Waterbury is a town in Washington
County
in central Vermont
.
It is also
the name of a village
within that town. The population was 4,915
at the
2000 census.
Economy
Industry
Waterbury is the location of
Ben &
Jerry's Ice Cream, whose factory tours have become Vermont's
most popular
tourist attraction.
Other local businesses include:
Several Vermont state government administrative offices are located
in town. The Dale Woman's state prison and the Vermont State
Hospital mental health facility are located here.
History
The location where Waterbury now lies was once the frontier between
the
Mahican and
Pennacook people. European settlement of the area
dates from 1763, when King
George III granted a
charter for land in the Winooski River Valley. James Marsh became
the first permanent white settler in the region in 1783.
Many of
the early settlers came from Waterbury
, Connecticut
and named their new town in honor of the
hometown.
The Central Vermont Railroad came to Waterbury in 1849.
The
Green Mountain
Seminary
was built in Waterbury Center in 1869.
The state opened the Vermont State Asylum for the Insane here in
1891.. The institution survives here to the present day, renamed
the Vermont State Hospital.
The Village of Waterbury was incorporated in 1882 with a population
of over 2000.
Like many
New
England
towns, Waterbury's economy was based around the
local river mill industry and the surrounding agricultural
producers. The mills produced products such as
lumber and finished wood products,
wicker products,
leather,
starch, and
alcohol.
The agriculture was based on
sheep through the
19th century but switched over to
dairy
farming by the 20th Century. Waterbury had a ski factory in the
1940s, The Derby & Ball Company.
In 1927, Waterbury, like many other Vermont communities, was
devastated by
flooding. Inscriptions on the
sides of some buildings in Waterbury village purport to show where
the level of the water rose during the 1927 flood. The village
recovered and in 1938 the Little River Dam was built by the
Army Corps of Engineers to
control future flooding.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 4,915
people, 2,011 households, and 1,321 families residing in the town.
The
population density was 810.4
people per square mile (312.9/km²). There were 2,106 housing units
at an average density of 347.2/sq mi (134.1/km²). The racial
makeup of the town was 97.80%
White, 0.26%
African American, 0.12%
Native American, 0.65%
Asian, 0.26% from
other races, and 0.89% from two
or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 0.67%
of the population.
There were 2,011 households out of which 24.0% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were
married couples living together, 7.9% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families.
25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.5% had
someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age
of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to
64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
37.7 years. For every 100 females there were 97.4 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $44,940, and the
median income for a family was $60,547. Males had a median income
of $35,566 versus $25,838 for females. The
per capita income for the town was
$25,858. About 3.3% of families and 6.1% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 7.0%
of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Waterbury belongs to the
Washington West Supervisory
Union. Students attend Thatcher Brook Primary School for grades
preschool and Kindergarten through 4th grade, Crossett Brook Middle
School for grades 5-8, and
Harwood Union High School for
grades 9-12.
Transportation
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides
daily service to Waterbury, operating its Vermonter between St. Albans, VT
and Washington, DC
.
GMTA
(Green Mountain Transit Agency) provides public transit bus
services to Burlington
, Montpelier
, Morrisville
and Stowe,
VT
.
Media
Radio
stations WWMP
(MP103)
- 103.3 FM (Rock, Pop & R&B) and WDEV -550 AM & 96.1 FM (News/Talk), are
located in town.
Notable residents
References
- http://www.vtliving.com/attractions/benjerrys/index.shtml
- Brattleboro Retreat retrieved May 13, 2008
-
http://www.flowofhistory.org/lessons/cd_kit/files/appendices.pdf
retrieved on May 6, 2007
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