USA > Vermont > Caledonia County > St Johnsbury > The town of St. Johnsbury, Vt. ; a review of one hundred twenty-five years to the anniversary pageant 1912 > Part 24
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
From the platform erected at Depot Square brief addresses were made. Mrs. P. F. Hazen brought greetings and good speed from the D. A. R. and the women of St. Johnsbury, "who are proud and glad to give to the heroes of '98 the same help their grandmothers gave to the heroes of '76." Hon. W. P. Stafford gave salutations from the Board of Trade, by which this demon- stration was prepared. As the train pulled out, torpedoes went
290
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
off, bands played and cheers from 5000 spectators went up for the boys in blue now off for the scenes of war.
The Captain of Company D was Henry W. Ellis and C. A. Celley was First Lieutenant. They were ordered to Chickamauga, but before they reached the front, the Spaniards were defeated and the war was over. On the 4th September, 1898, the Company return- ed ; 5000 people were at the station as the train pulled in, with torpe- does, cheers and welcomes. They were escorted by the Band, Chamberlin Post and the Boys' Brigade to the Armory on Central street where a dinner was served. On the 27th October a recep- tion was given the boys at the Museum, followed by a banquet with music and addresses at the Armory. Major Townshend came on and mustered them out of the service, leaving with them about $8000 cash.
Tho the boys of Company D had no opportunity to test their mettle on the Spaniards, their day of battle came in February, 1908, when the Twenty Third Street Team of New York went down before them in basket ball, 21 to 34; also the A. A. Team of East Boston, 13 to 39.
XXIII
FOR PROTECTION
TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES-EVANS BAR-EIGHTY SEATS WANTED- COLD WATER ARMY-JUVENILE MILITANTS-OTHER SOCIETIES -TOWN AGENCY-LOCAL OPTION-TEN YEAR VOTES ON LI- CENSE-FIRE ENGINES-PARADES AND TESTS-TORRENT ON A TOUR-PROSPECTING FOR WATER-A WELL AND A RAM- AQUEDUCT-VILLAGE WATER WORKS.
COMBINING FOR TEMPERANCE
Of the pioneer Temperance Society of 1828, mention has been made on page 216. The turning of the tide in popular senti- ment began to be manifest at this time, but the progress of reform was necessarily slow. In 1832 there was at least one dis- tillery doing business in the town, probably more than one. In 1837 it was computed that not less than 1000 gallons of liquor were consumed in this town annually. Five years later occurred a significant incident. Horace Evans, who during the twenties had owned and run a distillery at the Center Village, had now moved to Danville where he was keeping a hotel. On the 8th of February, 1842, he made the following announcement :-
"The subscriber has this day shut up his Bar and banished from his house all that intoxicates. He intends henceforth to keep a good Temper- ance House. I do this not from motives of gain but because I am convinced that the traffic in ardent spirits is ruinous to the best interests and a disgrace to +any civilized community. I invite former customers and all friends of Temperance to sustain me in this attempt; they will find me ever ready to furnish everything that really contributes to the comfort of the traveler."
292
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
Apparently Mr. Evans did succeed in his attempt ; nine years later he returned to St. Johnsbury, known then as the proprietor of the Danville Temperance Hotel; he bought the Passumpsic House recently built on Railroad street and conducted the same till 1854.
The St. Johnsbury North Temperance Society was formed at the Center Village in 1830, but no record is found of its doings.
The Caledonia County Young Men's Temperance Association, organized in this town in 1836 had an iron-clad pledge and a mem- bership of vigorous working young men. At the annual meeting of 1839, held in the Meeting House on the Plain, the interest and attendance was such that something like eighty persons were un- able to secure seats. This Association had an active life of more than fifty years, its semi-centennial was observed here in 1886; after the State prohibitory law was in force, from 1853, it had by common consent the nomination of a candidate for County Commissioner ; this important responsibility it met with uniform sagacity and fairness.
