Missisquoi Valley history

1803 Jonathan and Elijah Ferris bought 5,OOO acres of land from Silas Hathaway for $22,000.

1804 John H.Burton was appointed as the first postmaster at Swanton Falls, January 1.

1806 The first Methodist Meeting was held in the home of Levi Scott.

1809 Eleazer Wheelock of Rutland petitioned for the exclusive right to run stages from Rutland to Middlebury, to Swanton and return twice or more each week.

1810 The line with Highgate and Sheldon was established.

1811 “Old John’s (Toll) Bridge” was built by Joseph Palmer.

1812 The first trestle bridge was built at the falls.

1817 A union building was erected for the Baptist, Friends, and Congregationalists at Swanton Center.

1820 A cotton mill was operated by William Gadcomb at Swanton Hill in East Swanton.

1821 Parson’s (Toll) bridge was built at the Falls.

1823 The Champlain Canal opened giving Swanton access to New York City and beyond.

1825 The first Free Will Baptist meeting was held.

1829 Land was exchanged and a line established with Fairfield.

1832 The Universalists met for the first time.

1837 Swanton took an active part in the Patriot’s (Papineau’s) War, which was brought about by the Canadians wanting their independence from British rule.

1839 A post office was established at Swanton Center.

1842 A temperance society was formed and continued for about fifteen years.

The VC was constructed in stages, with work beginning in December 1846.

1848 The first Methodist church was built.

1850 On October 18 the first train operated on the west side of town; the first passenger train on December llth.

1852 The west side railroad station was built.

1854 The Catholic Church had its first permanent priest.

Smith passed away in 1858, but his heirs assumed ownership and continued expanding the railroad.

1859 The second Catholic church was built on the south side of Canada Street across from the present church.

1863 The first passenger train came through the east side of the village.

1868 The Civil War monument was sculptured by Daniel J. Perry of Swanton.

1870 Work was started on the Lamoille Valley Railroad.

1876 The Episcopal church was built, August 31.

1885 The Swanton (Atwood) Suspender Company was organized.

1888 Swanton Village was incorporated, November 27.

Methodist church rebuilt after fire of 1895.

The CV was then acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway and renamed the Central Vermont Railway on November 15, 1898.

1909 East Swanton was renamed Greens Corners.

1913 Lyman Tobin, a Swanton lad, made his debut in a leading role on Broadway (New York City, not Swanton), January 9.

1917 An explosion at the International Explosives Company, in which its general manager Doctor E. M. Funk was fatally injured, was said to have been the first American death in the United States caused by World War One, March 15.

1923 The Atwood Suspender Factory at the corner of York and First Street burned down.

1929 On May 3 a tornado hit town strewing timbers over a distance of four miles, roofs were carried off, all the windows in the new marble mill were blown out and the roof was carried away.

1941 Three hundred and sixty men and women from Swanton were in World War Two.

1942, Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge established by the federal government, claiming a large amount of land on the extensive site of the ancient village, and the extended families who lived in the Misissquoi delta are removed.

1959 The first Annual Swanton Festival was held.

1963 John Barren in his book KGB : The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents tells of two KGB agents coming to Swanton to ascertain if there was a rocket base here.

1968 Swanton embarks on zoning and joint Village and Town Planning Commission was apoointed.

1976 Governor Thomas Salmon recognized the Abenaki Tribe and formed a Commission on Indian Affairs.

Missisquoi community holds the first fish-in on the Missisquoi River (1979), to assert aboriginal fishing rights, part of a larger community-led sovereignty movement

The former Missisquoi Railroad became known as CV’s Richford Branch and remained in service until a derailment on the bridge during June 1984 over the Missisquoi River near Sheldon, Vermont.

1988 The 100th Anniversary of the Village and the 225th Anniversary of the Town.

Wolchik decision (1989) recognizes aboriginal right of Abenakis to hunt and fish in traditional homelands, including Missisquoi

Vermont Supreme Court seeks to overturn Wolchik decision by declaring, against long-held standards of United States Indian Law that Abenaki aboriginal rights had been “extinguished by the increasing weight of history” (1992). Numerous legal scholars critique the decision.

2006 State Recognition of Abenaki restored by Vermont Legislature

2012 State recognition of Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi as a tribe

Archaeological studies have confirmed the location of the ancient village, informed by oral history from Abenaki leadership families, including a large longhouse, some 100-feet long, which was documented in 2015, and once stood at the center of the village.