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 28
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Union Hall. It was not till the town was in its sixty-eighth year that a public hall for rental as such was provided-Union Hall, so called, on the third floor of the new Union Block, corner of Main and Central streets. All the lumber of this block was bought in Canada at $8 a thousand; the owners wanted their land cleared, and sold at that price. From the day of its opening, November, 1854, this hall was in continuous demand for enter- tainments and social functions of all sorts. It was also used for religious gatherings ; the first regular services of the Episcopal Church were in this hall. On the opposite side of Main street a cosy hall of limited capacity was opened over E. F. Brown's store. Small societies or gatherings met here; for some while it was the Y. M. C. A. hall ; the half-hour noon. meetings of 1876- 1878 were held in this place.
The Town Hall, in the Court House building, opened in the winter of 1856, was a great acquisition for public functions. Polit-
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ical rallies, caucuses, lectures, exhibitions, promenade concerts, musical, dramatic or social entertainments, fairs and levees made this new hall a center of varied attractions. It was regarded as all sufficient for the present and future uses of the public. But in a dozen years or more the question of another and more adequate village hall began to be talked about.
It was pointed out one time that on Friday, March 2, the Town Hall was in use for organizing the St. Patrick Society ; on Saturday for the Morrison-Bean Concert; on Tuesday for Town Meeting ; on Thursday and Friday for the State Board of Agri- culture ; and on four days of the next week for a musical festival. Some of those Choral Union Conventions, conducted by Carl Zer- rahn with full orchestra and Mrs. Shepard at the piano, filled this hall from day to day with enthusiastic audiences. For twenty- eight years, 1856 to 1884, this was the only hall for general public uses on the Plain.
During the fifties there was an attractive little hall in Fair- banks Village, over the old store that was burned in 1889. Lec- tures and social events made this a pleasant resort ; in the early days of the South Church, Sunday evening services were regularly held here, with audiences that usually filled the hall.
The Atheneum Hall, opened in 1871, was intended to be used for educative purposes only, and without expense to the public. Courses of lectures were provided on literary or scientific themes to which everybody was made welcome. In more recent years entertainments for the benefit of our home institutions have had use of this hall; nothing for personal profit has been admitted.
The New Academy Hall was dedicated October 31, 1873, at which time 1250 persons were counted in attendance. Tho de- signed for school purposes only, this hall was occasionally opened when large audiences were expected. On its platform Remenyi drew out the subtle strains of his violin and Gough gave his inimi- table recitals. For several years the concerts given by the grad- uating class filled the hall; here also commencement exercises were held, and the crowded gospel meetings of the seventies.
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Music Hall. The need of a large and well appointed hall was becoming more urgent. Several unsucessful attempts were made to secure funds for such a building. The problem was finally solved by an unanticipated event.
In 1877, the building in which the North Church had wor- shiped for thirty years was moved across Church street to make way for the new stone building. That structure with the site on which it was planted had been purchased by Messrs. Horace and Franklin Fairbanks. In 1883, they made a proposition to the Y. M. C. A. to present to that institution a deed of the property pro- vided funds should be raised sufficient to finish and equip the building for a public hall. The offer was accepted, $14,000 was subscribed by about 200 citizens, and on November 20, 1884, Music Hall was opened. The spacious auditorium with balconies on the rear and two sides, well lighted and tastefully decorated, furnished with 1102 comfortable chairs was an immense improve- ment on anything that had as yet been seen and gave occasion for many congratulations. On the arch over the platform was printed a simple and pleasing bit of decorative work, the musical score of-"Should auld acquaintance be forgot." The design of the remodeled structure was drawn by Lambert Packard, the builder was W. J. Bray, the decorating was done by Lyndon Arnold.
The inauguration concert was a musical entertainment of high quality, given by the Ladies' Club of eleven voices led by Mrs. P. F. Hazen, and a men's chorus of forty voices, accompa- nied by the full orchestra, William H. Herrick, leader. The next evening an auction sale of tickets for the winter Lecture Course yielded about $1000 which amount was doubled by purchasers dur- ing the next ten days. For many years this process was continued and the annual courses of lectures and musical entertainments pro- vided by the Y. M. C. A. and given in Music Hall gained distinc- tion throughout the state. A partial list of speakers is given on page 320. At the present time this Hall is leased under the name of The Colonial Theatre.