The St. Johnsbury Town Temperance Society may have been a rejuvenation of the original Society of 1828. It was set going in May 1839, at the Universalist Church, Center Village, fifty men of the town having signed the call for it. The pledge adopted at that time is still in existence, in the handwriting of Hiram H. Ide the Secretary. John Armington was President.
The Cold Water Army came on to the field May 24, 1842. This juvenile army had a more or less militant career for 47 years. It began with 134 enlisted boys and girls who used to parade with banners and music, singing along the streets the familiar refrain,
" So here we pledge perpetual hate To all that can intoxicate."
Besides the Plain Division there were others in the different villages. On the Fourth of July 1843, these all rendezvoused on the Green at the head of the Plain, where a spacious bower had been erected with seats for 1200 people, bright with decorations and flags. At noon the companies from the East and Center vil-
293
FOR PROTECTION
lages arrived in carriages covered with evergreen, joined their comrades of the Plain, and all together 800 in number formed under their banners and marched, led by the Band to the Bower. Here were songs, addresses and dialogues, then the collation with plenty of cold water showered out from the sky ; and afterward more formal exercises held in the Meeting House.
An incident not set down on the program of the day, was the arrival of a large, decorated cake from Passumpsic Village, bear- ing this inscription-"As the Daughters of Israel sang songs for the victories of the stripling David, so do we, the Ladies of Pas- sumpsic, stay up the hands and cheer the hearts of the young Cold Water Army of St. Johnsbury ; for which purpose we pre- sent you this token of our regard." The cake, after a suitable vote of thanks, was cut up and presented to the revolutionary veterans who were present. The number of people attending this celebra- tion was above fifteen hundred. One of the white silk badges worn in the East Village Division on the parade that day is now in the Athenaeum, presented by the owner nearly 70 years after.
Public exhibitions of the Cold Water Army were held at in- tervals for many years. One at the South Church, May 14, 1877 drew an audience that packed the house; 240 who were enrolled, from six to sixteen years of age, filled the front pews and gave songs and recitations. Two years later, in August 1879, there were 255 in the parade on Main street who followed the band into the Town Hall for the special exercises ; after which they sat down to an appetizing collation on the grounds outside. A similar oc- casion was observed in the North Church in 1886. In October 1889, the old Cold Water Army was reorganized at the South Church into the Loyal Temperance Legion, which for a term of years kept up the traditions of the boys and girls who preceding them, had pledged perpetual hate to all that can intoxicate. After a time this order melted into the Roll of Honor which was set up in the Sunday Schools of the town.
The Sons of Temperance. Excelsior Division, No. 34, was instituted in 1849. They took measures to provide for public meetings and lectures to be held in the different villages. Wil- liam Sanborn, Beauman Butler, Benj. Morrill were a committee to
294
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
carry out the plan. The next year the St. Johnsbury Division led by the Cornet Band joined with two others in a union celebra- tion of the Fourth of July 1850 at Lyndon. "Twelve hundred people repaired to a grove fanned by breezes from their native hills and with nature's tapestry woven above and around them." The address was given by C. W. Willard Esq., on the origin and aims of the Order, as indicated by its motto-Love, Purity, Fidel- ity. Among the post-prandial sentiments, No. 15 was given by Rev. Wm. W. Thayer: "The Sons of Temperance ! altogether a manly family; we have some acquaintance with the excellent Mother Temperance; we hope her interests will be delicately handled by her Sons; but where are the Daughters ? "
The Good Templars. A lodge of this order called Harmony, No. 17, was instituted about 1864, in 1882 it was reorganized as Hector Lodge, with a membership of 144, and continued for a term of years, maintaining a hall and regular meetings conducted with practical results.
Eagle Temple Temperance Society was instituted August, 1867, and used to meet weekly in the Engine House Hall.
