USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Wallingford > People of Wallingford, a compilation > Part 2
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When, chat I me that costare dem. Where i've spent years of jay befare?
Tune there & kate so gnef or care My heart was always happy there.
Again, where are we to lok for those who )and integrity of heart. How many. pessoas are successively to All these places of mered ing real talents unaccompanied with this trust mit is the ; roque? Yes, a is the rising generation of mins and danghters that are lu take the place of our father- and imothers, on them tests the future destiny of our indind. wat and national prosperity and happinom. That there is a wide defeet, in the teachings
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& CUNNING THIEF.
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is the merest roud to Honor, and when io+ Sneuced by the right spir, will occure the
you come to the bower I live shaded for you ?
porent and teacher. richent of blewings here, and Hereafter 1460
There is in a proper education me in urch-
Woman Educated.
itectura, a beautiful tymmetty, a jesmom of I am well aware this :sbjret as a trite owe | proporimo, betweon tin physical, moral and on which the reader carnot anticipate any. intelectual training ac may Forstu every thing new, yet it is one that not only bears possible advantage, of estiching the mind to be brought ne again, sać again, but, kke with acıcutibe ami literary knowkigy, out practical sermons e's truthis are of such rast yet, the most essential putt of riecation he wanting; that of the conscience, and afor
00.00 on line, precept upon precept; and it would Imar But we have mel time et space now seem its demands were never greater than at large on this topic, will there are two points the present day.
requisite in the formation of a good rharac ler, too ofieu overlooked en ahich æe will foort. viz., steadfastness of purpose, and per ¡severance. Watch that mmther er machet whu hạn thư carr of noen oud darghiers, and
We are all ready to acknowledge, woman occupies such a position that her induence is widely fel: through every grade of society. Of course, it then follows that s ler ouca. tion are blended our dearest surenate, and love where do we brut practical tomachine of chocest blessings. Siva mente untry this . ..... commence the hands of a petr, mushked as will, Ist fee patience us ingenuity. it is thrown aside this view be correct, how memorial a is the for weiler so complex, and something casset she be ederated so till de serreal extran takes to place. Time in turn, shares the the holds honorably and happily. Sinead sense la'e of dissatisfaction, and something out the be the great object of her education : 19 is substituted of what's more tto Every candid toind wul answer in the affirm. | dreaded idfemessis itysuccemor. The moth ative, but that it is so regarded past expe- neree un'ifies sp d'eu te gather ..
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Hart essencial regulator, have made shipreck of their all in life, and the multiplied cad ses were traceable back to the cradle er nor- sery, the spring from wluch leste all our and în future life. To that fond mother, now watching her sleeping infant, we would spaak in language not to he misunderstood or neg. textediteuch the Immortal mind, commited of the present age, is koowo and folt ; but ] to wear charge, vendiues of purpose, is a the breach seesas not to bo healing. Is not į course of vindos actin ! Let i vitanet, this attributable to the neglect of pure moral ! by your example, your wincenty ; thewing saltare. The affictiona and quefities of the that you trafy believe estifky of character beatt are left too much to chance, buth by
"THE LOCAL SPY"
THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
giving some children an opportunity to put a little extra polish on their scholastic attainments. These were privately conducted in- stitutions.
About 1824 Button and Townsend, Johnson and Marsh erected a store on what is now the southeast corner of Main and School Streets. There was no School Street at that time. A store has con- tinued in that location to the present day. For many years Edwin Martindale conducted a mercantile business there; then Dan- forth Hulett was the proprietor. He enlarged the building, mak- ing it three stories in height and since then it has been occupied by several tenants.
