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Middlebury (town), Vermont

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Middlebury, Vermont
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Middlebury, Vermont

Main Street
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Main Street

Otter Creek Falls
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Otter Creek Falls

Middlebury is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,183 at the 2000 census. Middlebury is the home of Middlebury College, founded in 1800.

Contents

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 101.4 km² (39.2 mi²). 101.1 km² (39.0 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.36%) is water.

The Middlebury village is centered in the northwest corner of the town boundaries, at the Otter Creek falls. To the east Middlebury is bordered by the foothills of the Green Mountains and the town of Ripton. The northern boundary of Middlebury heads east from the Belden Falls of the Otter Creek, near the confluence of the Otter Creek and the New Haven River, with the towns of New Haven and Bristol to the north. To the west Middlebury is bordered by the towns of Weybridge and Cornwall, Vermont in the center of the Champlain Valley. To the south of Middlebury is the town of Salisbury, also at the base of the foothills.

Major geographical features within the town are: The Otter Creek which runs from south to north along the western edge of the town, with the falls at the center of the Middlebury village; the East Middlebury River which flows west to the Otter Creek out of the mountains from Ripton along the southern edge of the town; and Chipman Hill, a hill of glacial till rising 450 ft (140m) above the village just to the northeast of the village.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there were 8,183 people, 2,657 households, and 1,533 families residing in the town. The population density was 80.9/km² (209.7/mi²). There were 2,805 housing units at an average density of 27.7/km² (71.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.27% White, 1.09% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.87% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 1.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.13% of the population.

There were 2,657 households out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the town the population was spread out with 17.5% under the age of 18, 31.4% from 18 to 24, 18.6% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 90.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,723, and the median income for a family was $46,691. Males had a median income of $32,645 versus $25,994 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,926. About 5.3% of families and 9.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.

History

The town of Middlebury was chartered on November 2, 1761. In November of 1778 much of the town was burned during Carleton's Raid during the American Revolutionary War. In the following decades early settlers including the Chipman, Foote, Painter, Smalley and Washburn families (* add a fuller list) cleared fields from the forests in the valley, ran their farms, and vied for the lucrative honor of having the village located on their properties. A survey dispute with the town of Salisbury in (* the 1890's?) lead to the forfeiture of Gamaliel Painter's farm to Salisbury and Painter's transition from farming to the development of Middlebury Village near his and Abisha Washburn's mill, and the other mills that surrounded the Otter Creek falls that run underneath what is now Main Street.

Middlebury College is the host of the annual Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the oldest surviving such conference in the United States.

(* edits needed, )

Notable residents

Points of interest

External links

State of Vermont 

 State Capital

Montpelier 


 Regions

Champlain Valley | 
Green Mountains | 
Mount Mansfield | 
Northeast Kingdom | 
Northern Vermont | 
Southern Vermont


 Counties
 
Addison | 
Bennington | 
Caledonia | 
Chittenden | 
Essex | 
Franklin | 
Grand Isle |
Lamoille  |
Orange | 
Orleans | 
Rutland | 
Washington | 
Windham | 
Windsor


 Cities
 
Barre City|
Burlington|
Montpelier|
Newport City|
Rutland City|
South Burlington|
St. Albans City|
Vergennes|
Winooski


 Towns
 .


 Villages
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  Constitution | | Geography | Government | History | 
















 





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