Grafton (Vermont)

Grafton
Library Grafton
Location in Vermont
Grafton
Basic data
Foundation :	April 8, 1754
State :	United States
State :	Vermont
County :	Windham County
Coordinates :	43 ° 10 ′  N , 72 ° 37 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 10 ′  N , 72 ° 37 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	679 (as of 2010)
Population density :	6.8 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	99.5 km 2  (approx. 38 mi 2 ) of which 99.4 km 2  (approx. 38 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	281 m
Postal code :	05146
Area code :	+1 802
FIPS :	50-28900
GNIS ID :	1462105
Website :	GraftonVermont.org

Grafton is a town in Windham County , Vermont , United States with a population of 679 (according to the 2010 census). The area was proclaimed in 1754 under the name Thomlinson and settled since 1768. In 1791 the county was renamed Grafton by the citizens .

geography

Geographical location

Grafton is north of Windham County. The Saxtons River flows in a south-easterly direction through the town and with its tributaries forms a diversified river system. To the north there are several smaller streams that flow into the Williams River . In the area of ​​the town is the Grafton Town Forest , part of the Rockingham Town Forest , the William C. Putnam State Forest , the Mollie Beattie State Forest and near the settlement of Grafton the Grafton Village Park .

geology

The town area is hilly and various minerals have been found. Large amounts of soapstone are stored south of the settlement . Also talc (mineral) , chlorite and actinolite .

Neighboring communities

All distances are given as straight lines between the official coordinates of the places from the 2010 census.

• North: Chester , 2.3 mi
• Northeast: Springfield , 9.4 mi
• East: Rockingham , 7.7 miles
• Southeast: Westminster , 7.9 mi
• South: Athens , 2.9 km
• Southwest: Townshend , 8.2 km
• West: Windham , 9.4 km
• Northwest: Andover , 7.7 mi

Note: Due to the shape of the county, there are no common borders between Grafton on the one hand and Andover, Springfield and Westminster on the other. The counties are so close together that it makes sense to include them in the above list.

climate

The mean mean temperature in Grafton ranges from −8 ° C (16 ° Fahrenheit ) in January to 18.3 ° C (65 ° Fahrenheit) in July. The snowfall between October and May, with a peak in January of 43 cm (17 inches), is around two meters, about twice the mean snow depth in the USA. The daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the range in the USA.

history

First the area was proclaimed in 1754 under the name Thomlinson . The name goes back to for John Thomlinson, Benning Wentworth's agent in England. Settlement started in 1768. In 1791 the town was renamed Grafton . The residents were no longer satisfied with the name Thomlinson, since they could not agree on a new name, the one who made the highest bid was allowed to determine the new name. Joseph Axtell won his $ 5.00 bid and named the town Grafton, Massachusetts, after his former home . However, he never paid that $ 5.00.

Originally an area characterized by sheep breeding and wool mills on the Saxtons River, soapstone finds in nearby Bear Mountain changed the situation significantly. By the end of the 19th century, Grafton was a large soapstone producer, selling its stones as building material far beyond Vermont's borders. After quarrying and the Great Depression of 1929, the number of residents fell from more than 1,500 at the beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 to under 400.

Phelps Barn Pub, part of the Grafton Inn

Today, Grafton's economy rests mainly on two legs: a cheese factory (the Grafton Village Cheese Company ), which has existed since 1896 and specializes in the production of cheddar cheese , and tourism through a cross-country skiing center that has been operating since the 1960s Grafton Ponds was built. The historic town center has been systematically renovated. In the village is the Old Tavern , which has existed under the name Grafton Inn since 1801, making it one of the oldest existing hotels in the United States. In Grafton Inn nächtigten figures such as Ulysses S. Grant , Ralph Waldo Emerson , Woodrow Wilson and Henry David Thoreau .

Population development

Census Results - Town of Grafton, Vermont
year	1700	1710	1720	1730	1740	1750	1760	1770	1780	1790
Residents										561
year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	1149	1365	1482	1439	1326	1241	1154	1008	929	817
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	804	927	476	453	393	422	426	465	604	602
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	649	679

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Vermont State Route 121 crosses Grafton from the northwest to the southeast, from Londonderry to Bellows Falls. The Vermont State Route comes from the north of Cester, meets State Route 121 in the settlement of Grafton, briefly merges with it and leads south towards Athens.

Public facilities

There is no hospital of its own in Grafton. The closest hospital is Grace Cottage Hospital in Townshend.

education

Butterfield House

Grafton is part of the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union . The Grafton Elementary School is located in Grafton . It offers school education from kindergarten to the end of the sixth grade.

The Grafton Public Library is located on Main Street in Grafton, in the historic Butterfield House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

• Benjamin W. Dean (1827-1864), politician and lawyer for the Secretary of State of Vermont was

literature

• Zadock Thompson: History of Vermont, natural, civil and statistical, in Three Parts . Part 3. Chauncey Goodrich, Burlington 1842, p. 75 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Grafton, Vermont  - collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• Town website
• Profile of the municipality on the official portal www.Vermont.gov
• Entry at VirtualVermont.com (English) ( Memento from March 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Grafton in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System . Retrieved March 18, 2012
2. ↑ Population data from the 2010 US Census in the American Factfinder
3. ^ Zadock Thompson: History of Vermont, natural, civil and statistical, in Three Parts . Part 3. Chauncey Goodrich, Burlington 1842, p. 76 ( digitized version ).
4. ↑ Coordinates of the locations of the Census Authority 2010
5. ↑ Grafton, Vermont (VT 05146) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders. In: city-data.com. www.city-data.com, accessed on February 25, 2017 (English). 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Grafton, Vermont, New England, USA. In: virtualvermont.com. Retrieved February 25, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Population 1790–2010 according to the census results
8. ^ Windham Northeast Supervisory Union | WNESU official site. In: wnesu.org. Retrieved February 25, 2017 (American English). 
9. ^ Grafton Elementary School | A site for GES. In: wnesu.org. Retrieved February 25, 2017 (American English).