The same year, 1824, work was begun on the tavern, or hotel, later to be named The Wallingford House. For the times this was a pretentious building, designed and built by John Ives. There had been several taverns in the settlement but they were little more than family houses that offered accommodation to travelers. Lent Ives' house was a place of this kind. Perhaps the most out- standing was that of Deacon Mosley Hall, about three miles south of the village, shown opposite page 163. The new tavern was not completed until 1826. Its timbers are a part of the present True Temper Inn. The tavern is shown opposite page 16. The horse shed, which was an essential adjunct to every public house, is to be seen on the right. This photograph was probably taken in the late 70s, but the building stood then substantially as it was built. Over the horse shed was a long bare hall with a bench seat run- ning the entire length on one side, in which balls or dancing parties were held. At the front corner there was a public room and office, commonly called a "bar-room," but not a room where beer or alcoholic liquors were sold over a counter; at least not in pro- hibition days which began in 1852. The dining room extended the entire width of the building north and south, with a single long table in the center which would seat perhaps thirty people. At the front, on the Main Street side, was a small parlor. Bath rooms
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were entirely unknown. On the broad veranda people of the village and any guests who might be stopping at the hostelry fre- quently sat and discussed local affairs, politics or any event of interest. Lawsuits were sometimes conducted before a justice of the peace in the bar-room. As late as the 1870's dinner was served for twenty-five cents, frequently including beefsteak. The price of board by the week was four dollars, and when increased to four and one-half the boarders considered it outrageous. There was a large stable at the rear of the house where horses were kept for hire and the teams of transients were cared for.
Soon after completion the tavern was converted to other uses. Sabin & Johnson had a store on the south side; Mary Atwood a millinery shop in one room; John B. Warner a cabinet shop in another; and Judge Button occupied two rooms in the north end for his law office. In 1835 it reverted to its proper use when Ches- ter Spencer opened it as the "first temperance hotel in the world." He continued for two or three years. The landlords who followed were Almerton Hyde, Arnold Hill, J. H. Earle, Elmer C. Barrows and L. J. Vance, until it was purchased by W. D. Hulett in 1877.
A county road from Mount Holly to Middletown was surveyed in 1828, and was constructed to Wallingford village in 1830. This was what is known as the "Gulf Road." The survey included the present School Street but School Street in its present location was not opened until about 1840. This we know from a deed dated June 26, 1839, by Nathaniel and John Ives to the town of Wall- ingford reading, "Land for the purpose going on the adjoining land to build and repair a Town House for the use of said town and also the road that is expected to be opened passing said build- ing."
The village gradually took on the appearance of a town, ac- centuated by the building of the tavern, the Baptist Church in 1827 and the Congregational Church in 1829. It had been and still was primarily a farming community, with farms in the vil-
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THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
lage, one might say; but the tavern, the stores and the churches gave it an urban aspect which it had not had before.
There are few records of houses and other buildings having been erected during the next twenty years but no doubt each year witnessed some building. There are several large brick houses still standing that probably had their origin in this period; also the home of Judge Button, adjoining the tavern, and perhaps that of Hudson Shaw, now the third house on Main Street north of Depot Street. In 1835 Isaac B. Munson built the brick house on his farm which is east of the Creek on the Hartsboro road. That same year Lyman Batcheller came from Arlington and established his pitchfork business where Alexander Miller had made hoes and scythes years earlier.
At a Town Meeting held March 23, 1839, it was voted to have a Town House built on land of Mr. Ives, east of the Baptist Meet- ing House, and a committee consisting of William Kent, Charles Button and Joel Constantine was appointed to determine "the size that they shall judge best." At an adjourned meeting held March 30th it was "voted that the Building Committee shall not expend to build a Town House to exceed five hundred dollars." Also, "voted to lay a tax of four cents on the grand list of 1838." The front of the old Town House on the north side of School Street is shown opposite page 17. The building, in another loca- tion, is now used as a fire house.
An inheritance enabled Goodyear Clark to build his fine resi- dence about a mile south of the village in 1845.
August 3, 1848, the factory of Lyman Batcheller was burned, but out of the ashes of that fire a stone building arose that has been a landmark to the present day. As time went on additions were made to the stone building; a frame annex at the north end, a brick engine and boiler house at the south end, a store house and an office. The entire plant is shown opposite page 229.
Until the year 1852 no development or event had affected the
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lives of the people of Wallingford or created as much interest as the building and opening of the Western Vermont Railroad. The work covered a period of several years and was completed to the point of a regular train schedule in 1852. By it the world, as it were, was opened to the people living in the Green Mountains. The shipment of produce to market was greatly facilitated and supplies could be more easily obtained from distant sources.
