History of Stowe, Vermont
Stowe was chartered in 1763 and is rich in history. We invite you to explore this history while in Stowe. The Stowe Historical Society Museum is open from 2-5PM Friday and Saturday (June to October). The Bloody Brook School is open 2-4PM daily from July 4th through Labor Day, and weekends only Memorial Day - July 4 and Labor Day - Columbus Day. The Stowe Historical Society has put together a "Brief History of Stowe, Vermont" which we offer here.
Stowe lies in a broad, fertile valley between Mt. Mansfield and other peaks of the Green Mountains on the west, and the Worcester Range or "Hogback" Mountains on the east. The Waterbury River (or Little River, as it is presently known) with its main East and West branches and various tributaries, flows southward and, above Waterbury Center, empties into the large Reservoir created by the Flood Control Dam. From thence the "Little River" flows southward and empties into the westward flowing Winooski River west of the Village of Waterbury.
Stowe had become a chartered town on June 8, 1763, when governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire designated 64 men as "Proprietors". None of this original group was settled in the town and no settlement occurred until 1793, two years after Vermont, as the fourteenth state joined the original thirteen of the United States of America.
The first settler, Oliver Luce, arrived in Stowe in March of 1793 with his wife and two small daughters. The Luces are recorded as having left most of their belongings at Waterbury Center and traveling the balance of the way on foot, pulling a small hand sled loaded with a few household necessities, through almost trackless forest to the one room log cabin Luce had built the previous summer. This sled has been preserved and is on display in the Historical Museum in the Akeley Memorial Building on Main Street in Stowe Village. It was presented to the Stowe Historical Society by Oliver Luce's great-great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Elsie Alger Page, the first President of the Society.
The first settlement was made about two miles north of the present Village of Stowe where Route 100 curves to the right and the Hill, or Old Stage Coach Road, runs straight to Morristown Corners and Cadys Falls. A stone monument, near the location of this first house in Stowe, and bearing a commemorative bronze tablet, stands in the grass triangle where the two roads meet.
The second settler arrived the next day after Luce. He was Captain Clement Moody who settled south of the Lower Village, on what is now Route 100, near the present site of the Spruce Pond Building. Fifth generation members of this Moody family still live on nearby land. Captain Moody was shortly followed by other families including close relatives of Oliver Luce. Luce Hill to the southwest of the Mountain Road (Route 108) was named after Ivory Luce, a member of this family. Over the succeeding years the town grew rapidly. By 1800 most of the land was sold and the population was 816. This steady growth continued for about fifty years - Stowe sending, for example, 40 men to fight in the War of 1812, and 208 in the Civil War.
In addition to the outlying farms, the early settlers congregated in five distinct locations. The original Upper or North Village was situated in the neighborhood of the first house. The present village was called the Center or Middle Village. Then came the Mill Village directly downstream. Still further downstream there was a settlement called Lower Village. There was a separate hamlet of Moscow, originally called Smith's Falls, two miles further down the Little River. Over the years Stowe became the largest township in Vermont in area. To its original area of 36 square miles there was added, in 1840, most of the Town of Mansfield and in 1855, a part of the Town of Sterling (which was split between Johnson, Morristown and Stowe). Stowe was originally a part of Chittenden County; later it belonged to Washington County and finally to Lamoille County.
The first problem of the American settler was simply to keep alive. His second was to develop a cash crop with which to purchase the products of the outside world. Like other Vermont towns, such a cash crop in Stowe was potash, leached from the wood-ashes of the hardwood cut and burned in the clearing of the land. Prior to the development of our modern chemical industry, this was the source of the lye used in making soap, tanning leather and for many other purposes. During the War of 1812, this product was embargoed by the British and, as a result, the price doubled and tripled. A thriving contraband trade sprung up across the Canadian border by which this extremely valuable article of commerce was carried illegally into Canada. It is believed that the name "Smugglers' Notch" originated from this trade, which possibly included other contraband items such as cattle - it make a good story.
The first sawmill and gristmill were built in 1796 by Josiah Hurlburt at the falls of the Little River in Mill Village. In 1822 a second dam was built several rods up the river. Water power from these two falls and the falls at Moscow has been used ever since for manifold industries including saw and gristmills, butter tub factories, sash and blind mills, starch and axe factories, furniture and wood-working shops, carding mills and tannery, and a foundry at Moscow. There is a factory on this Mill Village site which until recently was making wooden dishes and similar articles. Such a mill, according to old-time parlance, would be called a "Dish Mill". Lumber and agriculture have been the essential industries of Stowe over most of its history. In particular, dairy farming has been the principal way in which the cleared land has been used. At first the cash crop was butter, and during this period, many butter tub mills operated along the streams feeding Little River. Later, bulk milk has been produced on most of Stowe's farms, predominately for sale in the Boston market. The maple sugar industry still brings in considerable cash. But at the present time, 1983, very few farms are operated in their original capacity, many having been sold for resort development and vacation homes. There are now 6 working farms, 2 sheep farms, one commercial maple sugar orchard, and one pig farm in what is now known as the Landmark Meadow on the Mountain Road. Resident population in the 1980 census is 2,990.
