Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-07-11

address which describes the removal of the
village Of Wilmington from its original site
''on the hill" TO its present location, known
60 years ago as mill Hollow :"
Previous to the erection of the log meeting
house the town meetings were held at the houses
Of different persons but thereafter they were held
III thls meeting house, or IN a frame one subse-
quently erected on the hill and called the Con.
grrgatiOnal meeting house. " until the town meet.
ings were removed by vote la 1888 to this village
then called MIL Hollow" Until few years iiist
preceding that time the business Of the town was
transacted principally upon the old town hill
where originally laid out situate to the easterly
and between the present village and the lllcus
FoN place, nov owned by David Spencer Its
meeting house, It's stores, tavern, shops offices
and dwelling houses constituted quite preten-
tiOs village 10 which the country ALI arut,hd mill
tribute. II was the policy Of our early fathers TO
lOcate these business places Of the towns upon
some high hill near the geographical centre Of the
town, and then construct roads diverging in differ.
ent directions therefrOm out into the country
III lSls Chas. X. Field Esq, a young attorney
OF Newtane, located here as practitioner Of the
law. lie was man OF excellent judgment keen
aud sparkling intellect, and endowed with almost
an intuitve foresight. At the October iSsl s.s
sion Of the Vermont legislature the Remington
and Wilmington Turnpike company was incorpo-
rated He readily saw that IN Opening up a great
thoroughtare between Bennington and Brattle.
bufo, some other route than that over the town
hill must necessarily be provided for a connecting
link between the east end Of the turnpike. two
miles or more west Of here, and the old road near
the Averell place, a mile east Of here Under his
leadership highway was established and con
structed through Mil Hollow, now the present
village He fur.saw that what had aIreadv
happened IN NtWfane must Inevitably take Ulsrt
here that Is. the removal Of the business inter
ests Of the town from the hills to the valleys Tie
highway being constructed "A store or two wpr,
butt upon or near IT, The building now octtpied
by Albert VI johnson as a dentist Is office and for
the town clerk Office, aud by Chandler NJ Rus
sell for residence, was among the first erected
Tor store. Another one was erected upon the
spot where Orrin o. Wares store now stands
Rugg aud Pulsifer, Freeman and A b Childs
Ia uI.t
IN the new village. They we're followed by + +
and Nolney Forbes. +. + Stanley, ) r. Harris
Ashley Stoue, Willard Gurhaiu. A. y Fitch I.ahan
ahd Adln !. Chids, Eleaz,r and o. }. Gorham.
Estus e.. Sargent, Warren Boyd, aud many Others
top numerous to mention. In 1888 article was
inserted ~ the warrant for the annual March
meeting which was as follows Article Z To 4.e
II the town will rais' and appropriate. a sum of
money, not exceeding two hundred dollars for
the purpnse Of erecting a town house in Mill Hul
low the following spring or summer" The voters
met, chos. officers, transacted various other kinds
of business, aud adjourned to March ls when
they met aud passed. the following vote: That
the selectrnen contract with Chas X Field to
build and complete a town house in Mill Hollow
Tor the sum Of two hundred dollars 10 b. paid Ia
said Field on Or before the hrst day Of January
1871. and the selrctmen arr to require bonds for
the completion Of SAID house" Then 'vot-d to
hold the next frermen's meeting Ia the town
house in Mill Hollow "
Tie hand of Mr.. Field eau b. recognized in all
this work. at least. by those who knew him we'll
Aprll - a meeting was held at which an attempt
was made 10 reconsider said votes but without sue.
cess; and the fftemcn's meeting the September
following held ia the new town hotis,-. and
the meetings Uf this town have t.en held ia this
village ever since The taking from the old hlll
the town meetings was the last straw that broke
the canels back. and from that time forward the
business gradually came to Mill Hollow, " togrth-
rr with the Congregational meeting house and the
places that once knew dwelling houses, shop.
store aud tavern long years ago know them no
more forever
consider It pretty conclusiyely established that
tue first dwelling house in the present village was
litp
on the now vacant spot from which was burned
the dwelling oi Mrs Dr Pettee few wears ago
II was built IN the winter aud spring Of lS{l and
be- moved into II before Il had keen entirely plas
tered His daughter. Mary Jane nov the " lie uf
Edwin Ihayrr Of Springfield, Mass was boru
therr July 49, lSs2 and is supposed lie the first
child born in the village. William Chds aud wife
moved into the same hOus, ia the fall Of that
year The first hotel was erected about the same
time by Capt. Gooding Lincoln, the site Just
east Ot Mrs Prtt-r's. aud destroyed in the
same fire. This house was kept by him for
rral years, WHEN he succet.drd by Robert Rid.
die, John rhayrr Lyman Thayrr and others un.