Before a station building was erected John and Frank Miller moved an old wool barn to the side of the railroad, to serve as a freight depot for the wool and other produce they were ship- ping to market. They gave the land where the station now stands in order to have it located conveniently for their shipments.
Several letters of Charles Andrus to a friend in Illinois shed light on this period and the building of the railroad. November 28, 1850, he writes: “. ... they have commenced a little in So. Wallingford; they have 40 or 50 [ Irish laborers ] digging, shovel- ing, &c, &c." Again, October 8, 1851, he writes: "The Railroad Co. have begun to lay the track and have got 2 or 3 miles down and they calculate to have it all done before the ground freezes, and in Wallingford about the 10th or 15th of this month. Our de- pot is located on the north side of Roaring Brook below Dale's, or somewhere in that vicinity. There was quite an excitement be- tween those north and those south of the Bridge [Roaring Brook] but it was no use, the up-street had the promise of it by Gen. Hall if they should raise $2500, and so it ended." In November the same year he writes: "But I suppose you would like to hear what is transpiring in old Vermont. Well the Rail Road creates a little talk, there has been some excitement on the location of the depot in this place, perhaps I spoke about it in my last, anyway I will tell you some of the proceedings in regard to it &c. In the first place Wallingford has not taken great quantities of Stock in the Western Vermont R. R. . . . and the inhabitants north of Roaring Brook want it on their side and we folks south want it
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THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
on our side. So General Hall tells those North that if they would raise $2500, they should have it as Woods the engineer here said it would cost that to grade the road suitable for a station &c. but Gilbert told 'em that $500 would fix it right and leave them $2000 clear.
"So at it they go & partly raise the 2500 & all this time we south- enders flutter & bluster & finally cool down & not much said aloud but work still & sly and now the water tank is on this side & they do say that the switch is going to be placed on this side & just as like as not the depot but if I find out before this is closed I will let you know. You see the land on this side nature has fixed it right for the station and if the up street folks do not buck up they loose it.
"One poor fellow of an Irishman had his leg taken off Friday morning 6 inst by the gravel train running over him down by General Hall's. he was on the cars & it tipped up & let him off & he fell under-they say he is dead.
"Monday Nov 9 they commence running freight with mail & Passenger Car attached from Danby to Rutland, probably run from Rutland & Bennington between now & Jan 1 1852."
July 1, 1852, he writes: . Our Western Vermont R. R. is completed, i.e. the track is down and the cars are running regu- lar from Rutland and Troy. I was down in Troy a day or two since-stayed one night only. . . ." September 19, 1852, he writes again: ". . They are laying a 'turn out' into the gravel pit in the village which is the sand bank across the Creek opposite Bucklin's [Beehive tavern] and there is 25 or 30 families of Irish among those briars this side of Wheaton Kent's Hemlocks [in the park] that are to work in the gravel pit, as one train of gravel cars is to be located here this winter if not longer. . .. . " Those who have rowed a boat on the Creek in the vicinity of the gravel pit have seen, or felt, the old piles in the Creek bed that once supported a bridge on which the gravel trains crossed. In
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PEOPLE OF WALLINGFORD
times of low water the heads of these piles can be seen above the surface.
The following year, 1853, Depot Street was surveyed by Har- vey Shaw and the street was opened soon after. The street and railway station were a marked addition to the village, creating de- sirable building sites. Three or four years later Jonathan Car- penter built the large frame house on the north side of Depot Street, about midway between Main Street and the depot.
In 1852 there were but two dwelling houses on School Street, that of Moses Dewgaw, first above the Baptist Church, and that of Arnold Hill opposite the site of the present school house. The Lent Ives house was moved from Main Street to School Street in 1856, to make a place for the residence of Isaac B. Munson, which for years after was pointed out as the handsomest house in the village.