Avenue House Hall. On the fourth floor of the old Avenue House was a large and pleasant Hall which, until the burning of
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the building in 1896, met the many and various requirements of public assemblies in that part of the village. Many of the popu- lar gospel meetings of 1876 were held here, and some while afterward it became the regular meeting place of the Presbyterian Church.
Howe's Opera House. This fine building was erected by B. G. Howe in 1891, as an adjunct to the Avenue House of which he was then proprietor. Its cost was $30,000. The auditorium with galleries on three sides was fitted with seats of modern style for 1500 people. The orchestra floor sloped toward the stage, which was 63 feet long by 32 deep, furnished with all requisite stage ac- cessories ; two boxes at either end. The decorations and general aspect were pleasing. For some years this Opera House did a good business, principally as a theatre; but the expenses of its maintenance were large ; it finally passed with the Avenue House into the hands of M. J. Caldbeck; then the roof was lowered into the auditorium and the building was devoted entirely to apart- ments for rental.
Stanley Opera House. The old skating rink on Central street built in 1881 by Eels and Eddy of Brattleboro, was used for vari- ous purposes other than roller skating, which continued for some years at the height of popularity. In March 1893, it was bought by Charles A. Stanley who converted it into what was thereafter known as the Stanley Opera House, with requisite stage appoint- ments for dramatic purposes. The seats being removable it was also used for dances, spreads and miscellaneous assemblies. Among the many banquets given here was that of the semi-cen- tennial of the Academy, also of the welcome given to the Vermont Association of Boston. It was used by Company D for a drill room-equipment quarters being on the upper floor-from 1898 till the destruction of the building by fire in 1910, at which time it was owned by Elmer E. Darling, who at once began the erec- tion of the fine brick block which now dignifies the spot long while notable for its livery stables and attendant rookeries.
Pythian Hall. Few assembly rooms in the village have been in such continuous use since 1894 for various purposes as the one which, with hall and refectory, covers the entire upper floor of the
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Pythian Building. Since the closing of the Board of Trade rooms in 1900 this has been the stated meeting place of the Woman's Club; here also are held most of the public functions of the Com- mercial Club, banquets of societies and assemblies of various interests, social, literary, musical, educational, political.
Bertrand's Hall. In 1909, J. E. Bertrand erected the substan- tial brick building on upper Railroad street which serves the double purpose of an armory and a public hall. The assembly room for the Guards on the basement floor fronting east is 20 by 20 feet, adjoining which are baths, culinary arrangements and lockers for military equipments. The street floor hall, 80 by 50 feet, clear of posts, with parlors on either side, is considered one of the finest in the state for its purposes. At the opening ball January 7, 1910, there were 450 people assembled, including Gov. Prouty with his staff, Adj .- Gen. Gilmore and other state officials.
St. Agnes Hall. After the removal of the Notre Dame con- gregation to the new stone edifice, the building formerly occupied was appropriated to the use of the parochial and convent schools. When these schools had been established in their own buildings it was converted into a hall used by the Foresters, the St. Jean Baptiste and other organizations. In 1911, final alterations were made including equipment for baths, gymnastics and library ; it received the name of St. Agnes Hall, and is principally used as the Club room of the French Catholic Association.
XXVII
DESCRIPTIVE AND REMINISCENT
POOUSOOMPSUK-BIBLE HILL-6000 FEET UP-SITS QUEEN- FROM A BELFRY-REMINISCENCES-THE STRANGER WITHIN THE GATES.
THE RIVER POOUSOOMPSUK
"From far Michisconi's wild valley, to where
Poousoompsuk steals down from his wood-circled lair"
Clear-Running-Water is the interpretation given to the Algon- quin word Poousoompsuk. No doubt the water ran clearer in the primeval time when the Indian shot his canoe down its full stream, than in these new days of dams, mill-refuse and promiscuous sewage. The fall of the river in its nine mile course thro the center of the township is sufficient to supply valuable water powers at five points, viz : Pierce's Mills, Center Village, Pad- dock Village, Railroad Village, and Electric Light Station. It is spanned by six substantial bridges, two of which are modern steel structures. On either side of the Plain it receives the dashing waters of Moose River from the east and from the northwest the sluggish Sleeper ; thence flows ten miles south to join the Con- necticut.
Having neither ponds nor lakes nor mountains of its own, the town looks upon Passumpsic River as its principal physical fea- ture, not to speak of its value as a business asset, particularly at- tractive to the pioneer settlers. This is not one of the rivers
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around which history or legend have woven their spells, tho Arnold in his verse of 1790 remarks that it
"Oft on its margin has beheld The Sachem and his tawny train Roll the red eye in vengeful ire, And lead the captive to the fire."
