Rutland (town), Vermont

Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,038 at the 2000 census. Rutland completely surrounds the city of Rutland, which is incorporated separately from the town of Rutland.

Geography

Rutland is located at coord|43|46|N|72|59|W|, elevation 164.6 m (540 ft) GR|1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 19.58 square miles (50.71 km²): 19.2 square miles (49.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km²) of it is water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 4,038 people, 1,691 households, and 1166 families residing in the town. The population density was 206.2 people per square mile (79.61/km²). There were 1,761 housing units at an average density of 94.49/sq mi (289.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town is 98.7% White, 0.4% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.3% Asian, none are Pacific Islander, 0.1% from other races, and 0.5% from two or more races. 0.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 1,691 households out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 22.8% from 25 to 44, 31.9% from 45 to 64, and 18.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.4 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town is $20,269, and the median income for a family was $41,961. Males had a median income of $30,846 versus $22,131 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,807. 14.7% of the population and 12.0% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 37.8% are under the age of 18 and 11.1% are 65 or older.

History

The town was originally granted in 1761 as one of the New Hampshire Grants and named after Rutland, Massachusetts, the home of the first grantee, John Murrey. It was one of the most successful of those grants because of the excellent farmland and gentle topography.

In the early 1800s, small high-quality marble deposits were discovered in Rutland, and in the 1830s a large deposit of nearly solid marble of high quality was found in what is now West Rutland. By the 1840s small firms had begun operations, but marble quarries only became profitable when the railroad came to Rutland in 1851. As fate would have it, the famous quarries of Carrara in Tuscany, Italy, became largely unworkable because of their extreme depth at the same time, and Rutland quickly became one of the leading producers of marble in the world. This fueled enough growth and investment that in 1886 the marble companies saw to it that the present Rutland City was incorporated as a village, most of the town was split off as West Rutland and Proctor, which between them contained the bulk of the marble quarries. Proctor was named for and almost completely owned by Senator Redfield Proctor. In 1892 Rutland City was incorporated, and the remaining town of Rutland that encircled it was primarily rural.

Notable natives

*Benjamin Alvord, Union army general, mathematician, and botanist
*John Deere, blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company
*Julia Caroline Dorr, author who published both prose and poetry
*Merritt A. Edson, general in the United States Marine Corps
*Martin Henry Freeman, first black President of a U.S. college
*William Henry Jackson, painter, photographer and explorer
*William Marks, early figure in RLDS
*James Meacham, a United States Representative from Vermont
*Cephas Washburn, noted Christian missionary and educator

ee also

*Rutland Herald

References

External links

* [http://www.rutlandtown.com Rutland Vermont Official Town Website]
* [http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Evermont/RUTLANDTownhistoryindx.html History of Rutland]
* [http://www.vtce.org/12893b.html "Rutland Herald" story on the closing of the quarries in 1993]
*
* [http://www.freightandvolume.com/pg.html Artist page for Peter Gallo]