For many years a two-story building stood on the south side of School Street about one hundred rods east of Main Street and was referred to as the Sash and Blind Factory. No one now living remembers when it was built, or who built it, but the town records shed some light. December 21, 1839, N. and J. Ives deeded a house and lot in this location to Silas K. Moore for the considera- tion of one hundred seventy five dollars. Three years later the property was assessed for taxation at two hundred dollars. There are no records of earlier assessments. The assessed value re- mained the same until 1847, when it was increased to five hundred dollars and the property is described in the tax book as "House, Lot and Sash Factory." Silas K. Moore deeded the property to Abraham and Warren Adams April 15, 1848, for the considera- tion of six hundred dollars; March 29, 1855, it passed to John S. Stafford, and May 17th that same year to Nathan Winn. In this last transfer the description of the property reads, "known as the Silas K. Moore Sash Factory Lot." These records justify the state- ment that the factory was built in 1846 by Silas K. Moore.
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THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
In the years following the property changed hands many times. For a while Arnold Fargo held a one half interest, selling to An- drew Bartholemew in 1871, and again in 1876 to William Wylie. Albert Q. Adams gained possession in 1889, using it for a snow shovel factory. The factory obtained its power from Roaring Brook and during the latter years of its existence was little more than a sawmill. In 1923 the building burned and the machinery was destroyed.
Wallingford has not been without its newspapers. Philip Em- erson and Amasa Bishop published a small four-page weekly, between the years 1855 and 1860, entitled the Local Spy. The format is shown opposite page 21. A copy dated November 21, 1857, contains an article concerning the life and death of Jera- thiel Doty, a distinguished veteran of the Revolutionary War, who died in South Wallingford, the last survivor of the body- guard and escort of the gallant Lafayette to his native country. He enlisted in the Continental Army when only fifteen years old and served seven years to the end. He experienced the dark and gloomy winter encampment at Valley Forge, the battles of Mon- mouth, Germantown, Brandywine and Stony Brook; the victories of Saratoga and Yorktown. The Alliance was sent by the Conti- nental Congress to convey Lafayette to France and to bring back the negotiated loan of five million treasure. On the return the Alliance encountered a British cruiser and an engagement fol- lowed in which Doty was wounded. Again, in the war of 1812, he took up arms in defense of his country, though he had passed the meridian of life. The last half of his life was spent in this town. He was given a public funeral with military honors, the Walling- ford Rifle Club acting as a guard of honor. The Declaration of Independence was read and a farewell shot was fired over the patriot's grave.
A partnership was formed by Justin Batcheller and John Scribner in 1856 to carry on a mercantile business. For this pur-
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pose an old dwelling house was moved to the northwest corner of Main and Depot Streets and converted into a store. Thus the "Four-Corners" were beginning to assume somewhat the char- acter they possess today; a tavern and two stores occupying three of the corners. In the issue of the Local Spy of December 19, 1857, we read: "Those Lamps of Messrs Batcheller and Scribner have given us 'new Light' in the shape of Knapp's Patent Lamp for burning Rosin Oil. We have tried one of the above lamps and found it to be just the thing, giving a steady and brilliant light for the small sum of one third of a cent an hour. B & S keep these lamps on hand, and we advise our readers to call and examine them."
Fire again laid a destructive hand on the community by laying waste the depot in 1858, from which time the present station building dates.
The old bridge across the Creek at the south end of the village had done good service but the roads were being improved; traffic was increasing and the need of a new and better bridge was appar- ent. In 1859 the wooden lattice truss bridge was built at a cost of two hundred fifteen dollars, exclusive of the stone work. This bridge is shown opposite page 28. For protection from the weather the trusses were covered with wooden sheathing and painted red; hence the name Red Bridge, by which it was com- monly known.
The necessity for increased facilities in the public schools had become apparent. A single teacher was no longer sufficient in the village. The town acquired a lot for a new and larger school house on School Street in 1860, but probably the outbreak of the Civil War prevented the immediate erection of a building. The school house, shown opposite page 289, was erected in 1865. As explained elsewhere, it provided space for three classrooms and three teachers were afterwards employed.
Small industries sprang up from time to time. In 1860 F. H.
