad. The company has its principal office at St. Albans, with the following list of officers: J. Gregory SMITH, president; J. R. LANGDON, vice-president; J. W. HOBART, general manager; J. M. FOSS, general superintendent and master mechanic; E. A. CHITTENDEN, superintendent of local freight traffic; and S. W. CUMMINGS, general passenger agent. Directors, J. Gregory SMITH, J. R. LANGDON, W. H. H. BINGHAM, B. P. CHENEY, Ezra H. BAKER, Joseph HICKSON, E. C. SMITH; clerk, George NICHOLS; treasurer, D. D. RANLETT.

      The above described lines of road have all exerted an influence upon the growth and prosperity of Rutland county, and form prominent parts of the present important system of the State.

      The railroad between Rutland and Bennington was built under an act of the Legislature, passed November 5, 1845, incorporating the Western Vermont Railroad Company. The company was duly organized, and the first board of directors, elected February 28, 1850, was Myron CLARK, president; Aaron R. VAIL, vice-president; Robert PIERPOINT, Robinson HALL, Ira COCHRAN, Martin C. DEMING, Asahel HURD, Lemuel BOTTUM, Alanson P. LYMAN. Seneca SMITH was chosen clerk. The road was put into operation in 1852. The title of the original stockholders having been extinguished by the foreclosure of the first mortgage, January 1, 1857, the road passed into the possession of Shepherd KNAPP and George BRIGGS, trustees, who leased it to the Troy and Boston Railroad Company, by which it was run until January 16, 1867. Meantime, July 28, 1865, the bondholders organized a new corporation, called the Bennington and Rutland Railroad Company, of which the first board of. directors were Trenor W. PARK, president; Hiland HALL, Alanson P. LYMAN, Charles E. HOUGHTON, M. Carter HALL, Charles G. LINCOLN, treasurer; Nathaniel B. HALL, Hugh Henry BAXTER. George W. HARMON, clerk.

      Subsequently, on the 8th day of August, 1877, a new corporation, called the Bennington and Rutland Railway Company, was organized with the following named directors:  Abraham B. GARDNER, president; Augustus SCHELL, Cornelius VANDERBILT, Benjamin R. SEARS and Trenor W. PARK. George W, HARMON was chosen clerk, and C. E. HOUGHTON, treasurer.

      The road is now run by that company, and the following are its officers: S. H. HALL, president; C. E. HOUGHTON, treasurer; directors (besides the above), D. M. EOWEN, G. W. HARMON, F. C. WHITE, the latter being superintendent.

      The Rutland and Washington Railroad Company was organized under an act approved by the Legislature November 13, 1847. The first meeting was held at West Poultney on the 23d of February, 1848, at which the following board of directors was chosen: Merritt CLARK, Marcus G. LANGDON, Henry STANLEY, Isaac W. THOMPSON, Horace CLARK, Edgar L. ORMSBEE and Milton BROWN. Merritt CLARK was subsequently elected president and Horace CLARK, his brother, treasurer and superintendent. The board of directors continued nearly the same for two years, when the road was opened through to Salem, forming a continuous line from Rutland to Troy, N. Y. Four years from the day of organization Horace CLARK, a pioneer and master-spirit in projecting and completing the road, died, on the 25th of February, 1852; the day appointed for celebrating its opening witnessed his funeral rites and burial. The road cost about one million of dollars and did not at first prove a financial success. Jay GOULD became superintendent of the road January 1, 1864, having his headquarters for the first two years at Rutland, boarding at the Bardwell House. In July of 1876 he negotiated the sale of the road to the D. & H. C. Company, by which it is still owned and operated as part of their extensive system.

      The Champlain and Connecticut River Railroad was incorporated November 1, 1843. The first meeting of stockholders was held at Rutland, May 6, 1845, with Timothy FOLLETT, of Burlington, chairman, and Ambrose L. BROWN, of Rutland, clerk. Voted to open subscription for stock June 10, 1845.

      June 12, 1845, more than 2,000 shares having been subscribed to the capital stock, stockholders were notified to meet at the court-house in Rutland for choice of nine directors, which were chosen as follows: Timothy FOLLETT, Samuel BARKER, Ira STEWART, Charles Linsley, John A. CONANT, Chester GRANGER, George T. HODGES, William HENRY and Henry N. FULLERTON. Subsequently, January 14, 1846, the following were chosen directors in place of the old board: Timothy FOLLETT, Samuel P. STRONG, William NASH, Charles LINSLEY, John A. CONANT, Chester GRANGER, George T. HODGES, Nathaniel FULLERTON, William HENRY, John ELLIOTT, Horace GRAY, Samuel DANA and Samuel HENSHAW, with Timothy FOLLETT president.