The filling out of details he kindly leaves to our imagination while his muse turns to fields of "yellow wheat and waving corn" which, with luxurious hay crops, have to this day adorned its beautiful meadows.
A writer of later date intimates that trout fishing was once not unknown in these clear running waters :-
"Passumpsic! river of my boyish pranks, How oft upon thy banks I've dropped the hook In many an eddying nook, Where the cool waters of some upland brook Brought the coy trout ; And with many a stout And lusty bout With brave halloo and shout I've hauled the dainty nibbler out."
The progress of civilization has not proved attractive to the trout ; the stream in which he used to disport himself is now populated only by the placid sucker and the undistinguished diminutive dace. One may still find however on the banks of the river sundry objects that attracted young eyes as long ago as 1830 :-
"Mosses and violets around us were spread, Maples and lindens waved overhead, Mulberry blossoms with dew-drops wet Yielding an odor remembered yet ; Grapes on the island and hazel-nuts near, Eels to bait and suckers to spear, Clams to capture and squirrels to seek, Practice in swimming most days of the week ;
Rocks to dive from and stones to scoot, Slippery elm and calamus root ;
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Stems of grass with wild berries strung,
Flower de Luce and adder's tongue,
Reeds for frog-traps and cat-tail darts, Alders for whistles and bleeding hearts ; Indian pepper and checkerberry Horse mint, snake root, pigeon cherry,
Bumble bee honey and red thorn apple
If willing with stings and thorns to grapple. Pungent twigs of birch had a rare
Delight for the tongue, but all were aware They lost their relish applied elsewhere!"
To this interesting list we may add in plain prose the ramb- ling bittersweet with bright red berries so much in request these days for Christmas decorations, and the butternut tree whose nuts correctly cracked have disciplined many an untrained thumb and finger.
The first white man known to have discovered the Passump- sic River was Stephen Nash, hunter to the British army and scout to Major Robert Rogers. When John Stark the hero of Bennington battle was out on a hunt in 1752, the Indians caught him and brought him up this valley to their encampment at St. Francis, Canada. Seven years later Major Rogers exterminated that Indian village and led his spirited rangers down this same trail of the Passumpsic to Round Island at its mouth, where most of the remnant perished of starvation.
THE FIELDS OF BIBLE HILL
Among the highest farms in our town are those on Bible Hill, two miles northeast of the Center Village, from which nine other towns and villages are visible. This hill got its name not from its superior proximity to heaven but from the number of Bible loving families who early in the century cultivated its slopes and met together for Bible study and neighborhood meetings. On Sunday mornings Deacon Stowell's team and a dozen others might be seen threading their way down the steep pitch through the woods on their way to the Old Meeting House. As late as 1868 the summit of Bible Hill at the end of the road was memor- able in the mind of one visitor for the presence of a woman of
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the good old intelligent religious type, weaving at her loom and recounting her remembrance of the Bible Hill men and women of former days. More recent remembrances are those of boyhood days on the fields of Bible Hill, by Edwin Osgood Grover.
"Oh ! the fields of Bible Hill! Are they still as fresh and fair, As when I used to wander in their orchard-perfumed air ? Does the sunshine rise as early as it used to do
When I waded thro' the clover and the cobwebs and the dew ? Does the murmur and the music of the little pasture brook Sound as sweet today as when it was my singing book ? My Bible Hill lay ever in the shrine of summer's sun, And haying time was playing time for work and play were one. There pleasure lurked a vagabond, in every shady spot,
From pasture gate down cowpath to the slippery-elm tree lot. I never see an orchard that is loaded down with bloom, I never catch the fragrant breath, the subtle, sweet perfume Of a field of clover blossoms, or the scent of new mown hay, But that I fall to thinking in a longing sort of way,
Of orchard lands and clover fields my boyish feet once trod, Of pasture lanes and hillside paths, deep fringed with golden rod ; And, like a castle set in Spain, I seem to see it still-
That old familiar farm house in the fields of Bible Hill,
And the joy the summer brought me on the slopes of Bible Hill."
As a business man in the city Mr. Grover has embodied his maturer memories of Bible Hill in the plain prose of the Country Boy's Creed, in the midst of which he says: "I believe that life out-of-doors and in touch with the earth is the natural life of man. I believe that work is work wherever we find it, but that work with Nature is more inspiring than work with the most intricate machinery. I believe that opportunity comes to a boy on the farm as often as to a boy in the city, that life is larger and freer and happier on the farm than in the town, and that my success de- pends not on my location but on myself."