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THE CREEK BRIDGES OF 1859 AND OF 1907
₹
AN ELM IN MAIN STREET
THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
Hoadley built a blacksmith and a carriage shop on School Street a short distance below the sash and blind factory, taking a small amount of power from the brook. The same year Sherman Pratt established a cabinet shop on Depot Street, among other things making and dealing in coffins and caskets. E. D. Sabin opened a tinshop on Main Street near Roaring Brook. S. G. Brett & Son came from Newport, New Hampshire, in 1864 and rented of Abraham Adams, for the purpose of manufacturing wooden shoe pegs, the tall building which later became the finishing shop of Batcheller & Sons. This business continued for two years, em- ploying nine girls in the factory besides four men in the woods.
The village of Wallingford owes its existence in a large meas- ure to the pitchfork industry which has given employment to a large portion of the men of the village. The business grew out of a blacksmith shop, slowly expanding until one to two hundred persons have been given employment. It outgrew the capacity of the Stone Shop. In 1865 John C. and Lyman Batcheller purchased the old gristmill and sawmill property on the Creek and erected a forging plant and store house, besides converting the peg-shop building to their requirements. McKnight, a noted carpenter and builder, constructed the buildings. The following year work of moving began.
That same year, 1866, saw a handsome Gothic church take form at the north end of the village, constructed of limestone from the ledges a little farther north, where Hiram Wellman operated a limekiln. St. Patrick's Catholic Church is a distinct ornament to the village.
In the fall of 1869 a flood worked havoc in the valley, carrying away many bridges. The chief damage in the village was the de- struction of the railroad bridge south of the station, a timber lattice structure.
At this time Wallingford saw its most rapid growth in build- ings. Franklin Post's dream of an industrial development at the
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north end of the village was to some extent materializing. A large factory was erected beside the railroad, now a part of the plant of the American Fork & Hoe Company. Ten or more houses in a double row were built on River Street; Maple and Franklin Streets were opened and two houses were erected on the latter. The boom, which it may be truly termed, lasted but three years, but during that time a number of families were added to the village population. Then the excitement passed and the village returned to the accustomed tenor of its ways.
The graded school was organized in 1871, with Prof. Otis S. Johnson as its first principal and teacher, expanding its educa- tional advantages to the extent of enabling boys and girls to pre- pare for college.
In an interval of less than one hundred years, the old burying ground at the south end of the village had become crowded with graves. Few, if any, unsold lots were available. In October, 1871, the adjoining land on the east and north was purchased. Shortly afterward the fence between the old and new ground was taken away, then lots were marked off on the newly acquired ground, paths were made between the lots, winding roads leading up to the top of the hill were constructed, and, at the bottom, where the ground was level, wet and unsuitable for graves, a pool was con- structed with a fountain in the center, supplied with water from a nearby spring. Not long after this addition was made land ad- joining on the east was purchased for a Catholic cemetery.
More than half a century has since elapsed, and now the monu- ments and gravestones are almost as numerous in the new part of the cemetery as in the old. It is a population that increases at a rate, even in a small community like Wallingford, which some- times surprises and makes one wonder how soon the call will come to join the assembly.
Wallingford celebrated its centennial in 1873, stopping to con- sider the development and progress it had made in the first one
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THE GROWTH OF WALLINGFORD VILLAGE
hundred years of its existence. Its method of celebration has been described in another chapter.
The building at this time of the new Tinmouth road, terminat- ing near the railway station, with the covered bridge across the Creek, was a marked improvement and benefit to the people of both Wallingford and Tinmouth, particularly the latter. The lo- cation of the road excited considerable discussion and some feel- ing which was settled in a town meeting. The new road gave an easy gradient to the top of the hill.
For about three years, from 1877 to 1880, Wallingford sup- ported a good weekly newspaper, The Wallingford Standard, edited and managed by Addison G. Stone.
Wallingford has had its share of conflagrations, more frequent because the buildings were constructed almost entirely of wood. The tannery of Bradford and Son burned one night in 1876. It was located at the head of Mill Lane where it got power from Roaring Brook. After the fire Frank Johnson bought the property and built a grist mill which he operated for twelve years, then sold his business to William Ballou.
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