      The first blow towards its construction was struck during the month of February, 1847, in the town of Rockingham, near Bellows Falls. Two years and nine months sufficed to complete the road, and it was opened through, December 18, 1849.

      The name of the road was changed to the Rutland and Burlington Railroad Company by an act of the Legislature, November 6, 1847. It was subsequently changed to the Rutland Railroad Company. Hon. John B. PAGE was president at the time of his death, in October, 1885, and Joel M. HAVEN treasurer. Thus, through various changes and vicissitudes, litigations and bankruptcy, the whole line, its buildings, etc., on the 1st day of January, 1871, was leased for a period of twenty years to the Vermont Central Railroad Company.

      The Rutland and Whitehall Railroad, running from Castleton to Whitehall, twenty-four miles, was organized under an act approved by the Legislature November 13, 1847, and the road was finished in 1850.Soon after its completion it was leased to the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Company, by which it was operated until 1866, when it was leased to and operated under the administration of Jay GOULD. On the 1st of July of the same year the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company took the road under a perpetual lease, by which it is now operated as a branch of their great system.

      A.W. and Pitt W. HYDE, William C. KITTRIDGE and Alanson ALBEE were the chief promoters of this enterprise in its earlier days. The first officers of the company were A. W. HYDE, of Castleton, president; Alanson ALBEE, of Fairhaven, vice-president; P. W. HYDE, clerk; and W. C. KITTRIDGE, of Fairhaven, treasurer. These, with W. W. COOLEY, now president of the corporation, constituted the first board of directors.

      The era of railroads in Rutland county, which may be said to date from about 1850, worked immediate and tremendous changes; especially was this true of the town of Rutland and the village of the same name. It is doubtful if there is another town, possibly county, in the State that was changed so universally from an inland agricultural district, without rapid communication with the outside world, to a great railroad center by the construction of the lines described, all of which were put in operation within a very short period. The village of Rutland, the commercial metropolis of the county, awakened from its lethargy at the top of the beautiful eminence crossed by Main street and struggled persistently and vigorously down the hillside towards the depot. Lands in that locality were purchased by far-seeing men, and the advance in prices of such real estate that was only a few years earlier an object of ridicule, on account of its low and marshy character, was something almost phenomenal for a long-settled region. Melzar EDSON purchased about the year 1845 a ten acre tract of William HALL, lying to the eastward of Merchants Row to Vales street and bounded on the north by West street, for which he paid $1,750. In 1883 one building lot on the corner of Edson and West streets sold for $2,500. This tract now embraces the most thickly-settled and valuable portion of the village, some of it on Center street being worth $150 a foot.

      Evelyn PIERPOINT owns a place, No. 19 West street, that was mortgaged in 1810 for $1,350, and would not have sold for much more than the face of the security down to the time of railroad building; it is now valuable property. The lot, a part of which is occupied by the Congregational church, West and Court streets, was sold as late as 1835 by Robert PIERPOINT for $550. Down to 1840 Shrewsbury, Clarendon and Castleton disputed the claim of Rutland to commercial importance. The grounds now occupied by the railroad buildings, formerly a portion of the John RUGGLES farm, were a cow pasture. A tract of land lying substantially between Center street and the railroad tracks and east of a portion of Merchants Row, bounded north by West street, and east by a line drawn directly by the "Tuttle Building" to the Bardwell House, was offered to Mr. PIERPOINT about 1848 for $1,000. He vainly endeavored to get other citizens to join with him in the purchase; one of those men has since paid $3,000 for a small lot thereon, facing Merchants Row. These are only examples indicating the wonderful growth of the village of Rutland and the changes wrought by the railroads. The people of the county at large saw the dawn of rapidly advancing prosperity and their visions have been fully realized.

      We will close this chapter with an extract from an Albany newspaper of the year 1852 which states "that land in Rutland that was in market six years ago at $60 an acre is now held at $2,500 and $3,000. Eight years ago Vermont was without a railroad; now Rutland is a central railroad point. No less than six lines enter Rutland, over which run forty-five trains a day."
 
 

"History of Rutland County Vermont with Illustrations & 
Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men & Pioneers"
Edited by H. Y. Smith & W. S. Rann, Syracuse, N. Y.
D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1886
History of Rutland County
Chapter XI.
(pages 154-162)

Transcribed by Karima, 2002