Wells River (Vermont)

Wells River
Wells River Graded School
Location in Vermont
Wells River
Basic data
State :	United States
State :	Vermont
County :	Orange County
Coordinates :	44 ° 9 ′  N , 72 ° 3 ′  W Coordinates: 44 ° 9 ′  N , 72 ° 3 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	399 (as of 2010)
Population density :	79.8 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	5.0 km 2  (approx. 2 mi 2 ) of which 5.0 km 2  (approx. 2 mi 2 ) is land
Height :	132 m
Postal code :	05081
Area code :	+1 802
FIPS :	50-78025
GNIS ID :	1460106
Wells River Village Historic District

Wells River is a village in the town of Newbury in Orange County , Vermont , United States with 399 inhabitants (according to the 2010 census).

geography

Geographical location

The Village Wells River is located in the northeast of the town of Newbury, at the confluence of the Wells River in the Connecticut River , directly across from Woodsville in New Hampshire . The place is a village politically and administratively dependent on the parent Town.

Neighboring communities

All information as straight-line distances.

• North: Monroe , 7.1 miles
• Northeast: Littleton , 17 mi
• East: Woodsville , 0.6 mi
• Southeast: Lincoln , 20 mi
• South: Haverhill , 13.0 km
• Southwest: Corinth , 21.0 km
• West: Orange , 26.5 km
• Northwest: Ryegate , 8.0 km

history

The exact founding date of the place is not known. However, it was probably settled shortly after Newbury was proclaimed, i.e. from around 1680. This is supported by the location of the place just downstream of some rapids within some river loops in the Connecticut River, which at that time was the only traffic route in the area and which could easily be bypassed if you landed here at the mouth of the Wells River. On the other hand, the Wells River with its high flow speed was an ideal location for companies that worked with hydropower. In fact, some mills in the lower course of the river were already occupied very early on.

Since the late 1840s, the construction of railways in Vermont and the surrounding states was strongly promoted. The Connecticut River valley was used as a natural traffic route. On November 6, 1848, the White River Junction – Lennoxville railway reached the place. A cross connection over the river towards the Atlantic coast was realized in 1853 in the form of the Concord – Wells River railway ; a route through the side valley of the Wells River to the capital of Vermont, the Montpelier – Wells River railway , went into operation from 1873. As a result, Wells River became a transfer station for these connections, but this did not change the actual place significantly: it continued to be predominantly agricultural. Passenger traffic on these lines was discontinued in the 1950s and 1960s and some of the routes were closed. Today Wells River is mainly connected to the outside world by US Route 5 , US Route 302 and Interstate 91 .

Parts of the town center have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983 . The Wells River Graded School was registered back in 1976 and the Wells River Village Historic District in 1983.

Population development

year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents									513	526
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	565	608	606	553	527	570	472	419	396	424
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	325	399

Wells River, Vermont census results

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

• William A. Russell (1831–1899), politician, member of the US House of Representatives

literature

• Zadock Thompson: History of Vermont, natural, civil and statistical, in three parts . Chauncey Goodrich, Burlington 1842, p. Volume III, p 125 ( limited preview in Google Book search). (for development up to 1840)
• Abby Maria Hemenway: The Vermont historical Gazetteer, Volume 2 . Burlington 1870, p. 915 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Frederic P. Wells: History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coös country to present time. With genealogical records of many families . The Caledonian Company, St. Johnsbury 1902 ( archive.org ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wells River in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System , accessed March 13, 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 . George H. Salisbury, Burlington 1842, p. 186 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
4. ↑ Asset Detail. In: nps.gov. npgallery.nps.gov, accessed October 6, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Asset Detail. In: nps.gov. npgallery.nps.gov, accessed October 6, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Population 1880–2010 according to census results

Web links

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

• Entry on City Data (English)
• Entry on VirtualVermont (English) ( Memento from October 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive )