The Brattleboro Historical Society Podcast

The newest library, the George J. Brooks Memorial Library, completed in 1967, has continued the plans of its founder by providing the town with cultural and educational advantages. Annabelle Pike was an assistant librarian at both the old library and the new. Here she distributes the 10,000th library card to Mark Bennett.

The Coronavirus has caused us to shelter in our homes for the foreseeable future. One of the few reasons to leave home would be to get some outdoor exercise. Fortunately our area is blessed with many great walking trails. This is the history that can be found along one of them. 110 years ago this week surveyors for the Boston and Maine Railroad were in Hinsdale mapping out a rail route along the e...

One hundred years ago seventy year old Cornelius Flanigan left Hoadley’s Restaurant in the Barber Block on Main Street and walked past Police Chief Wilson. Flanigan told the officer he was heading home. Flanigan lived on the island in the Connecticut River. Wilson told him the bridge was unstable but Flanigan headed across the bridge anyway. Here's the story...

The 1887 Civil War Monument on the Common says 385 soldiers served for Brattleboro and 31 died. After months of research, BAMS students and the historical society have identified 427 Civil War soldiers and sailors born here, living here, or substituting for those drafted from here. 55 died as a result of serving during the war. We believe our list, while more comprehensive, should also be consider...

Arthur Goodenough was born in 1871 and his first published poem appeared when he was fourteen years old. He spent his entire life on the family farm in West Brattleboro and, as an amateur poet, wrote thousands of stanzas. In 1931 Goodenough argued against the adoption of sterilization as a means of promoting the eugenics movement in Vermont. Here's the story...

The first Brattleboro death from the flu epidemic occurred on September 30, 1918. The victim was a 36 year old Fort Dummer Cotton Mill worker named Isidor Bellair. He was a French Canadian immigrant who had moved his family to Brattleboro two years earlier in order to find work at the mill. He was survived by his wife and six small children, the youngest being only 5 months old. The 1918 flu has b...

One of the highlight performances in the Community Hall was the August, 1928 appearance of 74 year old John Philip Sousa and his Band. The band consisted of 75 musicians and performed 23 numbers in front of a 1,500 person audience. A short history of the Community Hall and Armory follows...

The 1863 Civil War Military Draft Act allowed a draftee the option of providing a substitute to take the place of a drafted citizen. 261 drafted men in the 2nd Vermont Congressional District procured substitutes to take their place. Typically draftees paid substitutes a fee or bounty. Here in Brattleboro records indicate that at least 35 local draftees opted to pay others to take their places in t...

Late last fall we interviewed Karen Robb of the Robb Farm in West Brattleboro. The family has been farming at that location for over 110 years. Mrs. Robb explained that the Robb Farm produces about 1000 gallons of maple syrup a year. They also produce maple candy, maple cream and maple sugar; but the syrup is definitely the most popular item. In this episode we share a bit of Maple Sugar history a...

In the 1930’s Vermont towns worked to attract winter sport enthusiasts from northeastern cities by offering outdoor activities. The Vermont government promoted skating, skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, ski jumping and tobogganing facilities in over 30 towns across the state. The hope was visitors from northeastern urban areas would help the local economy of these towns during hard financial times. T...

Frugality, thrift and free enterprise were some of the watchwords that marked the beginning years of the United States. Locally, John Holbrook personified these traits and was instrumental in the early development of Brattleboro’s economy. Here's the story...

In 1952 John Latchis, Fred Harris and Terry Tyler combined to build the Latchis Jump. Terry Tyler was from Dummerston and had been one of the best Class B jumpers in the country. Tyler realized there wasn’t an intermediate jumping hill in the Brattleboro area. The high school team had to travel to Dummerston or Vermont Academy to practice jumping. Harris Hill was a 70 meter jump that was too diffi...

Alexander Darbins was a twenty year old African American who had escaped slavery in Virginia. He traveled to Vermont and signed to be Joseph Albert Taylor’s substitute. Taylor was a 29 year old Brattleboro businessman who had been drafted, but did not want to serve during the Civil War. This is their story...

Wednesday, June 21, 1905 was a bustling day in Brattleboro. Rumors were flying that a convicted killer would arrive by train for a federal hearing to determine whether the murderer should be executed on Friday, or allowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. There had not been an execution in Vermont for thirteen years. Convicted criminals had been sentenced to death during those years, but the Ve...

It was in the 1950’s when the idea of a Fort Dummer State Park was first mentioned by the Vermont Historic Sites Commission. The Historic Sites Commission had been formed in 1947 by the Vermont Legislature with primary interest in acquiring and preserving the Calvin Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, Vermont. Here's the story...

Our research indicates that at least five African Americans with ties to Brattleboro served during the Civil War as part of United States Colored Troop regiments. Another seventeen African Americans came to Brattleboro from southern states to serve as substitutes for Brattleboro men who were drafted but did not want to serve. Here's the story...

On June 17, 1887 the Soldier’s Monument on the Brattleboro Common was dedicated. It was a veteran’s organization who began fundraising in the mid 1880's and at the 1886 Town Meeting in March, voters chose to create a monument to honor those who fought in the Civil War. this proved to be controversial. Here's the story...

One of our busiest intersections, and what some might call the center of town is the corner of High and Main Street. The development of this corner and some of the people associated with buildings there, brings to life a bit of the fascinating history of Brattleboro. This is the story...

In April, 1872, the completion of the Brooks House hotel, located on the corner of High and Main Streets, was big news throughout Vermont. Over 100 miles away, in a little newspaper in Newbury, Vermont this was written about the Brooks House, “It is a magnificent structure, and will be supplied with every modern convenience and comfort for transient and permanent guests; and the people of Brattleb...

The land which will become the Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center has seen much activity in the town’s history. Here's the story...

In 1840 an itinerant revivalist minister named Emerson Andrews came to Brattleboro and preached a series of sermons which challenged the status quo. At that time the town was dominated by English-descended, Congregationalist residents who owned many of the influential businesses and property in the community. Here's the story of what happened next...

The First Baptist Society of Brattleboro was incorporated May 29, 1866 to build a new church on Main Street. Jacob Estey and his son, JJ Estey, and C.L. Brown formed the new corporation with Pastor Henry Peabody. They became the financial managers of the project. In June, 1866 a Main Street house lot was purchased from Dr. O. R. Post, a parishioner of the Baptist Church. The brick house was remove...

In January 1983 Audrey Marie Hilley had been working at the Book Press for a few months. She was living under an assumed name with a false identity. Audrey was wanted by the FBI as a suspect charged with the murder of her husband and attempted murder of her daughter. Here's her story...

Through history the Kyle Gilbert Memorial Bridge has gone by other names. For a long time it was simply known as the “Whetstone Bridge”. Then, shortly after the 1869 freshet, it took on the name “Main Street Bridge”. Kyle Gilbert was a young person with a twinkle in his eye, and a love of the hills and valleys that make up this community. It seems fitting that he is remembered at the confluence of...

During World War I, on November 11, 1918, a negotiated armistice was declared and the truce effectively ended the war. In 1919, on the first anniversary of the truce, Brattleboro held a large celebration to remember those who had died during the war, and honor those veterans who were able to return home. Here's a story that begins with Brattleboro's first Armistice Day and weaves its way through t...