The Brattleboro Historical Society Podcast

People contact the historical society in hopes of gaining information about family ancestors. These are stories about two of those requests...Dorr Sprague, World War II Purple Heart recipient and Edward Bloxsom, foreman on the Pleasant Valley Reservoir project image of Mary O'Leary Bloxsom and Edward Bloxsom

In 1939 Brattleboro HIgh Hockey claimed the state championship with an undefeated season. The hockey team dominated the 1930's. This is the story of their coach, LeRoy Johnston and their greatest player, William "Bud" Fraser. Both were originally from Canada and both served in World War II...

Walter Childs was a science buff...in 1878 he connected the first telephone line in Brattleboro and then arranged for the construction of a weather station on the pinnacle of Mt. Wantastiquet. Here's his story...

Irish arrived in Brattleboro with the railroad in the late 1840's. Here's a story of their struggle...

Marshall Twitchell was from Townshend, Vt. He enlisted in the 4th Vermont Regiment in August, 1861. He was severely wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness and came home to recuperate. Upon his return to duty he decided to apply for an officer's commission in the newly formed regiments of the United States Colored Troops. He led African American soldiers at the Siege of Petersburg and watched Lee...

The parents of Rutherford B. Hayes were both from Windham County. The year Hayes was selected President of the United States (1877)he visited Brattleboro. Here's the story...

George Crowell was a land developer, philanthropist, and businessman in Brattleboro. From the 1880's until his death in 1916 he made many contributions to the local community.

BAMS students share the story of the connections between Joseph Clark and Arnold Hines...two manufacturers who operated mills at the same location on the Whetstone Brook at different times

Jacob Cartledge was an African American Civil War veteran who lived in Brattleboro for more than 50 years. BAMS students share his story...

BAMS students share Baby Boomer stories about growing up in the 1950's and 1960's that were the most surprising...

BAMS students read passages from the remembrances of those who grew up in the area during the 1950's and 1960's

Esteyville School, the old, wooden Academy School and the one room schools of Guilford are discussed in the memories shared by people who grew up in the area in the 1950's and 1960's. The stories are read by BAMS students.

In the poem, “Chase’s Cascade”, Higginson writes about the serenity of the waterfall. He relates how the sounds, sights and smells of the cascade connect him with the spiritual side of Nature, as represented by Undine, “the green-woods loveliest daughter”. In ancient mythology Undines are female water spirits. Undines can fall in love with humans but will die if the human they fall in love with is...

George Crowell developed a water system that became the Brattleboro Water Works. Eventually, after almost 30 years of controversy, the village of Brattleboro bought the water system in 1925 and it became the basis of the town's municipal water system. Here's the story...

A water tower on Western Avenue...until 1925 Brattleboro residents purchased water from up to twelve different private water systems, the last private aqueduct ceased operations in 1958 because of the arrival of Interstate 91. This is the story...

100 years ago the town faced real challenges...the bridge connecting Brattleboro and Island Park was washed out, national strikes limited affordable goods, dairy farmers faced a financial squeeze from out of state processors and the community struggled with how to properly honor those who fought in World War I. Here's how Brattleboro faced these challenges...

Ernest E. Perry and Charles A. Harris were neighbors on North Street. Perry had owned a downtown business since 1887 and Harris had become the Brattleboro Savings Bank treasurer in that year as well. They were both avid hunters and fishermen and often traveled to northern New Hampshire to hunt and fish in the Connecticut Lakes region. Here's their story...

On March 2, 1870 the Boston Post reporter Sallie Joy visited town and wrote “Brattleboro has had a fire and a flood, and now it has a Woman Suffrage Convention. I saw an old farmer yesterday with the inevitable blue woolen frock and cart whip snugly stowed under his arm, reading one of the posters announcing the meeting. Patiently he waded through it, then turned on his heel and wondered aloud, ‘W...

In a bold front page headline on November 13, 1908 the Reformer declared that Brattleboro was facing a smallpox epidemic. Doctor Henry Holton, the Secretary and Executive Officer of the Vermont State Board of Health came to town and closed all churches, schools and pool halls. People were forbidden to assemble in any place for any purpose until the epidemic was brought under control. Here's the st...

In the summer of 1850 a traveling daguerreotype artist arrived in Dover with a horse and cart. In the cart were the camera, chemicals and materials needed to make images appear on silver-coated copper plates. Daguerreotypes were an early version of what later became photographs. Dover resident Caleb Lysander Howe was fascinated with the images. He bought the cart from the traveling man and began h...

Brattleboro has a rich and varied history of authors, printers and publishers. The story of Kipling and Conland is one of many which highlight how this place and its people have had an outsized impact on the written word. The new publication, Print Town: Brattleboro’s Legacy of Words will soon add to the story.

Jennie Powers spent almost forty years of her life as a righteous humanitarian. At a time when politics, personal ambitions, and private interests are occupying so much of our public conversation it is important to remember a person whose life was spent compelling thoughtless and mean-spirited people to be kind. She devoted the best years of her life to battling cruelty - cruelty to animals and cr...

Forty years ago the Brattleboro Union High School Marching Band was riding an unparalleled level of success having won numerous local, state and regional band contests and having been named the finest marching band in Vermont. The band was soon to be recognized as Vermont’s representative to the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Here's the story...

Abby Estey was born in 1842, the first child of Jacob and Desdemona Estey. Jacob Estey was the founder of the Estey Organ Company. Miss Estey attended Brattleboro schools, including the Glenwood Seminary in West Brattleboro. The Estey’s lived on the east side of Canal Street. In 1865 Abby married a machinist and mechanical engineer with the Estey Organ Company, Levi Fuller. Fuller would go on to b...

The observance of Hallow Eve was transplanted to Vermont by the people of Ireland and Scotland. It was believed in many parts of the British Isles that ghosts, fairies and spirits appeared that night. For many immigrants it was the custom for gatherings to take place at family firesides, where fortune telling, stories, games and dances served to pass away the evening. Here's the story of early Vt....