USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Rutland > Historical Rutland; an illustrated history of Rutland, Vermont, from the granting of the charter in 1761 to 1911 > Part 2
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The first practicing attorney in Vermont, it will be seen, was John A. Graham.
Robert Pierpont was one of the most eminent of the Rutland County bar. He was born in Litch- field in 1791 and was admitted to the bar in 1812, the same year he removed to Rutland.
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Israel Smith was born in Suf- field, Connecticut, in 1759, re- moved to Rutland in 1791, and in the fall of that year was elect- ed to Congress from the district west of the mountains and re- elected in 1793 and 1795. In 1797 he was elected Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court. In 1801 he was elected U. S. Sen- ator and in 1807 he was elected governor of the State. He died in Rutland, December 2, 1810.
Solomon Foote, one of Rut- land's most distinguished citizens, was born at Cornwall, Novem- ber 19, 1802, settled in Rut- land in 1831, and at once entered upon a successful career, hold- ing various offices in the gift of the State. He was elected to OLD STATE HOUSE, WEST STREET. Congress in 1843, was chosen U. S. Senator in 1850 and served twenty years until. his death in 1866. He was president of the Senate during a part of the thirty-sixth and the whole of the thirty-seventh Congress. He was among the great war senators during the rebellion. He died in Wash- ington, March 28, 1866, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery with most impressive ceremonies, addresses being delivered in the United States Court House by Senator Luke Poland, James R. Doo- little, of Wisconsin, and a Eulogy by Rev. Dr. Norman Seaver.
In 1870 Rutland had about 2,000 families with a population of 10,000, but that included what is now Proctor, West Rutland, Town and City of Rutland.
Space does not permit of more than a mere mention of such worthy names as Charles K. Williams, author of an eminent judicial history of Vermont; Leonard, Charles, Chauncey and Samuel Williams; E. L. Ormsbee, Moses Strong, A. A. Nicholson, Frederic W. Hopkins, Colonel Jesse Gove, William Page, Darius Chipman, Ambrose L. Brown, J. T. Nichols, Rodney C. Royes, Nathan B. Graham. This is but a brief record of some of the more conspicuous members of the county bar who attained positions entitling them to notice and have passed away. It is enough to say that the present bar of Rutland County includes in its membership many who are eminent in their profession and will compare favorably with that of any other county in New England.
County Buildinga
From 1781 to 1784 county court was held at Tinmouth after which it was removed to Rutland. The court house for eight years was the old gambrel roofed house, still standing and occupied as a dwelling on West Street. Externally it was then substantially as it appears now. It had only two rooms, only one of which had a wooden floor. The west one was the court room, having a floor and seats on the north side, a little elevated for the judges, and benches for the jurors, witnesses and spectators. The east room had no floor, and answered all the other purposes of a court house, grand and petit jury room. Here the first U. S. District Court ever held in Vermont had its session, the first Monday in May, 1791, with Nathaniel Chipman as Judge and Frederick Hill as clerk.
Here too the state legislature met in October, 1784 and 1786. The jail was built of logs and stood a few yards northwest of the court house.
In the year 1792, a more commodious court hoouse was built on Main Street, just north of the old Franklin House. It faced the west and was built of wood, framed and clapboarded, the funds for its erection
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being raised by voluntary contributions. The Legislature of 1792 convened therein and on October 25th of that year there was passed "an act for the purpose of raising by lottery the sum of £160 lawful money, for the purpose of defray- ing the expenses of building the new court house in Rutland." In 1828 Geo. W. Daniels, a con- tractor, bricked up the outside of the building eight inches thick, the expense being borne by the citizens. An extension of 20 feet was added in 1844, and for over 75 years justice was dispensed in this building, until it was destroyed by fire, April 3, 1868. The new court house was commenced in 1869 and occupied for the first time in March, 1871. It is a pressed brick structure costing orig- inally $72,000, and is situated on the corner of Court and Center Streets.