The Temperance Reform Club was organized in August, 1876. Henry C. Belden Esq. was President, George D. Stevens, Sec- retary. About 80 persons signed the pledge at that time.
Catholic Societies. To the Rev. Father Boissonnault and his assistants the cause of temperance in the town was very greatly indebted during the long period of his ministry among us. His church of Notre Dame was practically a temperance society. Special organizations also were formed. In April, 1889, the R. C. Total Abstinence Society enrolled 89 men, who with badges on their coats might be seen in a body marching into the church. In 1890 was organized a Father Matthew Society with 100 mem- bers. In St. Aloysius' parish some 200 members were enrolled in the Young Men's Temperance Society in 1896.
The Local Anti-Saloon League, auxiliary to the State League, was formed in 1900 with a membership of 251.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The local branch was organized here September 25, 1876, and was one of the earliest in
295
FOR PROTECTION
the State. It has maintained a continuous and useful activity since that time ; the only temperance organization of long stand- ing that has come over from the last century. Its guest and lead- ing speaker at the State Convention in the North Church some years ago was Miss Frances E. Willard.
THE TOWN AGENCY
Under the State prohibitory system the town agency came to be a serious problem. The amount of liquor dispensed seemed disproportionate to the reasonable demand for medicine. Heated discussion arose, and at the March Meeting of 1880 a motion was put up to abolish the agency ; on this the vote stood yea 238, nay 284. Thereupon, the agency being retained, a vote was passed restricting sales to residents of St. Johnsbury, and requiring the Selectmen to publish weekly a sworn statement of the liquor agent giving the name of each purchaser, the amount in bulk, the price paid, for what purpose to be used, and if obtained on an order, whose order. At the end of the first week the list of names published was 62, all but two of whom had it for medicine ; the next week there were 69 purchasers of whom all but seven re- quired medicine. It appeared that under this publicity method there had been in two weeks' time a falling off of forty per cent in the sales at the agency, also a large increase in the amount of liquor brought in to the town. At the next town meeting in 1881, the vote on abolishing the agency was again taken, resulting in 111 yeas, 153 nays. This gave a majority of 42 as against 46 of the year before, but the falling off of 260 on the entire vote indi- cated a subsidence of interest on this particular question. The agency was continued, doing a more or less unsatisfactory busi- ness until the repeal of the prohibitory law under which it had been constituted.
LOCAL OPTION
On the question of regulating the traffic in intoxicants the General Assembly of 1902 passed Act number 90, which substituted local option for state prohibition. This was made subject to a
296
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
referendum ; the result of which was a state-vote of 1300 majority in its favor, and local option was therefore established as the law of the State. The vote of Caledonia County was 1818 against the new measure ; the town of St. Johnsbury gave 292 votes against it at the special town meeting of February 3, 1903. The new order made the licensed saloon a possibility in the town and prior to the annual March meeting public attention was called to it. The Woman's Club of 225 members sent out an appeal to the voters to protect the homes and shield the children by voting no-license. The signatures of 168 men representing religious, educational, banking, corporation, press and business interests, practically all, said-"we are unalterably opposed to the open saloon in our fair village, believing it to be a menace to our best interests, and shall not only vote against it at the coming March meeting, but shall do whatever we reasonably can to pre- serve the good name our town has hitherto sustained." The an- nual vote of the town for that and ensuing years is given in the following table :-
Year
Yes
No
Maj.
Year
Yes
No
Maj.
1903
532
672
140
1908
179
621
424
1904
409
780
371
1909
355
697
342
1905
134
423
289
1910
387
574
187
1906
154
580
426
1911
431
583
152
1907
308
620
312
1912
431
583
152
Quarantine prevented a legal vote in 1912 and the figures of the year preceeding held over. In 1914 the total vote was 1256, of which 456 for license, 810 against it, a majority of 354.