SIX THOUSAND FEET ABOVE ST. JOHNSBURY
In the New York Tribune of October 10, 1859, John Wise, the famous air man of that period, records his observations of St. Johnsbury seen from overhead. "In the midst of the ballooning mania with its perils and romances, I made my 234th ascension
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DESCRIPTIVE AND REMINISCENT
as an embellishment to the Caledonia Agricultural Fair of 1859, at St. Johnsbury, Vt. It was an exceedingly pleasant and serene trip ; and I give this narrative from my notes taken in the air. At 3 o'clock, P. M., Governor Fairbanks admonished me that the time for the ascension was at hand. In another minute The Ganymede was in proper ballast, the cord cut, and up I went slowly, nearly perpendicularly. Having attained an altitude of nearly 6000 feet in twenty minutes, the balloon became perfectly still, and I took a general observation of St. Johnsbury and the surrounding country.
"What a world of mountains, rivers, lakes, dells-mountains and hills by myriads encompass me; in the southern horizon a gallery of cloud-knobs based on a horizontal stratum, overtopping the terrestrial gallery, like Pelion upon Ossa. Franconia Notch with its gorge looking like a grand causeway to some submarine territory is awfully grand. Mount Washington looms up in pa- triarchal grandeur, like a father at the head of his national family of mountains, hills and knolls. The confluence of the Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers forms a scene as it were in a romance.
"Now the train of cars is stopping at Passumpsic to take a look at the balloon. I hear the strains of the brass band on the St. Johnsbury Fair Ground. I hope The Ganymede will remain poised here all day. Time flies with memory's delight. There is Stratford Peak which I was near coming to from St. Johnsbury three years ago. Not more than 500 yards off it seems, yet must be over twenty miles. I now see forty-two villages; lakes, rivers, ponds are glittering in the sunbeams like sparkling diamonds. The heavens between the mountains and the clouds are radiant with the rainbow. The horse track on the Fair Ground looks, in size and shape, like an old fashioned elliptical waiter. The enclosure with its people looks like a bee hive, and the Morgan horses coursing around the track, remind me of rab- bits running around in a warren. I am now up an hour by the watch, and nearly in statu quo over the point of starting. I do not want to drift from this point above the Fair Ground."
John Wise.
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ST. JOHNSBURY PLAIN FROM CALEDONIA HILL
"Upon a village green The flowing hills atween,
Which ancient trees with grateful shadows fill- A rare and rambling town
Of wide renown And fairest fame-
St. Johnsbury its name Sits queen ; Whose ample villas crown
The graceful curvature of many a hill.
L
"Here out of noble toil
ยท Has come the spoil Of open handed wealth
Of robust health ;
Here art has reared a shrine Science a fane.
Here taste and skill combine,
And holy ministries of flowers Make glad and glorious all the summer hours.
Here generous cultures of the heart and brain
In loving sisterhoods their greenest laurels twine.
"There towers Burke Mountain, glory-crowned, And Willoughby's cleft face By distance softened into grace. Here sleeps the hamlet in the strong embrace
Of sheltering hills that frame the lengthened vale ; And sound of school bells mellowing the air, And distant lift of church spires moving thoughts of prayer." SAMUEL GRAVES, 1883.
SEEN FROM THE ACADEMY BELL TOWER
"I am wishing, Mago, that you could be here and look with me on some familiar old places from this high outlook. The Plain is more embowered in shade than you ever saw it, for in re -. cent years the trees have seemed to assert their ancient right to the soil. Except for the white church spires and the shapely out- line of the new Atheneum, you might half wonder what pretty village this is whose pleasant homes are so neatly clustered about under these groves of maple and elm.
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DESCRIPTIVE AND REMINISCENT
But looking farther out you will see things much as they used to be. Down from the east opens the Moose River valley along which you remember how merrily the water ripples over the stones on its way to join the more leisurely Passumpsic. Here in the foreground is the long tapering shoulder of Caledonia Hill, dotted with some red cows too busy with grass to mind the shift- ing trains and traffic on the track below. A little way up the Passumpsic the grove of Moose Island looks as if it floated on the water from the foot of old Saddleback, whose bare hump heaves against the sky. Farther up, the church towers of the Center Village lift their square tops into view, backed by the bluffs of Willoughby and the blue pyramid of Westmore Moun- tain. The train from Montreal is winding gracefully around the curve of the river where the nine bears were gotten when Dr. Calvin was off bear-hunting, some years before he had us on his hands for castor-oiling.
