Historical U.S. Census totals for Franklin County, Vermont

This article shows U.S. Census totals for Franklin County, Vermont, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2000.

Most areas of New England are entirely divided into incorporated municipalities, with no unincorporated territory. In the three northern New England states, however, some unincorporated territory does exist, generally in areas that are very sparsely populated. Franklin County currently follows the typical New England model, and is entirely incorporated. Until the 1960s or 1970s, however, it did contain a small amount of unincorporated territory, as four other counties in Vermont still do today. The unincorporated territory in Franklin County consisted of a tract called Avery’s Gore, along the county’s southern edge. It was eliminated by dividing it between the towns of Montgomery and Belvidere (the latter across the border in neighboring Lamoille County). Prior to its dissolution, Avery's Gore had only reported population in two 20th century censuses.

There are three types of incorporated municipalities in Vermont: towns, cities and villages. As in the other New England states, towns are the basic unit of municipal government. Cities are independent of and equivalent to towns, but differ in their form of government. Villages overlay towns and assume responsibility for some municipal services within their boundaries. Incorporated villages are not found in any of the other New England states, and are less common in Vermont today than they have been in the past. A number of villages have disincorporated over the years, choosing to revert back to full town control; most of those that remain are very small.

It is possible for a village to become a city, in which case it becomes a completely separate municipality from its original parent town. Many of Vermont’s current cities are former villages (unlike the other New England states where cities are almost invariably former towns). If a village bearing the same name as its parent town becomes a city, the result is an adjacent town and city that have the same name but are completely separate municipalities. There is one such example in Franklin County. The present-day city of St. Albans has its origins in a village within the town of St. Albans. When the village became a city, however, it ceased to be part of the town, and the town and city are now two distinct municipalities with no overlap or relationship to one another.

The main tables below show municipalities at the town level, differentiating between towns and cities. For any census, adding up the totals for each town-level municipality (as well as Avery’s Gore, for the 1970 and earlier censuses) should yield the county total. A separate section follows with population totals for villages from 1930 to 2000.

For more information on the New England municipal system, see New England town.

Corporate changes since 1900

There have been no changes in Franklin County’s town-level municipality roster since 1900 (but note the elimination of the former Avery’s Gore, as discussed above, and in the Notes to the 1970 Census below).

1900

County Total: 30,198

*St. Albans (city) 6,239
*Swanton 3,745
*Richford 2,421
*Enosburg 2,054
*Highgate 1,980
*Montgomery 1,876
*Fairfield 1,830
*St. Albans [town] 1,715
*Sheldon 1,341
*Fairfax 1,338
*Berkshire 1,326
*Georgia 1,280
*Bakersfield 1,158
*Franklin 1,145
*Fletcher 750

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1910

County Total: 29,866

*St. Albans (city) 6,381
*Swanton 3,628
*Richford 2,907
*Enosburg 2,212
*Fairfield 1,778
*Highgate 1,758
*Montgomery 1,721
*St. Albans [town] 1,617
*Fairfax 1,318
*Berkshire 1,286
*Sheldon 1,246
*Franklin 1,108
*Georgia 1,090
*Bakersfield 1,079
*Fletcher 737

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1920

County Total: 30,026

*St. Albans (city) 7,588
*Swanton 3,343
*Richford 2,842
*Enosburg 2,231
*Montgomery 1,658
*St. Albans [town] 1,583
*Fairfield 1,532
*Highgate 1,528
*Sheldon 1,473
*Berkshire 1,299
*Fairfax 1,244
*Georgia 1,075
*Franklin 994
*Bakersfield 980
*Fletcher 656

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1930

County Total: 29,975

*St. Albans (city) 8,020
*Swanton 3,433
*Richford 2,544
*Enosburg 2,093
*St. Albans [town] 1,691
*Highgate 1,574
*Sheldon 1,563
*Fairfield 1,541
*Montgomery 1,386
*Fairfax 1,249
*Berkshire 1,234
*Georgia 1,090
*Franklin 1,001
*Bakersfield 889
*Fletcher 667

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1940

County Total: 29,601

*St. Albans (city) 8,037
*Swanton 3,543
*Richford 2,646
*Enosburg 2,082
*St. Albans [town] 1,733
*Highgate 1,647
*Sheldon 1,471
*Fairfield 1,444
*Fairfax 1,229
*Montgomery 1,208
*Berkshire 1,156
*Franklin 1,021
*Georgia 1,008
*Bakersfield 827
*Fletcher 549

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1950

County Total: 29,894

*St. Albans (city) 8,552
*Swanton 3,740
*Richford 2,643
*Enosburg 2,101
*St. Albans [town] 1,908
*Highgate 1,681
*Fairfield 1,428
*Sheldon 1,352
*Fairfax 1,129
*Montgomery 1,091
*Berkshire 1,063
*Georgia 1,055
*Franklin 878
*Bakersfield 779
*Fletcher 485

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported 9 residents.

