Royalton (Vermont)

Royalton
View of South Royalton
Location in Vermont
Royalton
Basic data
Foundation :	November 13, 1769
State :	United States
State :	Vermont
County :	Windsor County
Coordinates :	43 ° 50 ′  N , 72 ° 34 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 50 ′  N , 72 ° 34 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	2,773 (as of 2010)
Population density :	26.5 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	106.0 km 2  (approx. 41 mi 2 ) of which 104.5 km 2  (approx. 40 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	158 m
Postal code :	05068
Area code :	+1 802
FIPS :	50-60850
GNIS ID :	1462191
Website :	royaltonvt.com
The Congregational Church in South Royalton

Royalton is a town in Windsor County in the state of Vermont in the United States with 2,773 inhabitants (according to the 2010 census).

geography

Geographical location

Royalton is located in the valley of the White River , a tributary of the Connecticut River , in the eastern ridges of the Green Mountains . The main settlement of South Royalton is on the south bank of the White River; Another important settlement is Royalton Village, a few miles upstream . Important elevations are Royalton Hill at 449 m (1,473 feet), Russ Hill , also 449 m, and Elephant Hill at 332 m (1089 feet). Royalton is located in central Vermont on a plateau of the Green Mountains, the so-called Upper Valley .

Neighboring communities

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

• North: Tunbridge , 5.3 miles
• Northeast: Strafford , 13.5 mi
• East: Sharon , 8.5 miles
• South-east: Pomfret , 6.7 km
• South: Barnard , 5.8 miles
• Southwest: Stockbridge , 14 mi
• West: Bethel , 15.3 km
• Northwest: Randolph , 4.1 mi

Note: Royalton and Stockbridge do not share a common border. The two communities are so close to each other that it makes sense to include them in the above list.

climate

The mean mean temperature in Royalton is between −8.3 ° C (17 ° Fahrenheit ) in January and 20.6 ° C (69 ° Fahrenheit) in July. This makes the place about 1 degree cooler compared to the long-term mean of Vermont. The snowfall between October and May is about 45 cm in January about twice as high as the mean snow depth in the USA. The daily sunshine duration is at the lower end of the range of values ​​in the USA, in the period from September to mid-December even significantly below.

history

The area was declared for settlement and sold on November 13, 1769 by the state of New York. The first permanent settlement with wintering took place from 1771; thereafter the population grew very rapidly. As early as 1778 the settlement was able to convene a consolidating city council meeting; but it was not until 1781 that the town was also permanently represented in the Senate of the then Vermont Republic .

Before that, on October 16, 1780, an event known as the "Burning of Royalton" had occurred: A group of about 300 Indians led by the British Lieutenant Horton raided the village and its surrounding homesteads in the early hours of the morning, burning about 20 houses, a large part of the settlement, killed two residents and kidnapped 25 men, women and children. In addition, the harvest that had just been brought in was destroyed and the cattle, including 150 cattle and all the sheep, were killed, so that the approximately 300 residents of the settlement had no food reserves for the winter and the settlement had to be temporarily abandoned. The background to the attack was apparently the search for an American officer, a Lieutenant Whitcomb, who in 1776 killed a British officer during a reconnaissance ride and took his watch and saber. This was viewed by the British as unacceptable behavior for an officer and vigorously pursued. The unit, to which Whitcomb belonged and which was originally stationed in Royalton, was moved to Bethel shortly before the raid .

The following night, a chase group made up of residents of the surrounding villages set up camp for the retreating Indians and launched an attack. Two of the hostages were then slain and their bodies left handcuffed; Another elderly hostage was sent to the chase team with the news that the remaining hostages would also be killed if there were further attacks. As a result, the persecution was stopped. Some of those displaced lived in Canada for more than a year before they were able to escape or were released. The story of the abductees can be found in many books and was kept in memory by memorial stones that were placed in several places along the way to captivity.

