Vergennes - Its Historic Buildings and Important People

Some early businesses in Vergennes were the Monkton Iron Works, later bought and called the Vergennes Water Power Company and the city hotels. Some people could visualize limitless industrial possibilities and professional men were lured to Vergennes by the thought of being involved in shaping of Vermont's first city.

The first big business was the Monkton Iron works which emerged during 1807 to 1816. The water power and land were leased by a group of Boston Businessmen. The success of the Iron works coincided with the war of 1812 as the United States Navy placed an order with the company to deliver 300 tons of cannon shot. Commodore MacDonough decided upon Vergennes for his fleet's winter quarters due to the location of the Iron Works, Juhazil Sherman's ship building yard, and the difficulty of it's approach from the lake. The war brought pride to the city with MacDonough's victory in the battle of Plattsburgh Bay and General Samuel Strong's leadership on the land battle. The celebration was short. The Iron works soon ceased operation shortly after the end of the hostilities, throwing the city into wholesale depression.

In 1828, during the second era of prosperity, a man named John D. Ward arrived in Vergennes from Montreal and purchased the Iron Works property, having built up a successful iron works in Montreal. He replaced the old flume with the present canal and once again gave employment to a large number of people. A group of men asked him to sell off his burgeoning business. At first, Ward brushed off the suggestion, they were persistent men and gave him no peace. He finally gave in and set a price of $32,000.00, and the offer was accepted by the Vergennes Iron Company made up of Apollos Austin, William White, and Henry Hewitt. John Ward was asked to join the group but he had reservations about the project and opted not to join the group and moved to New York.

The proposed project never materialized due perhaps to the collapsing national economy that Ward anticipated would happen. In the decade of the 1840's there was a brief return of prosperity to Vergennes with the addition of the railroad to the little city. The Iron Works was still being run by the Vergennes Iron Company in the 1850's with the feeling that the railroad would be successful in reviving the floundering Iron Works. After an unsuccessful endeavor by Francis Strong and Thomas Ross in forming a platform scales business, the Vergennes Iron Works closed in 1857.

In 1866, an organization was formed to create the Vergennes Water Power Company. It was formed by the National Bank of Vergennes and three men: Herrick Stevens, Francis Miles Strong and Edward Seymour. These three men would help to banish the curse of the iron works forever.

In May of 1867, their main objective was completed which was to purchase the Vergennes Iron Company property. They purchased it for $10,000. The bank was given one-half the property and Stevens, Seymour and Strong each one-sixth.

1868 & 1869. These businesses purchased there power from the Water Power Company.

Vergennes continued to prosper and grow with it's strong retail district.(1870). Vergennes could boast about it's three strong hotels along Main Street. The Steven's house, the Franklin House, (now the Ryan Block, 155 Main Street), and the American house, they all have been renovated.

In 1848 C.O. and C.J. Stevens purchased a 1793 tavern on the Green and added onto it and transformed it into the Steven's House Hotel. The Steven's House originally had a Greek Revival Structure style but the Stevens House got it's Italiunate Style detailing around 1870.

Mr. Stevens was proprietor of the Stevens House over a period of 58 years (1816-1874). In 1874, it was sold to S. S. Gaines and remained in the Gaines family until 1915. G.F. Daniels purchased the business in 1915 and conducted it until 1920. He then sold the business to W. H. Norton. The Norton's carried on the business until 1931 when they sold to the Stevens House Company. They carried on the business until 1944. Then it was sold to Allen P. Clark. It has been sold many times since 1944. The Steven's House is one of the oldest in Vermont.

Another building built in the early 1900's was the Bixby Memorial Free Library. William Bixby, a Vergennes businessman, left $300,000 of his estate to a library started by "An aged colored women." The library trustees then commissioned G. Fredrick Frost of New York City to design the Neo-Classical Revival style Bixby Memorial Free Library. The Neo-Classical Revival style was classical architecture of ancient Greece, Italian and Roman Renaissance used in libraries, museums, banks, schools and other public buildings in the first three decades of the 20th Century. The library was constructed in 1911 of buff-colored brick with Indiana sandstone monumental columns. The cost of this structure was $88,000.00. The library was built on the site of the Lennox Hotel.

Also, Samuel Strong a son of John Strong of Addison who in 1814 was commander of the Victorious Vermont ground forces at the battle of Plattsburgh settled in Vergennes in 1793. In 1796, he hired Leo J. Fields to build one of the most finest wood frame, Georgian Style Mansions in Vermont notable for its entry with pilasters, fanlight, and broken pediment and its central wall-dormer pediment with oval window. This house still stands today.

Keeping with the Gothic Revival Style in Vermont, the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church was erected in 1834 at a cost of $3,092. A brick church with painted arches and it's entry in a central belfry is one of the earliest examples of the Gothic style in Vermont. The city of Vergennes donated the land for the church.

The Catholic Church was organized in 1834 by Father James Welch. That same year the first church edifest was erected of wood. This continued in use until 1874 when Father Cunningham rector of Middlebury built the Gothic brick church of St. Peters in Vergennes at a cost of $12,500. This building to was in keeping with the Greek Revival, Italiunate and other style homes in the area.

Vergennes has undergone many changes over time in both businesses and styles of homes and schools etc. Indeed if we could only have the retail district of the previous years Vergennes would truly have a greater economy than we have today. One thing still stands true today and has not changed over time: "Vergennes is the Smallest City in the U.S. A.." I feel that it is truly an honor and a privilege to live in a city with so much history and to see the many descendents of our founding fathers still present in our community.