FIRE ENGINE COMPANIES
The Franklin Fire Company, the first of which there is record in the town, was organized in the Fairbanks Village Schoolhouse April 19, 1844. A code of by-laws was adopted to which twenty men signed their names. Foreman, Noah Eastman; Assistant, Mark C. Webster ; Secretary and Treasurer, Charles Fairbanks. This Company continued till April 21, 1853, when it was reorgan- ized under the name of
297
FOR PROTECTION
The Torrent Fire Company No. 1, Foremen, A. P. Blunt 1853- 1854, Franklin Fairbanks 1854-1855. An engine house was built on Mechanics Square, with an upstairs hall for meetings and other conveniences. The engine was owned by E. and T. Fairbanks and Co. but under entire control of the village.
The Deluge Company No. 2 was organized in the St. Johns- bury House April 21, 1853; J. W. Robinson, Foreman; E. F. Brown, Assistant ; F. Deming, Clerk. Moses Hill was Foreman 1854-1855; and D. P. Thompson 1855. The Deluge engine was bought at a cost of $1117 and housed in a building that cost $500 more. There were forty men in the Company. Disbanded June 5, 1880.
The Alert Company No. 3 organized in 1856, was composed of thirty-two boys who proved themselves men in action. B. O. Stephenson was Foreman. "In dexterity, aptitude and correct performance the boys of the Alert are excelled by few."
In addition to these three leading Fire Companies there was during the later fifties, The Active No. 4, composed of young men, Charles F. Barney, Captain; also The Veterans No. 5, a volunteer company of fifty men who wore unique uniforms and did astonish- ing stunts.
The Excelsior Hook and Ladder Company organized February 7, 1860, with A. P. Blunt, Foreman ; Richard Eastman, Assistant ; E. C. Redington, Clerk and Treasurer. There were originally eighteen fire ladders. Four cisterns were built on the Plain capable of re- taining 150 hogsheads each, at a cost of $240.
PARADES AND TESTS
At the Cattle Fair of September 24, 1856, one of the distin- guishing attractions of the day was the Parade of the St. Johns- bury Fire Companies, escorted by the Brattleboro and St. Johnsbury Brass Bands. The lack of sufficient water supply on the grounds above Paddock Village, prevented the anticipated tests between the two principal engines. Accordingly on the 1st of October, the officers and men of Torrent No. 1 invited Deluge No. 2 to a trial match on the Plain. Deluge No. 2 accepted the
298
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
challenge, tho considering the disparity of conditions they were like young David going to meet Goliath. Meantime the Village Trustees and Fire Wardens, deprecating a spirit of rivalry and considering the two engines unfitted for competition, suggested in lieu of this a public exhibit of evolutions and performances by the three fire companies. This proposition was heartily accepted and on Saturday afternoon, October 25, everybody was on the way to the cistern opposite the South Church to witness the ex- hibit. Torrent lined up 55 men, Deluge 50, Alert 32, Veterans 50, total on parade 157, led by the Brass Band. St. Johnsbury took pride that day in her Fire Companies; the occasion wound up with a rally front of the St. Johnsbury House, where the men were addressed by Judge Poland, Erastus Fairbanks, Pliny H. White and E. C. Redington ; and were assured that their feats of rapidity and skill, attaching suction and discharging hose, could not be surpassed by the best city fire companies.
The next year a Fireman's Parade was put upon the streets in June. "It answered all the purposes of the old fashioned June training, with the very desirable difference that good order took the place of rioting and that where rum once abounded, water did now much more abound." A torch light procession enlivened the evening.
In 1860 Torrent No. 1 was equipped with a new engine built to order in Pawtucket; the tub was 23 feet long, of mahogany and rosewood inlaid with pearl, and with silver lettering. The cylinder was 10 inches caliber, aud threw three streams at a time. The men came out in new frocks of red, trimmed with blue ; tri- colored rolling collars ; belts inscribed St. Johnsbury, white letter- ed on red ground; fire caps New York style, marked Torrent No. 1.