In 1781, the year after the attack, the settlement was rebuilt; almost all of the original settlers returned. However, the documents on the town's history were destroyed in the fire of 1780, so that documents with secure data for the town's history are only available after the resettlement. The exception is the founding deed from 1770, which was only brought to the city after the reconstruction.

The fertile soils of the river valley and its surroundings allowed the place to continue to grow rapidly. A first parish hall was inaugurated in 1792; in 1807 the Royalton Academie was founded. As early as 1818, the community was so heavily populated that some citizens emigrated to the west: In the state of Ohio , a new settlement was founded under the name Royalton Township (today: North Royalton ).

With the establishment of the Vermont Central Railroad in 1843, the plan was to lead the then new railway through the valley of the White River by the Green Mountains and the Connecticut River over the capital of Vermont, Montpelier , for commercial and industrial center Burlington on Lake Champlain to lead into action. The Windsor – Burlington railway was opened on June 26, 1848 between Windsor and Bethel and thus Royalton was also connected to the railway. The rest of the route through the mountains was in operation until December 31, 1849. For Royalton, as well as for the other settlements in the valley of the White River, new, larger sales markets opened up, which led to a flourishing economy.

Passenger traffic on the rail link between Essex Junction and Burlington was discontinued in 1938, and in 1966 passenger traffic was completely discontinued on the entire route. Since 1972, however, express trains have been running once a day on the route: until 1995 (with a two-year break) the Montréaler , then the Vermonter , which still operates today . The freight traffic on the route was maintained uninterrupted.

Religions

There is a primary school and two larger parishes in the village, one Methodist and one branch of the United Church of Christ , as well as several smaller religious communities such as the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Journey Church .

Population development

Census Results - Town of Royalton, Vermont
year	1700	1710	1720	1730	1740	1750	1760	1770	1780	1790
Residents										748
year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	1501	1753	1816	1893	1917	1850	1739	1679	1558	1433
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	1427	1452	1469	1491	1291	1331	1388	1399	2100	2389
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	2603	2773

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Following the extensive decline of the rail link, Interstate 89 , an expressway that runs through the White River valley and connects Royalton with Montpelier and Burlington in the north and Concord in the southeast, is the community's main route. There are also two highways, Vermont State Routes 14 and 107, through the area.

media

A local radio station, WRJT, broadcasts on the ultra-short wave frequency 103.1.

Public facilities

Royalton has no public facilities other than the usual municipal administrations. The closest hospital is Gifford Medical Center in Randolph .

education

A general education school, the South Royalton School , is located in the village.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

• Charles Durkee (1805–1870), Member of the US House of Representatives and Governor of the Utah Territory
• Dudley Chase Denison (1819–1905), Member of the US House of Representatives

Personalities who have worked on site

• Orestes Brownson (1803–1876), religious publicist. Grew up in Royalton with foster parents who had a strong religious influence
• Jacob Collamer (1792–1865), lawyer and politician

literature

• Zadock Thompson: History of Vermont, natural, civil and statistical, in Three Parts . Part 3. Chauncey Goodrich, Burlington 1842, p. 152 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Royalton, 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 March 26, 2017 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Royalton in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey , accessed October 1, 2014
2. ↑ Population data from the 2010 US Census in the American Factfinder
3. ↑ Coordinates of the locations of the Census Authority 2010
4. ↑ ^{a b} Climate data and radio station directory at www.City-Data.com (English)
5. ^ Benjamin H. Hall: History of Eastern Vermont, from its earliest Settlement to the Close of the Eighteenth Century . tape 2 . J. Munsell, Albany NY 1865, pp. 383 ( digitized version ).
6. ↑ For comparison: During the settlement phase of the New England states, it took an average of three to four generations before the populated area became so narrow that emigration movements arose. There were two here.
7. ↑ Population 1790–2010 according to the census results
8. ↑ Homepage of the South Royalton School (English)