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St. Albans, Vermont. By: Matthew King. Taylor Park in St. Albans . St. Albans History.
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St. Albans, Vermont By: Matthew King Taylor Park in St. Albans
St. Albans History • St. Albans, Vermont is a small town north of Burlington, and is situated only a few miles from Lake Champlain. After Vermont was declared that 14th state of the United States in 1791, It was thought that Jesse Welden was the first settler in St. Albans. He built his log cabin right near where the Houghton house is which is right on South Main Street. In 1847, John Smith was the President of the Vermont and Canada Railroad. Finally in 1851, the first steam engine train rolled through St. Albans which was known as “Railroad City” back then (St. Albans, Haynes). • In 1864, St. Albans had their famous St. Albans Raid. A group of Confederates from Canada led by Bennett Young robbed St. Albans three local banks and made away back to Canada with $208,000. One person died in the gun battle that was held and the thieves were captured later in Canada but only $88,000 was returned to the three banks. As a result, all of them went out of business. (St. Albans, Haynes) • St. Albans is considered a very happy town, and is a great place to live. It is very quiet and is one of the only city’s in Vermont to look like it did during the first years of settlement in Vermont.
Map Of St. Albans Congregational church City hall BFA High school Funeral Home
Brady and Levesque Funeral Home The Brady and Levesque Funeral Home is the second oldest building in St. Albans. It is located on South Main Street, and is formerly known as the Houghton House and was built in 1800. The Architect is unknown but it is known to be a former slave hideout and part of the underground rail road. Pictured in slide #8 is a fireplace which was one of three secret tunnels which led underground and went down towards the street which is now known as Lower Welden Street. The only changes in design that are known are that the porch was added later in 1915, and in 1956, St. Albans repaved the street and destroyed the Underground Tunnels. The reason for this was because of the amount of rats that lived in these tunnels (Haynes, St. Albans). In the entrance way of one of the secret tunnels, a slave child’s worn sandal was found. No one knows who it belonged to but it is now displayed in the funeral home’s living room (slide #7).
Left: This is now a fireplace, but was used in the 1800’s as one of the 3 crawl space entrances in the home. Right: This is one corner of the living room which faces the east side of St. Albans towards BFA high school.
Left: Shows one of many of the sculptures in the interior of BFA. It’s grateful students have donated many gifts over the years and this is one from the 1930’s. Right: Shows the hallway on the south side of the Academy near the old auditorium which was recently under renovation.
BFA High School St. Albans has had only one Free high school in its years, and it is still the only one. Bellows Free Academy was built by Hiram Bellows right on the spot of his previous home. He sold his stock in the New York Central and the Hudson River Railroad and gave $270,000 and was built in 1930. It was built by W. H. Mclean, and he said in his own words, “No other city in New England can boast of a school more modern and complete.” BFA was built modern back in those days with a science department with offices, and full science laboratory’s. It was even built with a full gymnasium with a full court for basketball, and even an auditorium. The auditorium is still original and can seat up to 715 people. Since it was 80 years old, this year they are remolding the old auditorium because of rot. Bellows believed that no student should go about life without the proper education, even if it meant it needed to be free to the student. That’s why it was called Bellows Free Academy. The school is still used today and is one of the most competitive schools for education purposes, and even sports. The famous John Leclair was born and raised in St. Albans and played hockey for BFA (Haynes, St. Albans).
Left: A picture of one of the first steam engine trains in St. Albans. City hall is very famous because of it’s handling of the city’s different issues including the railroad. Right: Stairs leading up to the higher rooms at city hall and also the balcony overlooking the basketball court which is now in city hall.
City Hall • City Hall was not an original building back in the 1800’s. St. Albans had a very big history of bad fires in the late 1890’s and City Hall was formerly known as Tremont House. It was a victim of the fire that started in the W. B. Fonda Paint shop in 1895. After the fire of the Tremont House, City hall was built by Arthur H. Smith and and the town offices were all held there and they still are today. I did not find much information on City Hall, but from the outside of it, it really reminds me of the work of the early American buildings from the Beaux style. It is made from brick, but it also has some roman arches in the windows and the most recognizable arch in the front entrance way which looks right out onto Main Street. It is a good example of a St. Albans building in that it has the look of the Romanesque style (nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com). Many homes up Congress Street are complete with arches, pointed designs, and windows from early designs. I did not find the Architect who created City Hall (Haynes, St. Albans).
West Side of the Congregational Church (Gothic Revival Style)
Left: Shows the Roman arch style windows. This church was a rebuilt from the first which burned. Two tiffany stained-glass windows donated, Right: Demonstrates the pointed dome designs and the pointed roof which is that of the Beaux or Gothic Revival style.
Congregational Church The Congregational Church that lives in St. Albans now is not the original design. There was one before this one which burned to the ground in 1891. For the next three long years, services for the Congregational Church were held at the courthouse next door until it was replaced. This Church was built in 1894 on church street and right near the St. Albans Historical Museum. It is one of many revival buildings in St. Albans and is very decorated as one of the gothic revival. Mostly admired about the church is the Tiffany Stained glass windows which where donated by Governor J. Gregory Smith in 1894 in memory of his wife Ann Brainerd Smith. There is a piece of the original bell in from the first Congregational Church after the fire in the St. Albans Historical Museum. There were a few renovations over the past 100 years including the center aisle in the sanctuary (Haynes, St. Albans).
Citations • Images of America – St. Albans, 1996., By: Louise Haynes • St. Albans Town hall (City Hall) – National Register of Historic Places nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com
