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Middlebury, Vermont

History

Main Street in 1908

One of the New Hampshire grants, Middlebury was chartered by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth on November 2, 1761. It was awarded to John Evarts and 62 others. The French and Indian Wars ended in 1763, and the first settlers arrived in 1766. During the Revolutionary War, much of the town was burned in Carleton's Raid on November 6, 1778. After the war concluded in 1783, settlers returned to rebuild homes, clear forests and establish farms. Principal crops were grains and hay.

Landowners vied for the lucrative honor of having the village center grow on their properties. A survey dispute with Salisbury led to the forfeiture of Gamaliel Painter's farm to that town, and his transition from farming to developing Middlebury Village near his and Abisha Washburn's mill, together with other mills that surrounded the Otter Creek falls. Industries would include a cotton factory, sawmill, gristmill, pail factory, paper mill, woolen factory, iron foundry, and marble quarry. The Rutland & Burlington Railroad first arrived on September 1, 1849.
Middlebury College, one of the United State's elite liberal arts colleges, was founded here in 1800. It is a member of the NESCAC and the so-called Little Ivy league. In the summer, the town plays host to the annual Middlebury College language schools, as well as the college's Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the oldest surviving conference of its kind in the nation.

On October 22, 2007, central Middlebury was evacuated for a short time because of a train derailment; the Middlebury Union Middle School served as the evacuation headquarters.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 39.2 square miles (101.4 km²), of which, 39.0 square miles (101.1 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (0.36%) is water. Middlebury is drained by 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 flows west to Otter Creek out of the mountains. Chipman Hill, a hill of glacial till, rises 450 feet (140 m) above the village just to the northeast. Foothills of the Green Mountains border the town to the east, with the Champlain Valley to the west.

Middlebury is crossed by

U.S. Route 7,

Vermont Route 23,

Vermont Route 30,

Vermont Route 116, and

Vermont Route 125. It borders the towns of New Haven and Bristol to the north, Ripton to the east, Cornwall and Weybridge to the west, and Salisbury to the south.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,183 people, 2,657 households, and 1,533 families residing in the town. The population density was 209.7 people per square mile (80.9/km²). There were 2,805 housing units at an average density of 71.9/sq mi (27.7/km²). 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.