The whipping post was an important adjunct of the early courts for the suppression of crime, and one was established, in connection with the pillory, near the present site of the fountain, corner of Main and West Streets. Prisoners convicted of certain crimes were punished in the regulation manner, stripped to the waist, tied up to the ring in the post and lashed with the cat-o'-nine tails, the num- ber of lashes being judged in the sentences. The last record of such punishment in Rutland is as late as 1808. Counterfeiting was one of the offenses in the early years of the existence of the COURT HOUSE. community, and the records give an account of the severe punishment inflicted upon one Canfil Wood and a man named Carpenter in 1785. The sentence of the former was that he "receive fifteen stripes on the Naked Body, on the 15th day of instant (January) in Rutland." Carpenter was sentenced to receive thirty-nine stripes. These sentences were executed, and the feelings of the community towards that class of criminals is indicated by the sheriff's return, on which was endorsed the fact of the execution, followed by the expressive words, "Well laid on!"
In 1808, the principal criminal of those arrested for passing counterfeit money was found guilty and sentenced to stand one hour in the pillory, be whipped thirty-nine lashes at the public whipping post with cat-o'-nine-tails, pay a fine of $500 and costs of prosecution ($67.20), and be confined to hard labor in the state prison for seven years and stand committed until said sentence be complied with. The others received sentences more or less similar. The expedition and certainty of execution observable in those days is seen in the fact that the trial, sentence and execution of the same up to the time of transporta- tion to prison, all took place in one day. Although the day was bitter cold and the snow deep, nearly one hundred sleighs were drawn up around the park, the inhabitants having turned out in large numbers to witness the whipping, which was lustily accomplished, at the close of which the sheriff washed the naked backs of the culprits with rum, which he poured from a large pitcher.
Imprisonment for debt was not abolished in this state until the year 1839, previous to which the courts were burdened with that sort of legal business.
On Woodstock Avenue is a marble post engraved "Jail Limit", beyond which prisoners could not go when out on probation.
An interesting old volume entitled "Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States in the Years 1807 and 1808," published by Edward Augustus Kendall, describes a court scene in Rutland in the early days. The writer says:
"Rutland is the county town of the most populous county in Vermont; and adjacent to the inn at which I put up, is the court house. On my arrival, which was after sunset, I found the public curiosity
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engaged by a sitting in the court house, on some persons apprehended on the charge of counterfeiting bank- bills. As this was an offense of which I had heard much in all parts of Vermont, I had my curiosity, too, and I repaired immediately to the tribunal.
"At my entrance, I saw, through the dusk, about one hundred persons, shabbily dressed, standing, sitting and reclining on the benches and tables, and from this apparent disorder, I came to the instant con- clusion that the court had adjourned, but after a few seconds * * I satisfied myself of my * error. In short, I descried, upon the bench four or five men, dressed like the rest, but differing in this that they were bareheaded, while all the others wore hats.
"Having now made myself acquainted with the court, I looked next for the jury and the prisoners ; but jury there was none; and as for the single prisoner that was present, he sat, undistinguished, among the lookers-on. By degrees, I discovered, that though there were a whole bench of judges, and six or eight lawyers at the bar, this honorable court was engaged merely in an affair of police, the court con- sisting only in the person of one of the magistrates, his bareheaded companions being but assistants in cour- tesy.
"The attorney general for the county of Rutland, aided by a second lawyer, appeared for the prose- cution, and there were also two lawyers who defended the prisoner. These gentlemen, with many others, were seated at a table covered with a green cloth; and upon that table, sat two or three of the sovereign people, with their backs towards the honorable court. In front of the bench, and without the bar, upon a raised platform, was an iron stove, and upon the platform stood half a dozen of the same people. The stove, though both the court and the bar frequently spoke of their sufferings from the cold, and occasionally discussed the propriety of adjourning, to warm themselves in the adjoining public houses, contained neither fire nor fuel.
The presiding judge on this occasion was Theophilus Harrington (or Herrington), the eccentric magistrate of that period of whom many characteristic incidents are related. He was born in Rhode Island in 1762, and emigrated to Clarendon in 1786. It is related of him that on his return to Vermont after a business trip to Rhode Island, he saw a young woman named Betsy Buck in a house which he was passing. It was a case of love at first sight, and so strong was the impression made upon him that he stopped, made suit to her and took her with him as his wife when he left the house shortly. They settled in Clarendon and had a family of twelve children. Harrington represented the town seven years. was Speaker of the House one year; was chief judge of Rutland County Court three years, and a Judge of the Supreme Court ten years. He died November 17, 1813, and was buried at Clarendon with Masonic honors. Perhaps the thing which will never die concerning this remarkable man is his ruling in reference to the return of a fugitive slave. Judge Harrington was applied to in those troublous days for a warrant for the extradition of a negro, who was claimed as a slave. The claimant made out what he regarded as a prima facie case, and then "rested", but the judge intimated that the title to the slave was not satisfac- torily established. Additional evidence was put in, but the judge was still not satisfied. A third attempt was made and proof was furnished that the negro and his ancestors before him had "time out of mind of man" been slaves of the claimant and his ancestors. Still the judge declared that there seemed to be a defect in the title. "Will Your Honor, then," returned the astonished claimant, "be good enough to suggest what is lacking to make a perfect title?" "A bill of sale, sir, from God Almighty," was the reply. This decision, made as it was at a time when slaves were held even in the North, gave Judge Harrington a national reputation and made him immortal.