On July 4, that year, the Torrent with 30 men, Franklin Fair- banks, Foreman, executed the best work in a trial at Montpelier and took the prize of $125. They made an excursion to Burling- ton and Montreal. Burlington papers remarked: "Too much cannot be said in praise of the Torrent Company of St. Johns- bury. Their excellent drill, determined and resolute look, their great strength and devotion to duty, make them the pride not of
299
FOR PROTECTION
their village only but also of the state." "The Torrent Company is marked by fine appointments and discipline, vigorous personal appearance and a general air of sobriety and good breeding."
VILLAGE WATER SUPPLIES
For about seventy years each family had to provide its own independent supply of water ; partly by directing roof-water in to tubs or cisterns, partly by digging wells, partly by going with pitcher or pail to the nearest spring for drinking water. Here and there a few small springs were found by the early settlers. One, known as the Cold Spring, was in the edge of the woods below the first school house, which faced what is now the head of Summer street. This is reported to have been a great conven- ience to the school children with their tin cups; years afterward when a little pond had been constructed it was equally interesting to boys and girls with their steel skates. On or near Judge Pad- dock's premises was a small spring ; another one bubbled up at the Lawrence tannery, now Pinehurst, which supplied many family pitchers of that neighborhood; water was brought up in pails from a spring below Dr. Lord's at the south end of the street. Dr. Stevens' well, now covered by the concrete south of the brick block, was for many years a source of water supply to families near the Bend ; it was surmounted by a clumsy structure popularly known as the village pump. Introductory to a paper on Aqueducts, ancient and modern, written about 1859, is found a reference to local conditions from which the following is taken :-
ERASTUS FAIRBANKS' REMINISCENCES
"My early recollection of the village of St. Johnsbury which included at that time only the houses on the Plain, vividly brings to mind the great in- convenience occasioned by the want of water, especially for culinary pur- poses. To meet this need various projects were put forward. Captain James Ramsey and Willard Carleton at one time undertook to bring water in clay pipes from the hill northwest of the Plain. The pipes were in sections about two feet long, made by a patent machine and designed to be inserted into each other and cemented. These pipes were great absorbents of water and easily broken ; and being incapable of sustaining any considerable pressure the plan proved abortive and within two years was abandoned. Specimens
300
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
of those clay pipes may be found at the present day ; they were extensively used for landmarks, and in the town records of deeds reference is frequently made to corners of lots indicated by a clay pipe buried vertically in the ground."
It occasionally happens in the miscellaneous excavations of more recent date that scattered remnants of those old red clay pipes are thrown up like poor Yorick's bones by the spade; the writer has a good one planted pointed-end up, in his garden-"an archæological relic of man and his industries," long prior to the period of water-mains, hydrants and garden sprinklers ; others that were set to mark boundary lines are presumably still standing faithfully at the post of duty, defending land rights against unlaw- ful invasion.
The manuscript from which the foregoing quotation has been taken, describes a novel process of trying to reach underground water near the south end. On the spot where the Academy Fountain now plays Dr. Luther Jewett who lived directly across the street sank a well about 1829, from which he afterward re- marked
THE BOTTOM DROPPED OUT ..
"He commenced with a brick curb at the surface which he settled into the earth by throwing out the sand within, so that the brick tube settled gradually down while additional bricks were laid upon the top. In this way he proceeded through the sandy formation to the depth of nearly forty feet, when he reached a small supply of water upon a substratum of clay. Deem- ing the quantity of water insufficient, he continued to dig in the clay until, as he used to say, the bottom of his well dropped out! For, after going through a thin layer of clay, he came into dry white sand of an unknown depth, and the effort to find water was abandoned.
Several years ago, a boy, while running across the spot, broke through the soil over this well, but fortunately threw himself forward so as to escape falling in. The well had been filled mostly with wood, a cheaper article than at the present time, which in the process of years had decayed, leaving a dangerous cavern."