One of the oldest wood-working plants in the Town of Stowe was the C.E. & F.O. Burt Corp., which used to operate a steam-powered sawmill in the present Village. The George F. Adams, Co., still operating, makes a line of wood products. The Little River Wood Products Co. continues to produce wooden handles. These latter two companies are located in the Village of Moscow. Stoware made a variety of wooden products in that Lower Village location on Route 100 until 1973. At one time the Cady Wagon Co., making carriages, wagons and sleighs, provided a thriving industry in Stowe.
Immediately after taking care of their bodily needs, the early settlers provided for religion and education. In establishing the government of the State, the Legislature, in 1779, planned that there were to be townships, each six miles square, with 70 "rights", or lots in each. Five lots in each town were reserved, one for support of a college, another for town schools, one for the "Propagation of the Gospel" (The Church of England - now the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont) and one for the "First Settled Minister". The fifth lot was designated as the Governor's Right.
The first school was started in a private house in the North or Upper Village within six years of the settlement of the town. The teacher was Thomas Downer, the first doctor in Stowe. In the same year the town was divided into School Districts, each to have and run its own one-room school. The first schoolhouse, a log building, was erected in 1800 on land deeded by Oliver Luce in the Upper Village. At one time there were nineteen school districts in Stowe, each governed by its own school committee. The first school in what is now the incorporated Village of Stowe, was taught by Dr. Joseph Robinson in the summer of 1817 in a room fitted up in a barn. Early, the school year consisted of two terms of ten to twelve weeks, the Summer Term beginning the first Monday in May and the Winter Term on the Monday following Thanksgiving. Children walked to school and were taught by teachers who boarded around with the parents of the pupils.
In 1863 a new three-room school building was erected in the Village which, besides its function as a District School, enabled the addition of courses for those of both sexes wishing to study beyond the elementary grades. Later on, additions to this building were made and it became the High School building, until 1973. The Stowe High School was reorganized in September, 1900. The first class to graduate was in 1901. Over the succeeding years the one-room district schools, one by one, were abandoned - the last in 1954 - all teaching then being concentrated in the graded and high schools in the Village. A new high school building was built on the Barrows Road housing grades 7-12 inclusively. It opened in March 1973.
The first recorded church service in Stowe was provided by an itinerant preacher in 1800. As was the custom during the early growth of many New England villages, such services were held in homes, barns or public buildings. In 1818 land was donated to the Town by Colonel Ashael Raymond for Stowe's first meeting house. The building then erected was later moved to make way for the present Community Church. This first meeting house, or church building, after several other uses, including the old fire station and Village Water & Light office, now houses the new Vermont Ski Museum. At one time there were four churches in the Town of Stowe: the Universalist, the present Community Church; the Congregational Church, which was moved and incorporated into the High School Building; the Methodist Church, which was used as a garage was torn down and space used by the I.G.A. Store as a parking area, and the West Branch Meetinghouse (used by Baptists and Methodists) on the Mountain Rd. at the juncture of the Luce Hill Rd., was turned into a ski lodge known as the Rocky River Lodge. This lodge is the oldest still in operation having opened in 1952.
There are again, today, four churches in Stowe. In the center of the Village is the imposing Community Church, its merged congregation composed of Universalist, Congregationalist and Methodist worshippers. In Moscow is the grace Baptist Church. The Episcopal Church, "St. John's in the Mountains", is situated on the Mountain Road (Route 108) about two miles from the Village in the former District No. 2 School House, a one-room school which was bought from the Town in 1956. A Roman Catholic Mission was established in Stowe in 1900. It held services for many years in the basement of the Memorial Building and in other Village buildings. In 1949 the present Blessed Sacrament Church was built on Route 108 about a mile west of the Village. It stands on land which was once part of the farm on which Brother Joseph Dutton was born. Brother Dutton's consecrated service among the lepers in Hawaii from 1886 until his death in 1931, is portrayed in the paintings which decorate the outside wall panels of the Blessed Sacrament Church.
At one time there were ten covered bridges in Stowe. Now there is but one left - that which spans Gold Brook in Stowe Hollow. Floods destroyed the majority, but several of the finest yielded to the automobile and modern progress. A splendid marker from one, defining the then usual speed limits, is over the bar in a local tavern, and another is in the Stowe Historical Museum.
The first road from Waterbury Center to Stowe followed higher ground than the present Route 100, probably passing over Gregg Hill and the lower end of Shutesville. After the road on the present route was built it was planked, in 1860, and operated as a toll road with the Toll House at the Stowe-Waterbury line. The planking lasted some ten years. The road into Smugglers' Notch was run, in 1860, up to the Big Spring and completed as a carriage road in 1894. It has since been modernized and carried through to Jeffersonville. The original carriage Toll Road up Mt. Mansfield was built with private funds, being completed in 1856 as far as the Half-Way House, where in the early days, the horses as well as travelers were cared for. A trail led from there to the summit of the mountain which was used by saddle horses. In 1870 the Toll Road, the balance of the way to the summit, was completed. In 1920 the road was improved for automobile traffic.
