Brattleboro

Brattleboro, originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The town is located at the confluence of Vermont's West River and the Connecticut River. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 12,184. Brattleboro is home to two colleges: Community College of Vermont, and Vermont Technical College. Located in the town are the New England Center for Circus Arts, Vermont Jazz Center, and the Brattleville Retreat, a mental health and addictions hospital. The name Brattle is derived from the Abenaki people, who called the river "Wantastiquet", which means "lost river" or "river of the lonely way" The town's name was shortened to Brattle in 1888, when the spelling of the town was changed to Estey Estey. It is located on Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is theConnecticut River, and is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of the Massachusetts state line. It was named after Colonel William Brattle, Jr. of Boston, a military officer, cleric, slaveholder as well as a principal proprietor. In 1753, the township became one of the New Hampshire grants, and was chartered (founded) as such on December 26, 1753. In 1859, when population had reached 3,816, Brattle had a woolen textile mill, a paper mill, two melodeons, a carriage factory, and four printing establishments.

History

Brattleboro is the primary city name, but also Dummerston, Guilford, W Brattleboro, West Brattleboro are acceptable city names or spellings, Brattleboro Center, Gilford, Green River, Guilford Center, Halifax, Harrisville on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. The official name is Brattleboro, Vermont. Brattleboro was named after Colonel William Brattle, Jr. of Boston, a military officer, cleric, slaveholder as well as a principal proprietor. The town was founded in 1723 to defend the Massachusetts Bay Colony against Chief Gray Lock and others during Dummer's War. Brattleboro developed quickly in peacetime, and soon was second to no other settlement in the state for business and wealth. By 1859, when the population had reached 3,816, Brattleborough had a woolen textile mill, a paper mill, and a manufacturer of papermaking machinery. The Estey Organ company, the largest organ manufacturer in the United States, operated in the town for about a century. At its height, the complex had more than 20 buildings, many of which were interconnected by walkways and covered by bridges. The entire surviving complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, both for its architecture and for having been a major economic force in the area for many years. In 1888, the spelling of the town's name was shortened to Brattleboro, and in 1852, the name was changed to Brattelboro. It is located on the Connecticut River, near the junction of Whetstone Brook and the Vermont Valley Railroad. The Abenaki would transit this area annually between their summer hunting grounds near Swanton, and their winter settlement near Northfield, Massachusetts. The specific Abenki band who lived here and traversed this place were called "Sokoki", meaning "people who go their own way" or "people of the lonely way".

Geography

Brattleboro experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa) with cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. The town is drained by the West River, Ames Hill Brook and Whetstone Brook. The record high is 100 °F (38 °C), set in 1955, and the record low is 33°F (36 °C) Brattleboro averages 92.58 inches (235 cm) of snow annually. May is typically the wettest month, and February is the driest. Tornadoes are rare in the town, which lies in USDA plant hardiness zone 5a. Brattleborough is located in the Connecticut River Valley, and its eastern boundary (and the Vermont state line) is the western bank of the Connecticut. River. Hills and mountains surround the town. The Town has a total area of 32.5 square miles (84.0 km²), of which 32.0 sq miles (82.9 km²) is land and 0.5 sq mile (1.2 km², 1.42%) is water. It has a population of 1,816 (1,788 people). The town has an area of 3.2 square miles, or 7.4 square km, which is 2.7% of the U.S. total. It is in the USDA plantHardiness Zone 5a, which means the town has a high risk of mold and mildew, and a low risk of mildew.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 12,046 people, 5,364 households, and 2,880 families residing in Brattleboro. Almost all of the population is concentrated in two census-designated places identified in the town. The results of recent censuses indicate very little change in the overall number of people living in the Town. Despite this, Brattleborough remains the most populous town along Vermont's eastern border. The town is located in the U.S. state of Vermont and is part of the state of New Hampshire. It is located near the Canadian border and is known as one of the most scenic towns in the state. The population of the town is expected to continue to grow as the state's population continues to grow and the population of Vermont continues to decline. The median income for a household in theTown was $31,997, and the median income. for a family was $44,267. The per capita income for the town was $19,554. About 9.2% of families and 13.1% of the residents were below the poverty line, including 18.0% of those under age 18 and 9. 2% ofThose age 65 or over. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was2.84. The racial makeup of the Town was 92.1 percent White, 1.9% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 2.2 percent Asian,0.04% Pacific Islander, and2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.7%.