A REFRACTORY RAM
The water that was running to waste from the old Dr. Lord spring south of the Plain was of fairly good quality, and in 1851 J. P. Fairbanks installed a hydraulic ram which pumped a small
301
FOR PROTECTION
stream of it up to the level of his buildings. This machine was a novelty in the village, and boys were attracted to it, particularly after nightfall when its wierd and measured thumping sounded more strangely than the hooting of the owls. The ram was apt to get out of gear and David Kinsman was the man always sent for to fix it. One time his patience with its refractory behaviour was so exhausted that he inflicted on it a smart rap with his tool, accompanied with expletives of the sort not desired on those premises. Turning suddenly, there to his surprise, stood the owner of the ram, who had overheard the vocal explosion. He said nothing, but to the surprise of both men the machine resumed operations and began to pump. The next time it stopped Mr. Fairbanks went into the shop and told David that he had better go up and say a few words to the old ram.
THE ST. JOHNSBURY AQUEDUCT
In 1854 the St. Johnsbury Aqueduct Company was incorpora- ted for the purpose of supplying the village with water; the cor- porators organized in March 1857, with Dr. Bancroft, President ; Ephraim Jewett, Clerk. At a citizens' meeting held at the St. Johnsbury House they reported thro a committee, a plan to pump Passumpsic River to a reservoir on Bingham Hill, the present site of Brightlook, 190 feet above the river level. This reservoir was planned to take in 4000 gallons an hour, with capacity for 126,876 gallons. Subscriptions were started for 300 shares at $50 each ; nothing further was accomplished; the suggestion of a reservoir however was carried out by the Aqueduct Company in 1866, and until the erection of Brightlook Hospital the low circular structure on Reservoir Hill was a familiar object west of Summer street.
On the ninth of January 1860 the new St. Johnsbury Aqueduct Company was organized under the Act of Legislature of Novem- ber 21, 1859; with a capital of $100,000 which was doubled 37 years later ; the corporators were the E. and T. Fairbanks and Co. who purchased the property of the former Company, most of which was already owned by them. The necessity of a more adequate fire protection at the Scale Works, led to the construc- tion in 1861, of a six-inch pump-log line to the Hale Springs in
302
TOWN OF ST. JOHNSBURY
Waterford, which ultimately tapped the Stiles Pond and finally developed into the extensive Aqueduct system now depended on for the entire domestic water supply of the village.
In the summer of 1877 new iron cement-lined pipes were laid to Stiles Pond, which the Company had recently purchased. It was found that the Pond which then covered sixty acres was 176 feet higher than Main street and that by doubling its capacity by damming, a town of 40,000 population could be amply supplied for all needed purposes. A year later the Pond was giving seventy pounds pressure to the square inch on Main street and 110 on Railroad street. A new filter of 2101 feet surface and 30 inches depth of gravel and fine sand was built in 1882; since that date the four large filters now in use, with standpipe, have been erected and all the water brought to the village comes down thro 42 inches of approved filtration. In 1894, ten miles of new piping were laid, mostly ten-inch ; during that and the preceding year, nearly $75,000 was expended on construction, including $4250 for filter, and $600 for a venture meter. In addition to the ten-inch main laid in 1894, a fourteen-inch line, following a different route, was laid in 1912 from Stiles Pond to Summerville about three and a half miles length, making two separate mains of 24 inch total capacity. The amount of water used or drawn in the village is registered each ten minutes by the meters, showing on the aver- age a million gallons per day. The aqueduct is capable of sup- plying three and a half million gallons daily. Since 1906 all water for domestic uses has been taken from this system; there are also 61 hydrants for use by the fire department, 34 of which were paid for by the village. The Pond is fed principally by sub- aqueous springs of copious volume ; to secure perpetual purity of inflowing waters, the Aqueduct Company has purchased the Stiles farm, and taken other measures to protect the water shed.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.