Hørt Butland
About the commencement of the Revolutionary War a fort was built on North Main Street, near the corner of Terrill at the head of West Street on what was known as the burnt district, covering about half an acre of land. This was known in the early days as the Picket fort. It was built of palisades of maple. sunk in the ground some five feet and about fifteen feet high; the adjoining sides were hewn and joined together : the outside and inside were unhewn; at each corner was a flanker about eight feet square-in the nature of a bastion-so that each outside of the fort could be raked with shot from two flankers. All around the fort, five or six feet from the ground, were portholes six feet apart, only large enough at the center to admit a musket, but radiating inside and outside so that the marksman within could sweep a wide field in front. Within the fort was a small storehouse for provisions and ammunition. The only means of entrance was a bullet-proof gate on the front or west side, a little south of the center. In the southwest
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MEMORIAL
1775
ERECTEDSON BITE OF
FORTERUTLAND
BIORY CHARTER
DAUGHTERS
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
MONUMENT, NORTH MAIN AND WEST STREETS.
corner was a well. The fort is said to have been built by voluntary labor as a place of defense from Indians, British or Tories at the beginning of the war. As forts were soon after erected east and west of this, it became of little use and was gradually torn down and the pickets used for fuel. The site is now marked by an imposing granite block on the west face of which is this inscription :
"Memorial-1775-Erected on Site of Fort Rutland by Ann Story Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution-June 14, 1901."
Hort Ranger
In March, 1778, Rutland, was made the headquarters for the State Troops. That same year a fort was erected at Center Rutland, on the hill east of the falls, known as Gookins falls, and named Fort Ranger. It covered two or more acres, was made of unhewn hemlock logs or pick- ets, sunk in a trench five feet deep, and rising fif- teen feet high, sharpened at the top and inclining outward and accommodating two or three hundred troops. In the northwest section a block house was built, forty feet square and two stories high and supplied on all sides with port holes. This fort was used as headquarters, and a depot of supplies for other forts, until 1781, when the headquarters were removed to Castleton.
During the War of the Rebellion, the present fair ground was used as a veteran reserve camp, and called Camp Fairbanks, in honor of Governor Fairbanks. The first and Second Regiments, mustered into service at Rutland, were camped here for several weeks.
Rutland Tintela
The famous old Franklin House was one of the leading Rutland taverns in the early part of the nineteenth century. It stood on the east side of Main Street near the spot now occupied by the residence of P. M. Mel- den, corner of Main Street and Mansfield Place. It was known as Gould's Tavern. It was kept by Henry Gould before the war of 1812. In 1829, Nathaniel Gould, brother of Henry, thor- oughly refitted the building and changed the name to the Frank- lin House. Again in 1833 Robert Temple remodeled the hotel and it was finally destroyed
HORSES ACAR TU LE
FRANKLIN HOUSE.
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by fire in 1868. The Franklin House stood on the site of Munn's Tavern, which was in its glory in 1794. Nathaniel Gould, who changed the name of the hotel from Gould's Tavern to the Franklin House was born in 1786 and died at Westminster in 1853. Gershom Cheney bought the Franklin House two years before it burned in 1868 and was to have given up the management ... in two days, when it caught fire April 3, 1868, from the bursting of a lamp in the middle of the night, starting a conflagration which destroyed the building, the court house and other property, with a loss of over $50,000. At the time of its destruction the hotel could accommodate more people than any other public house in this section. The proprietor at one time entertained a whole circus, horses and all, and that during court week. He divided the dancing hall annexed to the tavern into rooms, and had another barn for the animals. ORIGINAL BATES HOUSE -- 1866. On the third floor of the house was the hall where the young people used to take dancing lessons. This famous hostelery had many proprietors during its long history. Among the most prominent besides those mentioned were George H. Beaman, who ran the hotel for nine years till about 1843. Then followed George R. Orcutt and after him Pratt and Ira C. Foster. Then came Putnam and Bryant and in 1854 John C. Parke, of Whitehall. Afterwards it was Foster and Morris, Morris withdrew and Gershom Cheney bought of Foster about two years before the house was burned.
