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Windsor, Vermont. Justin Vivian. History. The town of Windsor was founded in 1761. In 1777, the Constitution of the Republic of Vermont was written here and signed in the Old Constitution House.
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Windsor, Vermont Justin Vivian
History • The town of Windsor was founded in 1761. In 1777, the Constitution of the Republic of Vermont was written here and signed in the Old Constitution House. • Vermont was first settled by New Hampshire for much of the 18th Century and became known as the New Hampshire Grants. New York also had claims in Vermont, and they got legal authority for Vermont. • In the past century or so Windsor has been a big manufacturing town. All of the manufacturing brought a lot of people to Windsor and supplied hundreds of jobs. The plants shut down and slowly the population has been decreasing each year. Windsor currently has population of 3800 people. • Windsor has a lot of tradition and within the village there are 45 either historically or architecturally important buildings, that reflect the prosperity of the village from the 1780’s -1930’s and represent religious, commercial, residential, and public building styles.
Constitution House The Constitution House is a Georgian style house that was built in the mid-eighteenth century. The building is historically important because it is where the Vermont constitution was signed in 1777. During the period of time when the constitution was signed the building was a tavern and belonged to Elijah West. Elijah West’s tavern was originally in the center of town. It continued to be used as a tavern until 1848, when it was used for storage space and light manufacturing. Around 1870 the house was moved down the road to a side street and became a residence. In 1890, once again it was converted to a warehouse. In 1901 efforts were made to preserve the Old Constitution House. A group called the Old Constitution House Association was formed in 1911 to restore the house. Soon after the house was donated by its owners, the Fay family, to the association and land for the houses present location was donated by William M. Evarts. By 1914 funds had been raised to begin restoration to the house under architect Sheldon Newton. The association continued to operate the house as a museum until 1961, when the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation took over ownership. Since then it has been restored to show a tavern with period rooms showing a tavern room, dining room, tea parlor and guest rooms.
Windsor House The Windsor House was built in 1836. It is a Greek Revival style building. It was built on the site of Pete’s Coffee House, which was a popular establishment and was visited by General Lafayette in 1825. The construction of the building represented the prosperity during the early nineteenth century in Windsor, which had become an important center for the machine tool industry. Windsor House served as a hostelry for almost 150 years and many important people signed its register, including Theodore Roosevelt. The building was added to The National register of Historic Places in 1971. The main block of the building is a rectangular plan. A smaller rectangular shaped building is attached to the building off the back. The main block of the building is four stories high with the back portion of the building being 3 stories. The main entrance of the building is a five bay portico with six Doric columns, with a partially enclosed second floor balcony. Since it was built the building has changed very little, with the exception of the addition of dormers to give lighting to the attic, and the removal of 2 chimneys, enclosing part of the second floor front balcony, and the removal of the shutters. The threatened demolition of the building raised some ideas about the possible reuse of some of Windsor’s Main Street buildings. A group was formed and several businesses including the Vermont State Craft Gallery, Sugarbush florist, Vermont liquor store, Windsor Gallery, and Windsor Wine & Spirits currently reside in the Windsor House.
Tansey Residence The Tansey residence is a Gothic Revival Victorian style house. It was built in 1850 and designed by Daniel Stearns. During the 1950’s there was a fire that destroyed much of the living room. During the 1970’s the house was contaminated with mustard gas after a WWII veteran, weapons specialist who had lived there, brought back weapons from the war. In 2000 it was bought by the Tansey’s and totally renovated. In 2001 a town dumptruck rolled down the road and smashed into the porch and living room.
Juniper Hill Inn The mansion is a Colonial revival style building that was built in 1902. It was designed by Maxwell Evarts, the former owner of the property and built by local barn builder Harvey Ayers. The inn sits atop a hill on and overlooks the village of Windsor. The inn was the personal home of Evarts family until it was sold to Catherine Cushman in 1944 and she ran it as an inn and restaurant. While under the ownership of the Evarts people such as Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson visited the home. The estate was used as a residential hotel and a nursing home during the 1950’s under Curtis Beaton. In 1961 it was purchased by the Catholic Xaverian Brothers, it operated as the Ryken Center and it was used for retreats and religious encounters for twenty years. In 1980 the property was sold to the MAG corp. and continued to be used as a retreat center know as the Holy Family Retreat House. The current owners purchased it in 1984 and presently operate it as the Juniper Hill Inn. The property consists of the inn, carriage barn, and six outbuildings. It is a two and a half story mansion. The form of the mansion is a geometric order of well balanced proportions, characteristic of the Colonial revival style.
Bibliography • http://www.cmo.vermont.gov/homepage/documents/OldConstitutionHouse.pdf • http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V09-63.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Constitution_House • http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V09-3.htm • http://www.vermont-towns.org/windsor/about1.html • http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V09-65.htm
