Shelburne, Vermont, USA
1835 Shelburne

The population of Shelburne in 1835 was about 1,100. The village of Shelburne, now at the railroad station, was then in appearance very much as it is now. It had one church, the site for which, as well as that for the school-house and the public common, was given by Benjamin HARRINGTON. L. M. HAGAR, now of Burlington, was engaged in mercantile business on the same site now occupied by the brick store, and in the building now used as a storehouse, adjoining the brick building on the south. The only other merchants in the village were David IRISH and Nelson PERRY, who, under the firm name of IRISH & PERRY, conducted a store in a brick building on the opposite side of the street from HAGAR, on the site afterwards used for the Methodist parsonage. The only doctor in the village was Dr. Joel FAIRCHILD, who lived in the next house north of the old tavern, the same building being now occupied by the widow of Hezekiah COMSTOCK. There was no lawyer in town, Jacob MAECK's practice here occurring some time later. Levi COMSTOCK then kept the tavern, his successors being George B. ISHAM, O. J. BALDWIN and others, until the accession of Walter A. WEED, who terminated the dynasty of hotel proprietors in Shelburne about 1875. South of the hotel in 1835 stood the tannery of Robert SPEAR, the shoe-shop appurtenant to it being now used as a dwelling house by Prosper BACON. Mr. HAGAR made potash soon after 1835 south of the old hotel.

At the falls Joshua ISHAM still owned and operated the saw-mill and grist-mill, between these two buildings being the woolen-mill of Samuel FLETCHER. On the hill west of the river Lemon JUDSON operated a tannery and shoe-shop, which in those days were always associated. Across the river from the woolen-mill Henry FULLER had a blacksmith and trip-hammer shop, while Ira ANDREWS was thus early engaged in the occupation of a wheelwright back of FULLER's shop. Soon after 1835 Dr. Jonathan TAYLOR settled at the falls, and practiced medicine until compelled by the infirmities of age to desist The old red store of Joshua ISHAM was then a thing of the past, and its successor had not appeared. About 1840, however, Jirah B. ISHAM and William RUSSELL, under the style of ISHAM & RUSSELL, built a store on the west side of the river, and kept a stock of goods there for some time. The building was burned shortly before the last war.

Outside of the villages no business worth mentioning was done, except farming. The opening of the railroad through the town did not operate to divert the channels of trade, as might have been expected. The villages retained their relative size and importance, while the principal benefit accruing was felt by the farmers, for whom the better shipping facilities seemed to have been intended. Previous to that time cattle had to be driven to Boston. Moreover, distance was practically annihilated and the markets for farm produce brought within easy reach of the producers. In later years the station at Shelburne has been a great shipping point for dealers and growers of fruits. It is said that an average shipment of 8,000 to 10,000 barrels of apples is made here annually.

History of Chittenden County, Vermont With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers
Edited By W. S. Rann, Syracuse, N. Y.
D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1886



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