St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-11-07
INDUSTRIAL ST. JOHNSBURY
A Comprehensive Review Of The Institutions and
Mercantile Life Of the Town.
Business History Of VermOnts Second Largest Town.

Johnsbury, but the citizens evidently
feel that it is better to be a great
town than small city and the place
has prospered and steadily grown in
wealth and population under the
town and village government. The
streets are under the supervision of a
superintendent and they are given
special attention at all seasons of
the year. The village owns a stone
crusher and a steam roller and each
season several streets are macada
mized, thus permanently improving
their condition. Concrete sidewalks
extend through all parts of the vii
lage and the streets are we'll lighted
through every hour of the night by
the arc lights of the St. Johnsbury
Electric Company. The village owns
water system which supplies pri-
vate families as we'll as the hydrants
for most complete fire system. The
bulk of the private families are sup
piled by spring water from the grav-
ity system of the St. Johnsbury
Acqueduct Co. Besides an extensive
indoor system of electric lighting
many houses and public buildings
are piped for gas.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS
st. Johnsbury has some of the
finest public buildings in the state
and these contribute largely to tie
attractions of the town. The only
government building in this section
is the United States Fish Hatchery,
located mile from the village on the
North Danvile road. Here millions
of trout eggs are hatched annually
and widely distributed, and through
the successful management of Supt.
Titcomb and his corps of trained
assistants, other species of fish have
been successfully reared here. Plans
are now under way for an extensive
increase of the plant by the erection
of big dam and the formation of
80 acres of water for the rearing of
the fish.
The st. Johnsbury Atheneum,
free public library, is a gilt to the
town of the late Gov. Horace FAIR
banks, one of the partners in the
firm of E & T. Fairbanks & Co., be-
tore its incorporation, and its first
president. The building was opened
in November, 1877, and now contains
over 10000 we'll selected volumes,
reading room with all the leading
magazines and papers and an art
gallery which is the pride of the
state. The largest and most cele.
brated painting is Bierstadt's
"Domes of the Yosemite" purchased
from the private collection of A. S.
Hatch of New York.
Besides the paintings of such cele-
brated artists as W. M. Brown, M.
F. H. De Haas, !. M. Hart, William
Hart, T. W. Wood and others, the
gallery has excellent copies of Rapha-
el, Van Dyck, Rosa Bonheur, Rem
brandt and others.
The Fairbanks Museum Of Natural
Science is the gift to the town Of the
late Col. Franklin Fairbanks, an
other member Of the firm OF E & T.
Fairbanks & Co., and the successor
OF his brother to the presidency of
the company. The building is of
Longmeadow red sandstone, in the
Romanesque style Of architecture
and is an evidence of the skill and
taste of its architect, Lambert Pack.
ard, Of this town. The Museum has
been open to the public tor ten years
and has been visited by people from
all parts of the Union and by many
foreigners. 1t is especially complete
in ornithology, its collection of birds
ranking with the largest museums If
the country. In animal life, con
chology, mineralogy, botany and al
other branches OF science, it is alsC
well represented by many choice anC
some rare specimens. Ethnology i
CONTINUED on second page)