I'll, aud perhaps for some time after the present
hotel was erected aud op-nrd by Iaban Childs
The present hotel las also had for favurite land
lords Chas Sheldon. Wells SNOW John Patch Lib
rrty Wilder, J. Henry Kidder, Burr aud Amrs
ahd the present pruprietprs.
FIRST BIRTH IN TOWN
The first child born in Wilmington was
I-phaniah Swift son If Capt Chapman
Swift, Jan %, l11l. Mr. swift became n
minister If tue gospel, and it is related of
him that after he had retired one evening
couple came to his door in the midst Of IA
thunder storm to be married He thrust
his head out of the window and called a.
them, aud performed the ceremony as fol.
lows:
Under the window, IN stormy weather
join man and woman together:
let none hut him who made the thunder
Ever put this man and wife aSundrr
CHURCHES AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS
There have been only four organized re
ligious societies in Wilmingtou-COn
tional, Baptist, Methodist and Universalist.
The Congregational church is the oldest,
and was organized in 1880 Rev Winslow
Packard was the first minister, as already
stated. He was succeeded by Rev Jonas
Hatch, Mr. Hatch 10y Rev. f. Fairbanks,
who was the minister from 1893 to 1900,
and so on. The Baptist church was regu
larly constituted September |, 1906 Pre-
vious to that time the Baptist residents in
Wilmington had been members of the
churches in Halifax and Somerset. Linus
Austin, resident member, was the first MN
ister, having been licensed to preach in
June, 1907 There was a great religious
awakening in this church in the fall and
winter of 1916 under the lead of all evan
gelist named Brooks, and 62 persons were
added to the church. The pastOrate Of the
Rev. Mansfield Bruce extended from 1919
to lS43. The first Baptist church edifice
was built in 1877 and stood half mile
northeast of the present village on the old
Dover road. The present church was built
in 1899
The Methodist church was organized in
about 1925. The first meeting house was
built in the north part of the town about
1928, and in 1879 an edifce was built in
the village ON the site ever since occupied
by the society.
The Universalist church was organized
about 1890, Rev Warren Skinner acting as
minister until the settlement of Rev. vii
liam S. Ballou in 1892 In 1894 Rev. Ho-
sea F. Balou, then resident in Whiting
ham, was engaged to preach for the socie
ty and continued until 1913, when Rev
James w. Bailey was settled. The present
church ediice was built in 1885. In the
spring of 1857 the Rev. Hosea +. Ballou
was settled over the church and came here
to live, continuing its pastor until i'll
health compelled him TO resign in 1872
Mr.. Ballou died here, respected aud beloved
by all, May %, 1891, aged 80 years
Sketches were given by the speaker of
the lives of Rev. Mansfield Bruce, Rev Ho-
sea +. Ballou, aud the Rev. Origin Smith,
all so well known in the religious work of
the towns in this vicinity.
Social lodge No. 2S, of Free Masons,
was organized here June | 1873 Jairus
Hall was the first worshipful master. So
cial lodge, No. T. of the order of Odd Eel
lows, was organized in lSi1, hut as a re
suit of the movement against secret socie-
ties instituted about that time, its charter
was surrendered and the lodge dshanded
in 1850 A factor in this movement was
the newspaper, which was published here
for one year from February =, 1850, called
the Green Mountain Eagle and Even Eel
lows Gazette h. b. Rollins was its editor
aud publisher, and his energies were di-
rected against secret societies of every
kind The next newspaper to be estab
lished here was the Deerlield Valley Times,
which began prosperous existence in 1888
and has administered to the delight of many
Wilmington residents past and present
An institution which reflects great credit
upon the town is the Wilmington Savings
bank, incorporated in 1888 At its organ
izatiun Oscar l.. Shafter was chosen presi
dent aud Stephen p. Flagg treasurer The
first depositor was Miss Sarah b Lawton,
now Mrs Is II Adams of Brooklyn, N. Y,
March IA, 1874, the amount being $40 On
the removal of Mr.. Shaftsr IN California,
Laban Jones was elected president. He was
succeeded by A. b.. Childs aud he by Hosea
f. Balou. who served until his death Il.
l.. Fuller of Nottingham was then elected
aud still holds the office. The treasurers
since the death of Mr. Flagg have been f.
l.. Waterman, NJ, X. Crosby, n. w Sar-
gent, Hosea Mann, ir. aud +. A, Willard,
jr, who now fills the office Since 1868 the
growth of the bank has been almost phe
nomenal and il now has deposits of almost
Si0O, 900, aud a reserve fund of S33 900.
The first post office was established in /