Fun Facts

• 1791 Vermont becomes the 14th State


• United States Presidents born in Vermont, Chester A. Arthur (1881, 21st President) and Calvin Coolidge (1923, 30th President)


• 1984 Madeleine Kunin is the first woman elected governor of Vermont


• 1836 Vermont changes to a bicameral legislature


• Vermont's first newspaper, the Vermont Gazette, was published in Bennington in 1783


• 1805 Montpelier became the permanent capital of Vermont


• With a population of fewer than 9,000 people, Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the U.S.


• Vermont's state capitol building is one of only a few to have a gold dome. A statue of Ceres sits atop the dome.


• Thomas Chittenden elected as Vermont's first governor in 1778


• 1858 In defiance of federal laws, Vermont frees all blacks who had been brought into the state


• First woman elected as Lieutenant Governor was Consuelo N. Bailey, elected in 1954 in Vermont.


• 1927 A devasting flood of the Winooski and Connecticut rivers. Vermont's Lt. Govornor Hollister Jackson is one of the many casualities.


• 1920 Edna Beard from Orange county was elected as first woman to serve in the legislature


• 1978 The first Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream store opens in Burlington


• 1816 Was the Year Without a Summer: On the night of June 5th, tempertures dropped 50 degrees, and a wet snow fell the next day all over the state. On June 7th a blizzard struck northern Vermont, with several inches in the valleys and 12 inches in Craftsbury Common. Hard freezes continued through the 10th of June. July, August and September all experienced cold periods. The freak weather resulted in a loss of summer's crops.


• Montpelier Vermont, is the only state capital without a McDonalds

Five Largest Towns
See the five largest towns in Vermont in 1791, 1860, 1900 and 1996.

	In 1791	In 1860	In 1900	In 1996
	Guilford 2,432	Burlington 7,713	Burlington 18,640	Burlington 39,391
	Bennington 2,377	Rutland 7,577	Rutland 11,499	Rutland City 18,083
	Shaftsbury 1,999	Bennington 4,389	Barre 8,488	Essex 18,044
	Putney 1,848	Northfield 4,329	Bennington 8,033	Colchester 16,696
	Pownal 1,746	Brattleboro 3,855	St. Johnsbury 8,098	Bennington 16,132

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