Vermont

B

Principal Cities

The dominant city by far is Burlington, which had a 2005 population of 38,531. This 200-year-old port on Lake Champlain is a trade and transportation center, the seat of the state’s oldest university, and a summer resort. It also has a diversity of industries. Rutland (17,046), in eastern Vermont, is the center of the state’s marble-quarrying belt. Barre (9,128), in north central Vermont, is the center of what are believed to be the world’s largest granite quarries. Montpelier, with 8,003 inhabitants, is the smallest state capital in the nation.

The largest immigrant group in Vermont is French Canadian. Whites constitute 96.8 percent of the population, Asians 0.9 percent, blacks 0.5 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 percent. Those of mixed heritage or not reporting race are 1.4 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders number 141. Hispanics, who may be of any race, make up 0.9 percent of Vermont’s people.

C

Religion

Vermont church members are predominantly Roman Catholics. The leading Protestant denominations are Methodists and Baptists. The first church services held in what is now Vermont were Roman Catholic Masses at Fort Saint Anne on Isle La Motte in 1666. The Roman Catholic influence in the area originated in Québec and lapsed after the fall of Québec in 1759. Settlers from other New England colonies brought with them Congregational, Baptist, and Episcopal beliefs, and Methodists won many converts in the state in the early l9th century. Roman Catholicism appeared in the state before the Civil War as Irish and French Canadian settlers arrived. Italian populations are a dominant element in the quarry towns.

V

Education and Cultural Institutions

A

Education

With the passage of the original constitution in 1777, Vermont became the first state to provide a clear plan for the establishment of a statewide educational system beginning with the primary school and extending through the university level. The first school law was enacted in 1782, and provisions for statewide taxation to support free public schools were enacted in 1826. The first academy in the state was founded at Bennington in 1780, and public high schools were established rapidly after 1840. Vermont was the site of the first normal school in the United States, founded at Concord Corner in 1823. The state system of public education is supervised by a state board of education and a commissioner of education. Education in Vermont is compulsory for children from age 6 to 16. Private schools enroll 12 percent of the state’s children.

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In the 2002–2003 school year Vermont spent about $11,075 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299. There were 11.3 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9 students). Of those older than 25 years of age in 2004, 90.8 percent had a high school diploma, compared to the national norm of 82.8.

B

Higher Education

The state’s first institution of higher learning was the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, in Burlington, chartered in 1791. Vermont had 6 public and 19 private institutions of higher education in 2004–2005. Among these institutions were Bennington College, in Bennington; Goddard College, in Plainfield; Green Mountain College, in Poultney; Marlboro College, in Marlboro; Middlebury College, in Middlebury; Norwich University, in Northfield; Saint Michael’s College, in Colchester; and the School for International Training, in Brattleboro. The state’s college system comprises Castleton State College, in Castleton; Johnson State College, in Johnson; Lyndon State College, in Lyndonville; Vermont Technical College, in Randolph Center; and the Community College of Vermont, with locations throughout the state.

C

Libraries and Museums

The first public library in Vermont was founded at Brookfield in 1791. The state is served by 189 tax-supported libraries. Each year the libraries circulate an average of 6.7 books for each resident. Among the largest libraries in the state are the Fletcher Free Library, in Burlington, and the Rutland Free Library, in Rutland. The State Library is located in Montpelier, and the library of the Vermont Historical Society resides in Barre. The largest university library in the state is that of the University of Vermont.

Fine arts museums in Vermont include the Bennington Museum, in Bennington, and the Robert Hull Fleming Museum, at the University of Vermont. There are a number of historical museums housing Vermont memorabilia. The most noted are the museum of the Vermont Historical Society, in Montpelier; the Shelburne Museum, in Shelburne; and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History, in Middlebury.

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