Middlebury, Vermont

Middlebury, Vermont

File:Midddowntown1.JPG

Main Street

Otter Creek Falls

Middlebury is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,183 at the 2000 census. Middlebury is the home of Middlebury College, founded in 1800.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 101.4 km² (39.2 mi²). 101.1 km² (39.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.36%) is water.

The Middlebury village (44.014236°N 73.167276°W / 44.014236; -73.167276) is centered in the northwest corner of the town boundaries, at the Otter Creek falls. To the east Middlebury is bordered by the foothills of the Green Mountains and the town of Ripton. The northern boundary of Middlebury heads east from the Belden Falls of Otter Creek, near the confluence of Otter Creek and the New Haven River, with the towns of New Haven and Bristol to the north. To the west Middlebury is bordered by the towns of Weybridge and Cornwall, Vermont in the center of the Champlain Valley. To the south of Middlebury is the town of Salisbury, also at the base of the foothills.

Major geographical features within the town are: Otter Creek, which runs from south to north along the western edge of the town, with the falls at the center of the Middlebury village; the East Middlebury River which flows west to Otter Creek out of the mountains from Ripton along the southern edge of the town; and Chipman Hill, a hill of glacial till rising 450 ft (140m) above the village just to the northeast of the village.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 8,183 people, 2,657 households, and 1,533 families residing in the town. The population density was 80.9/km² (209.7/mi²). There were 2,805 housing units at an average density of 27.7/km² (71.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.27% White, 1.09% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.87% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 1.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.13% of the population.

There were 2,657 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were couples living together and joined in either marriage or civil union, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the town the population was spread out with 17.5% under the age of 18, 31.4% from 18 to 24, 18.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,723, and the median income for a family was $46,691. Males had a median income of $32,645 versus $25,994 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,926. About 5.3% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.

History

The town of Middlebury was chartered on November 2, 1761. In November of 1778 much of the town was burned during Carleton's Raid during the American Revolutionary War. In the following decades early settlers including the Chipman, Foote, Painter, Smalley and Washburn families cleared fields from the forests in the valley, ran their farms, and vied for the lucrative honor of having the village located on their properties. A survey dispute with the town of Salisbury in lead to the forfeiture of Gamaliel Painter's farm to Salisbury and Painter's transition from farming to the development of Middlebury Village near his and Abisha Washburn's mill, and the other mills that surrounded the Otter Creek falls that run underneath what is now Main Street.

Middlebury College is the host of the annual Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the oldest surviving such conference in the United States.

Trivia

The [1]West Cemetery in Middlebury has an unusual occupant: the "Ashes of Amun-Her-Khep-Esh-Ef, aged two years, son of Sen Woset third King of Egypt and his wife Hathor-Hotpe, 1883 BC". The child's body, upon his death in ancient Egypt, was mummified and the mummified remains ended up in storage in the Sheldon Museum in Middlebury. George Mead, a chairman of the museum board, decided to have the remains cremated and given a proper burial.

Middleburry is home to the Waybury Inn, which was used as the main opening-credit location shot for the CBS sitcom Newhart.

Notable residents

• Joseph Battell, publisher and philanthropist.
• Jim Douglas, governor of Vermont.
• John Deere, inventor of the "Plow that Broke the Plains" and founder of Deere & Company.
• Ronald D. Liebowitz, the 16th president of Middlebury College.
• Edward John Phelps, lawyer and diplomat.
• John M. McCardell, Jr., president emeritus and a professor of history at Middlebury College.
• Steven C. Rockefeller, son of former U.S. Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller.
• Patty Sheehan, professional golfer.
• John Wolcott Stewart, former U.S. Senator and Representative from Vermont
• Emma Willard, women's rights advocate, who founded the first women's school of higher education.
• William Hazlett Upson, creator of the Alexander Botts stories in the Saturday Evening Post.

Points of interest

• Otter Creek Brewing
• Town Hall Theater
• Vermont Experimental Cold-Hardy Cactus Garden
• The Marble Works
• Stewart Hall
• "Bobo" Sheehan Olympic alpine ski coach

External links

• Middlebury town website
• Middlebury College
• Henry Sheldon Museum - Vermont and community history
• Early Vermont Maps and Atlases - Maps of Middlebury and the region from the 18th and 19th centuries. (hosted by Middlebury College).
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