In 1897 the business men of Stowe co-operated with H.W. Burgett of Boston, and others, to build the Mt. Mansfield Electric Ralway: The Town of Stowe was bonded for $40,000 toward the cost of building this railroad. It comprised eleven miles of track connecting Stowe with the central Vermont Railroad at Waterbury. A feature of the road was the trestle in Waterbury Center (the foundations of which can still be seen) 850 feet long and 57 feet high. For a number of years this railroad paid well and was a vital factor in the life of Stowe. Many carloads of freight were shipped daily, in both directions, over this line. The road continued in operation until 1932. When the State was building a concrete highway between Stowe and Waterbury, part of the railroad right-of-way was used for this purpose and some of the road bed can still be seen today.
A glance at a map of Northern Vermont will show that Stowe lies on a natural route connecting the valleys of the Winooski and Lamoille Rivers. Oliver Luce, the first settler, was likewise the first to erect a sign stating that a traveler might find rest at his log house. Similar accommodations, in 1798, were offered by Nathan Robinson. The first tavern in Stowe was erected in 1811 in the center Village by Samuel Dutton and was expanded into an inn in 1814. In 1815 a second hostelry was opened in the Lower Village near the site of the present Stoware Mall. As the Isham Hotel, it continued in business until it burned in 1933. In 1833 the Green Mountain Inn was built of brick, a fine example of a stage and travelers' inn. Passing through the ups and downs of Stowe's good and bad times in the local and national economy, it is now restored externally to its original condition. The ancient looking and picturesque Summit House, under the nose of Mt. Mansfield, was built just as the Civil War was breaking out. After a history of one hundred years it finally closed its doors in 1958 and has since been torn down. The most pretentious hotel in Stowe was built in the Village at the same time as the Summit House on the Mountain. It was called "The Mt. Mansfield", and was locally known as the "Big Hotel". It was 300 feet long and three and one-half stories high, with two wings to the rear, and could accommodate 450 people. It occupied the area on which is now Shaw's General Store, Val's Country Store, Clark Newton's house, the home of the late Mrs. Gale Shaw, and the Carriage House Shops & Apartments. In October of 1889 the "Big Hotel" burned to the ground. A huge stable, located just back of the Green Mountain Inn, was built to house the carriage and riding horses kept for the guests of the Mt. Mansfield. It survived the fire and, for many years, was used by the C.E. and F.O. Burt Company for its logging horses and equipment. In 1953 it was demolished as too great a fire hazard for the Village.
Following the Civil War, Stowe became a famous summer resort. The general scenery, the cool climate, the exceptional beauties of Mt. Mansfield, Smugglers' Notch and the attraction of the hills and valleys hereabouts drew people to Stowe in great numbers. Although this trend reached its peak prior to the destruction of the "Big Hotel", the summer tourist trade was an important part of the business life of Stowe until the First World War. The summer tourist season has been increasing for the past several years, as well as the always heavy influx of travelers, or leaf-peepers, during the fall foliage season during September and October. Except for mud-season about April when the frost thaws in the dirt roads making them virtually impassable, Stowe is very nearly a year 'round resort community.
Three Swedish families living in Stowe about 1913 aroused the first interest in skiing which was then taken up actively by a number of townspeople. The first organized winter sports came into being in Stowe in 1921 when, on February 23rd, a large Winter Carnival, under the auspices of the Stowe Civic Club, was held. An ice palace back of the schoolhouse, a ski jump, a toboggan slide and a skating rink provided attractions that brought a crowd of two thousand spectators from neighboring towns as well as winter sports enthusiasts from the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College. In the 1930's, a second ski jump was built north of the Village on the side hill back of what is now known as Hadleigh House, formerly the Pines Cabins, now long out of existence. It brought competition and crowds of skiing enthusiasts to Stowe. The Winter Carnival was dropped during World War II and for some years afterward. By 1975 renewed interest resurrected this event which occurs in January. The winter visitor has access to four ski areas; cross-country trails at Edson and Luce Hills, and downhill skiing with gondola and chair lifts and tows at Spruce Peak and Mt. Mansfield. Lodging accommodations have greatly increased since 1970, and entertainment offered.
At the onset of the Great Depression, Stowe was a small peaceful New England community subsisting, as well as it could on farming and lumbering. The emergency economic measures of the New Deal, seeking for some quick way to provide employment, established CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camps in Stowe by which the younger unemployed men could be provided with constructive work on public land. From that time on, local enthusiasts, with the active assistance of the CCC and the encouragement of some Out-of-Staters, started clearing land on Mt. Mansfield for ski trails.
From such simple beginnings, arising out of extreme local and economic need, the present position of Stowe, as the Ski Capital of the East, originated. The growth and major development of winter sports in Stowe over the last 25 years is a substantial history of its own. The summer visitor, who should thoroughly enjoy the extensive warm season resort facilities of Stowe, will also be interested in seeing the lifts, the ski trails and other extensive facilities designed for the benefit, chiefly of Stowe's winter guests. But he may find it difficult to visualize fully the magnificent winter scene - the great expanse of snow - the thousands of skiers - the healthful fun and the companionship that make skiing one of the biggest and fastest growing outdoor sports in America.