Essex, Vermont

Not to be confused with Essex County, Vermont.

Essex, Vermont
Town
Motto:  "Crossroads of Chittenden County" [1]
Location in Chittenden County and the state of Vermont.
Essex, Vermont Location in the United States
Coordinates: 44°30′7″N73°5′38″W / 44.50194°N 73.09389°W / 44.50194; -73.09389
Country	United States
State	Vermont
County	Chittenden
Incorporated	June 7, 1763 [1]
Communities	Essex Center Butlers Corners Pages Corner
Area
• Total	39.3 sq mi (101.8 km2)
• Land	38.8 sq mi (100.6 km2)
• Water	0.5 sq mi (1.3 km2)
Elevation	486 ft (148 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	22,094
• Density	560/sq mi (220/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	05451-05452
Area code	802
FIPS code	50-24175 [2]
GNIS feature ID	1462091 [3]
Website	www.essexvt.org

Essex is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Vermont Route 289 crosses the town from east to west. The city of Essex Junction, with a population as of 2020 of 10,590, was located within the town as an incorporated village until 2022.

History

Town vote to merge			Revote
District	2006-11-07		2007-01-23
	Yes	No	Yes	No
6–1 (outside village)	1,283	2,319	690	2,528
6–3 (outside village)	365	822
6–2 (within village)	2,728	1,026	2,009	362
Townwide totals	4,376	4,167	2,699	2,890
Village vote to accept			No revote required, result was uncontested.
	2,922	1,085

The town was incorporated on June 7, 1763, ^[1] named after the Earl of Essex. ^[4]

The Village of Essex Junction was formed—within the town of Essex—on November 15, 1892. The village was formed to provide services (such as sidewalks, water, and sewers) to the villagers that the rest of the, mostly rural, town citizens did not want, and did not want to pay for.

As the town outside the village developed, they gradually added similar services for themselves, and by 1958, the first hints of merger showed up in a voter petition. Since then a series of votes (often contentious) had defeated or passed merger in each community, but never at the same time in both (which was required by the state legislature for them to sign off on the merger).

This temporarily changed on November 7, 2006, when merger passed in the town as a whole, and in the village. The town as a whole (including the village) got to vote once on the merger, and the village, separately, got to vote in a second ballot to accept the merger if it passed the townwide vote. This was confusing enough that the regional paper misreported the results as a defeat of the merger, based solely on the vote results outside the village. ^[5] The next day the correct results were reported in both the town's paper, ^[6] and as a correction in the regional paper. ^[7]

On December 6, 2006, a petition to reconsider the merger was submitted to the town. The petition contained signatures totaling more than 5 percent of registered voters, which is the threshold required to force a re-vote. ^[8] The revote was held on January 23, 2007, with a result that overturned the merger by 191 votes, rejecting the current merger proposal. ^[9]

If the results had stood, a multi-year merger process would have resulted in a new "Town of Essex Junction" replacing the current governments of the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction.

On November 2, 2021, voters in the village of Essex Junction did vote to separate from the town of Essex, citing an unfair tax burden. The vote was 3,070 to 411 in favor of separation. ^[10] Essex Junction separated on July 1, 2022. ^[11]

Geography

Essex is located in central Chittenden County, bordered on the south by the Winooski River. Neighboring municipalities are Colchester to the west, Milton at the northwest corner, Westford to the north, Underhill at the northeast corner, Jericho to the east, Williston to the south, and the cities of South Burlington and Essex Junction to the southwest.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town of Essex in 2010 had a total area of 39.3 square miles (101.8 km²), of which 38.8 square miles (100.6 km²) was land and 0.50 square miles (1.3 km²), or 1.26%, was water. ^[12]

The 575 acre Indian Brook Town Conservation Area and 335 acre Saxon Hill Town Forest are located within the town. ^[13]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	354		—
1800	729		105.9%
1810	957		31.3%
1820	1,089		13.8%
1830	1,664		52.8%
1840	1,824		9.6%
1850	2,052		12.5%
1860	1,906		−7.1%
1870	2,022		6.1%
1880	2,104		4.1%
1890	2,013		−4.3%
1900	2,203		9.4%
1910	2,714		23.2%
1920	2,449		−9.8%
1930	2,876		17.4%
1940	3,059		6.4%
1950	3,931		28.5%
1960	7,090		80.4%
1970	10,951		54.5%
1980	14,392		31.4%
1990	16,498		14.6%
2000	18,626		12.9%
2010	19,587		5.2%
2020	22,094		12.8%
U.S. Decennial Census [14]

2010 census

As of the census ^[2] of 2010, there were 19,587 people and 7,322 households in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 91.6% non-Hispanic White, 1.5% Black or African American, 3.2% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 1.7% of the population. The population density was 534 people per square mile (184.4/km²). There were 7,170 housing units at an average density of 183.8 per square mile (71.0/km²). There were 7,013 households, out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the town, the age distribution of the population shows 27.9% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $58,441, and the median income for a family was $65,794. Males had a median income of $45,428 versus $27,426 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,854. About 1.8% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