1960

County Total: 29,474

*St. Albans (city) 8,806
*Swanton 3,946
*Richford 2,316
*St. Albans [town] 2,303
*Enosburg 1,966
*Highgate 1,608
*Sheldon 1,281
*Fairfax 1,244
*Fairfield 1,225
*Georgia 1,079
*Berkshire 965
*Montgomery 876
*Franklin 796
*Bakersfield 664
*Fletcher 399

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported no residents.

1970

County Total: 31,282

*St. Albans (city) 8,082
*Swanton 4,622
*St. Albans [town] 3,270
*Richford 2,116
*Highgate 1,936
*Enosburg 1,918
*Georgia 1,711
*Sheldon 1,481
*Fairfax 1,366
*Fairfield 1,285
*Berkshire 931
*Franklin 821
*Montgomery 651
*Bakersfield 635
*Fletcher 456

Unorganized territory (Avery’s Gore) reported 1 resident.

1980

County Total: 34,788

*St. Albans (city) 7,308
*Swanton 5,141
*St. Albans [town] 3,555
*Georgia 2,818
*Highgate 2,493
*Richford 2,206
*Enosburg 2,070
*Fairfax 1,805
*Sheldon 1,618
*Fairfield 1,493
*Berkshire 1,116
*Franklin 1,006
*Bakersfield 852
*Montgomery 681
*Fletcher 626

1990

County Total: 39,980

*St. Albans (city) 7,339
*Swanton 5,636
*St. Albans [town] 4,606
*Georgia 3,753
*Highgate 3,020
*Enosburg 2,535
*Fairfax 2,486
*Richford 2,178
*Sheldon 1,748
*Fairfield 1,680
*Berkshire 1,190
*Franklin 1,068
*Bakersfield 977
*Fletcher 941
*Montgomery 823

2000

County Total: 45,417

*St. Albans (city) 7,650
*Swanton 6,203
*St. Albans [town] 5,324
*Georgia 4,375
*Fairfax 3,527
*Highgate 3,397
*Enosburg 2,788
*Richford 2,321
*Sheldon 1,990
*Fairfield 1,800
*Berkshire 1,388
*Franklin 1,268
*Bakersfield 1,215
*Fletcher 1,179
*Montgomery 992

Villages

As of 1930, Franklin County contained three incorporated villages:

*The village of Enosburg Falls (inc. 1887), within the town of Enosburg

*The village of Richford, within the town of the same name

*The village of Swanton (inc. 1889), within the town of the same name

The village of Richford disincorporated in 1998.

1930

*Richford 1,783
*Swanton 1,558
*Enosburg Falls 1,195

1940

*Richford 1,889
*Swanton 1,461
*Enosburg Falls 1,168

1950

*Swanton 2,275
*Richford 1,916
*Enosburg Falls 1,289

1960

*Swanton 2,390
*Richford 1,663
*Enosburg Falls 1,321

1970

*Swanton 2,630
*Richford 1,527
*Enosburg Falls 1,266

1980

*Swanton 2,520
*Richford 1,471
*Enosburg Falls 1,207

1990

*Swanton 2,360
*Richford 1,425
*Enosburg Falls 1,350

2000

*Swanton 2,548
*Enosburg Falls 1,473

Notes

1970 Census

Esther Swift Munroe’s book “Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History” indicates that Avery’s Gore was eliminated in 1963. It was reported in the 1970 Census, however. It is unclear if Munroe has the date wrong or if the Census reported it erroneously in 1970 (the latter is not inconceivable).

The Avery’s Gore that was in Franklin County was a different entity from the one that still exists in Essex County. According to Munroe, there were originally eight different tracts in six different Vermont counties named “Avery’s Gore”. All were granted between 1791 and 1796 to a man named Samuel Avery to compensate him for earlier grants that had been invalidated. The grants were made in piecemeal fashion because by that time there were apparently no large, town-sized areas left that had not been granted.

2000 Census

The Census Bureau made a number of revisions to 2000 census totals subsequent to their initial release. The 2000 total for the town of St. Albans was originally reported as 5,086; and for the town of Fairfax, 3,765. The totals were later revised to those shown in the list above. This was apparently done to correct an assignment error between the two municipalities; the collective population of the two is the same using either set of figures, so the county total was not affected.

ee also

*United States Census
*Franklin County, Vermont