The Central Tinuse
The Central House formerly occupied the site of the present Clement National Bank Block and was kept by Major J. A. Salsbury.
The Bruck Tionsr
The Brock House is the oldest hotel now standing. It was kept in early years by Eleazer Wheelock, who was interested in the stage lines. It was then a two story building. Josiah Hun- toon subsequently became the owner and added the third story, calling it Huntoon's Tavern. Later S. A. Brock, the present proprietor, purchased the property and added the piazzas.
The Bates Contar
The Bates House which is located on the spot where the Mead Block now stands, had a reputation for many years equal to any modern first-class hotel. It was built by A. C. Bates and opened by Daniel Kellog, Jr., in the year 1866. It contained one hun- dred and fifty light, well ventilated
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-
BATES
HOUSE!
BATE'S HOUSE.
BATES HOUSE. Rebuilt by A. C. Bates in 1876.
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كان- زج لنا:
WINTING MINDING
CENTER STREET FROM WALES STREET, 1911.
rooms, several parlors and a spacious dining hall. The furniture was of black walnut of an elegant design. Every room was steam heated, the floors covered with body Brussels carpets and the whole structure was furnished with every convenience for the comfort of its guests. The hotel was burned in 1876 but rebuilt in 1877, A. C. Bates & Son managing it for four years. It finally passed into the hands of J. M. Haven and Dr., now Governor John A. Mead, and was managed by W. H. Valiquette until October, 1885, when Morse and Quinn became the landlords. Albert H. Tuttle followed them, until it ceased business as a hotel.
The Berwick House
The Berwick House was built in 1868 by C. F. Richardson and called the "Stevens House," and was managed by Mr. Stevens for Mr. Richardson until 1885 when his son, F. H. Richardson, and D. N. Haynes assumed the management. It is a large, finely appointed and convenient house, at present conducted by W. H. Valiquette.
The Bardwell House
The Bardwell House was built by Otis Bardwell and E. Foster Cook and opened in 1852. John W. Cramton purchased it in 1864. For sixty years this hotel has been famous. Jay Gould made his home here when he obtained his first railroad holdings, and it was at this hotel he made the acquaintance of Jim Fish, with whom he was afterward to clinch in those struggles that made history. It is now con- ducted by Lalor Bros.
Besides these hostelries Rutland possesses several smaller but well managed and homelike hotels, among which are the St. James and the Elmore Houses on West Street.
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STEYENS HOUSE
:111
STEVENS, HOUSE. Built in 1868, by C. F. Richardson. Now the Berwick.
* * ball or dance in one of them was an occurrence about as rare as the visitation of Encke's comet." * At the times referred to the use of spirituous liquors was, as may be said, universal, that while the innkeeper dispensed it from his bar, the merchant passed it over his counter, that it was always to be found on the side board, and in the cupboard of the rich and poor alike, and that it was not deemed immoral or derogatory to the character even of the parish clergyman to be seen, on occasions, sitting on the tavern porch or the store platform (perhaps watching a game of quoits or an interesting ball play) while sipping his glass of wine, or, perchance, a more potent beverage. In this state of society it is highly creditable to the keepers of the respectable public houses of the time that it can be said in truth that they gave no encouragement to excess in that direction."
The village of Rutland down to about the year 1846 was built almost entirely on Main and West Streets. With the exception of Green Street (now Killington Avenue) and Woodstock Avenue all the present streets have been opened since the year mentioned. Previous to that time there were only four houses-three Ruggles houses and Chipman Thrall's-from the summit of the hill on West Street to East Creek. The business of the place was all on Main Street. There were several brick buildings there, among which were James Porter's store, Robert Temple's house, Orel Cook's house, D. Butler's house, William Butman's house. J. C. Burdick's house, and the Eleazer Wheelock Hotel (now the Brock House). There were three other hotels, the Grove House, which stood next north of Knowlton & ('arver's store, the latter adjoining the old court house, the Franklin Hotel and the Reed Hotel ; another public house kept by Abel Page was lo- cated on West Street.