Arts and culture

Museums and other points of interest

The Harriet Farnsworth Powell Museum is located in Essex. The museum is housed in a former two-room schoolhouse, and includes a collection of costumes, school items, and local memorabilia. ^{[1] [15]}

Government

Until 2022, Essex comprised three Vermont Legislature districts (seats) within Chittenden County: District 8–1, the central portion of the town of Essex; ^[16] District 8–2, the former village of Essex Junction; ^[17] and District 8–3, northern town of Essex and the town of Westford. ^[18] The town of Essex and the city of Essex Junction continued to share municipal services until July 1, 2023. ^[19]

Education

The Essex Westford School District (EWSD)—unified on July 1, 2017—serves 4,500 Pre-K to grade 12 students in Essex, Essex Junction, and Westford, Vermont. ^[20] EWSD operates ten schools in the two towns—Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School, Essex Center for Technology, Essex Elementary School, Essex High School (EHS), Essex Middle School, Founders Memorial School, Hiawatha Elementary School, Summit Street School, Thomas Fleming School, and Westford School. ^[21] Previously, the three communities had separate Pre-K to grade 8 school districts that fed the already unified EHS.

EWSD provides busing for students in Essex and Westford, as well as students in Essex Junction, who did not have buses prior to 2018. ^[22] EWSD also provides busing to students from South Hero, Grand Isle, North Hero and Georgia who choose to attend EHS. ^{[23] [ failed verification ]}

Media

The Essex Reporter is a weekly newspaper published in town, covering news in Essex and the surrounding communities in Chittenden County. ^[24] It has a weekly circulation of 8,800 copies. ^[25]

Infrastructure

Transportation

Vermont's Circumferential Highway (Vermont Route 289 or "The Circ") courses through Essex, and the section within Essex's jurisdiction has been completed. However, further construction of the highway was halted in surrounding communities by court action from environmental protesters.

Bus service is provided by Green Mountain Transit.

Rail

See also: Essex Junction station

Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides daily service via its station in neighboring Essex Junction, operating the Vermonter train between St. Albans, Vermont and Washington, D.C. In 2008, a study indicated that the cheapest method for one person to get to New York City from the Burlington area was by train, at $48. It was also the longest, taking an estimated 9 hours and 25 minutes. ^{[26] [27]}

Notable people

• Bert Abbey (1869–1962), pitcher with the Washington Senators, Chicago Colts, and Brooklyn Grooms/Bridegrooms ^[28]
• William B. Castle, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio
• Linda K. Myers, member of the Vermont House of Representatives ^[29]

See also

• Essex Junction, Vermont

References

1. "Town of Essex Vermont". Town of Essex Vermont. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
2. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
3. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
4. "Profile for Essex, Vermont, VT". ePodunk. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
5. Welch, Victoria (November 8, 2006). "Essex Defeats Merger 2-1". Burlington Free Press.
6. Tyler, George (November 9, 2006). "Merger Wins: Confusion over vote count". Essex Reporter.
7. Welch, Victoria (November 9, 2006). "Essex merger moves forward: An apology to our Essex readers". Burlington Free Press.
8. Welch, Victoria (December 7, 2006). "New rift emerges in Essex merger". Burlington Free Press.
9. Welch, Victoria (January 24, 2007). "This time, Essex rejects merger: Revote comes up 191 ballots short". The Burlington Free Press. Vol. 180, no. 24. p. 1A – via Newspapers.com.
10. Cohen, Lana (November 2, 2021). "Essex Junction residents vote to become an independent city". VTDigger. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
11. Benninghoff, Grace (April 22, 2022). "Essex Junction will officially become its own city on July 1". Vermont Public. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
12. "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Census Summary File 1 (G001): Essex town, Chittenden County, Vermont". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
13. "Historical Analysis of Two Town Forests in Essex, Vermont" (PDF). Retrieved October 9, 2018.
14. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 16, 2015.
15. "Champlain Valley Region Vermont Historical Societies". Vermont Living Magazine. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
16. "District: CHI-8-1" (PDF). Vermont General Assembly. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
17. "District: CHI-8-2" (PDF). Vermont General Assembly. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
18. "District: CHI-8-3" (PDF). Vermont General Assembly. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
19. "Essex Junction will officially become its own city on July 1". April 22, 2022.
20. "About EWSD". www.ewsd.org. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
21. "EWSD Schools". www.ewsd.org. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
22. "School Transportation". Essex Westford School District. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017.
23. "EWSD Transportation". www.ewsd.org. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
24. "The Essex Reporter". The Essex Reporter. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
25. "The Essex Reporter". Mondo Times. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
26. Assuming $4 per gallon ($1 per liter) gasoline and 20 mpg_‑US (12 L/100 km; 24 mpg_‑imp) when comparing to auto
27. McKean, Dan (August 17, 2008). "Which way?". Burlington Free Press.
28. "Bert Abbey Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
29. "Linda K. Myers". Project Vote Smart. Retrieved November 10, 2012.

External links

• Town of Essex official website
• City-Data.com
• ePodunk: Profile for Essex, Vermont