Marble shafts are glinting in the sunlight through the foliage of Mount Pleasant; to the left the towering Old Pine stands out inviting attention ; and there's the rock where we carved our names when we were youngsters ; in the park at Pinehurst the deer are having a happy time. There go three king birds chasing a hawk from Crow Hill up over the green fields of the Danville farms. Above the smoke of the Scale Factory the round top of Sugar Hill is blazing with the bright colors of the autumn leaves, and below, the wheels of a buggy are flashing along the road to the Fair Grounds.
Looking southward over the roof of the Sheepcote which folds a contented little flock, I see the pointed firs in the hollow where we trapped those fat gray squirrels in the fall of 1849, and on the left the glancing waters of Passumpsic River slipping down the valley under the opal sky that rims the south horizon. Now this writing, Mago, will remind you of the scenes of our boyhood, and of that bright September day when we went up Saddleback together to wave good bye to them just before going off to College nineteen years ago."
QUELPH 1874
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REMINISCENCES
CONTENTED AND HAPPY
"At that time, 1810, neither stage nor mail coach had arrived at St. Johnsbury, nor had the shrill blast of Trescott's tin horn awakened the echoes of those green hills and valleys; the mail was brought from Danville once a week by a small boy on horse- back. The way to Lyndon led down the steep hill to the bridge by Arnold's Falls where we had our wheat ground. On the west bank of the river was a potash. The only way to Danville was by the Pumpkin hills after crossing a bridge of logs across Sleeper's river where the scale works now are, and below which the farmers washed their sheep in swift running water. From that point there were thick woods all the way to within a few rods of the Plain. The school house was at the upper end of the street and some- times served as a sanctuary ; Sunday afternoons Miss Hannah Paddock taught a catechism school there.
There were but twelve families living on the Plain and only six more came in during the next five years. The only painted houses in the town were Joseph Lord's at the south end and Wil- lard Carleton's hotel, (afterward the Cross bakery.) The two Dr. Jewetts administered calomel, Carleton mixed toddy, A. D. Bar- ber sold goods, Hubbard Lawrence tanned leather, John Clark made saddles and sold a few small notions, Samuel Crossman shod horses over against the grave yard along side of which William A. Palmer the young budding lawyer, afterward Gov- ernor, had planted the row of small maple trees. There was not one cooking stove nor carpet nor pleasure wagon on the Plain, yet the people were contented and happy."
Condensed from letter of Henry Little, 1878.
THE OLD GRIST MILL
"On the 20th of January, 1815, my father, Joseph Fairbanks, with his family left Brimfield to come to St. Johnsbury. He had sold the Brimfield farm for $1800, this with the avails of stock, tools, etc. may have given us the sum of $2000 to be invested in
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DESCRIPTIVE AND REMINISCENT
. the new enterprise we had undertaken in St. Johnsbury. A small water power and mill privilege on the west branch, Sleeper's river, was purchased of Judge Pres West for $300. On the ground was a rude unfinished house of three small rooms having rough board floors, and walls enclosed with rough hemlock boards, the cracks battened not very carefully. There was no cellar, but we made a small vault eight feet in the steep hill side a few yards front of the house which answered our purpose.
We immediately commenced clearing away our mill grounds and by October had the saw mill and grist mill in successful operation, also a carriage shop over the grist mill. The year 1816 was known throughout New England as the cold sea- son, ice frequently forming in each of the summer months. Consequently crops were damaged and suffering was felt among the farmers. But the grist mill brought us enough to make us comfortable, and furnished a little for our neighbors. One case I remember : Capt. Samuel Hastings, an elderly bachelor, who lived in the family of Capt. Barker, came to me in the mill one day wanting to buy a bushel of wheat for that family. I told him I couldn't spare it, having only about that amount in the mill. He then began to plead for it, he said the family needed it and he had the two dollars to pay for it. After a while I told him he might have half a bushel, the rest I must keep for urgent cases. He finally accepted the half bushel and paid me a dollar for it. Our mills were well patronized, having all they could do and yielding a fair return, and the carriage shop did a good business. We continued to live in the rude shell of a house two winters and three summers until we had completed a new two-story house on what is now Western avenue, which we occupied in October, 1818." Reminiscences of Sir Thaddeus Fairbanks, 1881.
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