In 1850, Melzar Edson and Marcus P. Norton purchased of William Hall the "lot adjoining the depot grounds on the east and fronting on the main road leading to the village from the west", on which it was intended to lay out streets. They did this "in view of the prospective increase of business in our village consequent upon the completion of the Rutland and Burlington railroad", and the phe- nomenal development of the village between 1850
Of these old-time taverns it has been said: "The first and chief aim and purpose of the keepers of these houses was that they should be kept for the ac- commodation of the traveling public, and that their main sup- port should be derived from this source." No allurements were held out by them to entice the idle or the vicious of the neigh- borhood or the surrounding coun- try ; cards and the dice were al- most universally tabooed; a billi- ard table would have been deem- ed a disreputable acquisition and a bowling alley as an adjunct to a reputable old-time tavern was very rarely or never thought of. Singularly enough, however, all these taverns had each its ball room, while the occasion of a
BARDWELL HOUSE, 1864.
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MERCHANTS ROW FROM CENTER STREET 1911.
and the end of the war of the Rebellion abundantly justified their foresight. Real estate business enjoyed a boom. Lands were purchased on the neglected flats, in spite of the dire forebodings of the faithless, by far sighted men who readily saw that the influence of a railroad is invariably to draw business around their depots, and to make streets and commercial establishments necessary.
In 1851, the farm of one hundred and fifty acres, embracing a large portion of the flat included in the local designation "Nebraska", originally owned by Moses Strong, was sold to a syndicate of six men, called the "Rutland Land Company", who cut it up and sold it in lots to purchasers. To get a view of the remarkable extension of the village in the ten years between 1850 and 1860, it is only necessary 1 to note the dates of street openings. These were as follows: Grove Street, laid out 1848; Cottage Street, opened in 1852 and extended in 1858; Madison Street, Pleasant Street and Prospect Street, opened in 1852; Evelyn Street, opened in 1853 and extended in 1866; Forest Street, opened in 1853; Wales Street, opened in 1853 and ex- tended in 1862; Spring Street, opened in 1853 and extended in 1868; Meadow, River, Franklin, Me- chanic, South and School Streets, opened in 1854; Court and Center Streets, opened in 1856, and Nickwackett in 1860. Some opposition arose FIRE RUINS, MERCHANTS ROW, 1868. against the rapid progress of the village down the hillside and out upon the flats, particularly when 1
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the post office was removed to the building on Center and Court Streets in the year 1854, but time and the logic of events have proven that the movement was inevitable.
Additional streets were opened after 1860 as follows: Strongs Avenue in 1861 ; South Street extension, Maple, Summer and Church Streets, in 1864; Merchants Row extension, in 1866; Lin- coln Avenue in 1867; East Street, Pearl, Baxter, Garden and North Streets in 1869; Temple Street in 1870 and Washington Street extended the same year. State Street was opened in 1879.
Railroads
The era of the railroads, which may be said to date from 1850, it will be seen was a time of phenomenal development. The lot, part of which is now occupied by the Congregational Church, West and Court Streets, was sold as late as 1835 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH FROM CORNER OF EDSON AND WILLOW STREETS, 1868. by Robert Pierpont for $550. The ground now occupied by the railroad buildings, formerly a portion of the John Ruggles farm, was a cow pas- ture. A tract of land lying between Center Street and the railroad and east of a portion of Merchants Row, bounded north by West Street, and south by the Bardwell House, was offered to Mr. Pierpont about 1848 for $1,000. He was not able to induce others to join him in the purchase; but one of the men whom he ought to influence in real estate afterwards paid $3,000 for a small lot, facing Merchants Row. An Albany newspaper of the year 1852 states that "land in Rutland that was in the market six years ago at $60 an acre is now held at $2,500 and $3,000. Eight years ago Rutland was without a railroad; now Rutland is a cen- tral railroad point. No less than six lines enter Rutland; over which run forty-five trains a day."
The railroad between Rutland and Bennington was built under an act of the Legislature, Novem- ber 5, 1845, incorporating the Western Vermont Railroad Com- pany. The road was put in operation in 1852.
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