Orwell (Vermont)

Orwell
The Congregational Church in Orwell
Location in Vermont
Orwell
Basic data
Foundation :	August 8, 1763
State :	United States
State :	Vermont
County :	Addison County
Coordinates :	43 ° 49 ′  N , 73 ° 17 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 49 ′  N , 73 ° 17 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	1,250 (as of 2010)
Population density :	10.2 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	128.6 km 2  (approx. 50 mi 2 ) of which 122.2 km 2  (approx. 47 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	125 m
Postal code :	05760
Area code :	+1 802
FIPS :	50-53725
GNIS ID :	1462168
Website :	townoforwellvt.org
Mount Independence

Orwell is a town in Addison County of the state of Vermont in the United States with a population of 1,250 (according to the 2010 census).

geography

Geographical location

It is located on a southeastern branch of Lake Champlain . Its western border also forms the border with the state of New York. The area is largely flat, the highest point being the 230 m high Blueberry Hill; the area contains several small lakes, streams and oxbow lakes of tributaries, but no large watercourses. The area is primarily used for dairy farming and grain cultivation. In addition, Mount Independence in the northwest of the area and Fort Ticonderoga opposite it attract tourists.

Neighboring communities

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

• North: Shoreham , 3.2 mi
• Northeast: Whiting , 4.7 mi
• East: Sudbury , 7.2 mi
• Southeast: Hubbardton , 7.8 mi
• South: Benson , 2.6 mi
• Southwest: Dresden, New York , 14 mi
• West: Putnam, New York , 9.7 mi

Note: Orwell and Hubbardton do not have a common border, but are so closely spaced that it makes sense to include them in the above list.

climate

The mean mean temperature in Orwell is between -7.2 ° C (19 ° Fahrenheit ) in January and 21.7 ° C (71 ° Fahrenheit) in July. This means that the place is around 10 degrees cooler than the long-term average in the USA. The snowfall between October and May is up to five and a half meters, about twice as high as the average snow depth in the USA, the daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the range of values ​​in the USA; between September and mid-December even e.g. T. well below.

history

The area of ​​the town was sold on August 8, 1763 with an area of ​​42 mi² (about 108 km²) to a Benjamin Ferris (according to Thompson) or Benjamin Underhill (according to Deming). At first, however, only a settlement by two pioneers in the area of ​​today's Mount Independence was documented. As the Revolutionary War loomed, these two settlers were driven out of Massachusetts by soldiers who occupied the hill, which was conveniently located above a narrow section of Lake Champlain and opposite another fort, and on July 18, 1775, upon the news of the declaration of independence of the British colonies on American soil from motherland Great Britain, named Mount Independence ("Independence Mountain"). From 1776 palisades and a fort were built on the hill and further troops were stationed. In the following year, 1777, both Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence were conquered by the British.

The first permanent settlement of the area of ​​the town did not occur until after the end of the war of independence. For 1783 several settlers are named who settled in Orwell; the area now developed rapidly. On December 12, 1787, the constituent city assembly with 70 voters took place. In 1788 the first own representative was sent to the House of Representatives of the Vermont Republic , the pre-organization of today's Vermont. The first parish was founded in 1789.

The settlement suffered several setbacks as a result. In 1804, an epidemic of dysentery claimed 60 children dead in 60 days. In 1813 it was rampant again, again with large numbers of victims; but this time also among adults. On May 13, 1820, a partially tree-lined area of ​​about 5 acres (about 2 hectares) slipped by about 40 feet (about 13 meters) and triggered a tidal wave of one meter height on the opposite bank in about 2.5 km distance from; a sawmill was destroyed; but there are no reports of deaths or injuries.

Around 1840 the area was primarily focused on sheep farming; more than 30,000 animals were registered in the 1840 Census. Potatoes and corn were the most important crops.

With the opening of the Leicester – Ticonderoga railway on December 1, 1871, a transport connection between New York and the metropolitan areas on the east coast of the USA was created. This boosted the sale of dairy products and grain; production was changed until around 1890. The connection across Lake Champlain was made by a partly folding wooden bridge, which was technically vulnerable. A partial bridge collapse led to the closure of the section over the lake in May 1923. Because of the poor condition of the route, further sections of the route were subsequently closed. The rail company's sales office in Orwell closed on June 1, 1951; the tracks were removed that same year. From now on, goods were transported by road.

After the end of rail traffic, the sale of agricultural products, which continues to be the main source of income for Orwell's residents, was shifted to the streets. Large industrial companies or service companies have not settled.

Religions

A Roman Catholic parish is settled in the village : St. Paul .

Population development

Census Results - Town of Orwell, Vermont
Residents										778
year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	1386	1849	1730	1598	1504	1470	1341	1192	1351	1265
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	1150	1065	942	835	876	902	826	851	901	1114
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	1185	1250

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

After the loss of the rail link in the 1950s, Orwell is only connected to the outside world via roads. These are in particular the Vermont State Route 22A , which runs from north to south parallel to the lake shore through the town and connects it with Shoreham, Addison and Benson , as well as the east-west running Vermont State Route 73 , which leads to the ferry at Ticonderoga and the Representing connection to New York .

Public facilities

Apart from the organs of the city administration and the primary school, there are no public institutions in the village. The closest hospital is Porter Medical Center in Middlebury .

education

Orwell is part of the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union with Benson, Castleton and Fair Haven .

The village has an eight-class elementary school with an attached kindergarten, the Orwell Village School. For secondary schools, the surrounding communities, particularly Middlebury, must be approached.

The Orwell Free Library is located on Main Street in Orwell. It was founded in 1896 by residents of the town.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

• William P. Kellogg (1830–1918), politician and Governor of the State of Louisiana
• Marsena E. Cutts (1833–1883), politician and representative in the House of Representatives

Personalities who have worked on site

• Ebenezer J. Penniman (1804–1890), politician and Michigan State representative in the House of Representatives

literature

• Zadock Thompson: History of Vermont, natural, civil and statistical, in three parts . Chauncey Goodrich, Burlington 1842, p. 133 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Leonard Deming: Catalog of the Principal Officers of Vermont . Middlebury 1851 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Abby Maria Hemenway: The Vermont historical Gazetteer . 1st volume. Burlington 1867, p. 73 ff .
• History from Orwell to circa 1880
  Copy from 1886 History of Addison County, edited by HP Smith. Middlebury College website. ( Memento from August 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

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

• Homepage of the municipality (English)
• Profile of the municipality on the official portal www.Vermont.gov
• Entry on VirtualVermont (English) ( Memento from August 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Orwell in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System , accessed October 1, 2014
2. ↑ Population data from the 2010 US Census in the American Factfinder
3. ^ Blueberry Hill. In: peakery.com. Accessed May 5, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Coordinates of the locations of the Census Authority 2010
5. ↑ Climate data at www.City-Data.com (English)
6. ^ "A history of the Addison Railroad" ( Memento from March 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
7. ↑ Population 1790–2010 according to the census results
8. ^ Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union | Believe, Inspire, Achieve. In: arsu.org. Retrieved July 28, 2017 (American English). 
9. ↑ admin: Index. In: arsu.org. Retrieved May 5, 2019 (American English). 
10. ^ Orwell Free Library. In: orwellfreelibrary.org. Orwell Free Library, accessed July 28, 2017 (American English).