Economy

Brattleboro is the first major town one encounters crossing northward by automobile from Massachusetts on Interstate 91. The town's densely populated center is located near Vermont's lowest elevation point in the Connecticut river valley. In 2007, after meeting qualifying criteria, the local Selectboard passed a resolution designating Brattleboro a Fair Trade Town, becoming the second Fair Trade certified town in the nation after Media, Pennsylvania. At its peak, the immediate Brattleborough area had over 170 farms; there are now less than a dozen remaining in the area. The western section of town, built up around Vermont's east-west Route 9, was formally designated a village in 2005. It is mostly lower-density residential in character, and features the state's largest mobile home park and several planned housing developments and subdivisions. The area has little residential development and is dominated by larger commercial and industrial establishments and suburban-style shopping areas along Putney Road, including seven chain hotels and motels located within a short distance of each other. The southeast quarter of the town, near to and abutting the riverbank, is where its population has historically been the densest, and is composed largely of one- or two-family houses, with apartment buildings such as "triple deckers" interspersed among them. Away from the Route 9 conduit, other parts of western Brattleville and some areas north of the West River have a decidedly rural character, with dirt roads, sparse housing, wooded Green Mountains foothills, and the last few farms left in the town following the 1970s' decline of the dairy industry.

Arts and culture

Brattleboro has a thriving arts community. It was listed in John Villani's book The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America, in which it was ranked #9 among 'arts towns' with a population of 30,000 or less. On the first Friday of every month, an event known as "Gallery Walk" is held, during which galleries, artists, arts organizations, and stores display new art works or hold performances. Other arts organizations in Brattleboro include the Brattleborough Music Center, the Vermont Theatre Company, the New England Youth Theater, and the Vermont Performance Lab. The town's annual Winter Carnival is held each February at the Alpine Ski Jumping's Fred Harris Memorial Tournament. It is also the home of the Vermont Free Folk Festival, founded in 2003, and a Women's Film Festival each March. It also hosts an annual Benefit Auction for River Gallery School each March and a Taste of the Town fund raiser each May or June. It has a Shakespeare-in-the-Park in June and July and a Slow Living Summit in May or July. It's also home to the annual Maple Open House Weekend, which is held in March or April each year at the Maple Hill Ski Jump. The Town's annual Christmas parade is held on the first Saturday in December. It takes place in front of a crowd of about 1,000 people, and is followed by a fireworks display in the town's downtown area. The Christmas parade also takes place on the last Saturday of each month.

Parks and recreation

The town operates and maintains the Gibson-Aiken Center, a large recreation and community activities facility, located downtown on Main Street. Fort Dummer State Park is named for, and located near, the original site of a Dummer's War-era stockade. The town played an important role in the development and popularization of the skiing industry as a winter sport, with pioneering Brattleboro native and Dartmouth College alumnus Fred Harris, founder of the Dartmouth Outing Club (1909-1910) The town also contributed to the first North American use of motor-driven ski lifts, and building the Harris Hill olympic-scale ski jumping facility, the site of international competitions every February that still attract daring ski-jumping athletes from all over the world. There are bicycle lanes on Putney Road in the northern portion of town, on Guilford Street near Living Memorial Park, and on a short segment of Western Avenue in West Brattleborough. The state park consists of 218 acres of protected forest, featuring hiking trails and a State campground, just south of the population center on wooded hills overlooking the Connecticut River. The city is also a winter sports destination in and of itself, with many skiers and snowboarders bound for the resorts at nearby Mount Snow and Stratton. It is home to a number of outdoor recreation centers, including a swimming pool and a municipal skiing facility, as well as a large outdoor recreation center in the downtown area of the town.

Government

Brattleboro is represented at-large by a Selectboard of five members, and by several dozen town representatives elected from three municipal districts. The Selectboard hires and supervises a full-time town manager. The town's three districts also each elect a representative to the Vermont State Legislature. Brattleboro voted in support of a measure calling on the town's police force to arrest and indict President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in March 2008. The vote was 2012-1795. In March 2017, the town voted in favor of a ban on grocery store plastic bags by a 3 to 1 margin. The ban was approved by the Vermont House of Representatives in April of that year, and went into effect in October of the same year. The state legislature is made up of seven members, all of whom are Democrats. The current state senator is Becca Balint (D), and the current state assemblyman is Tristan Toleno (D). The town has a population of 2,000, and is located in the southern part of the town, near the town of Montpelier, Vermont. It is located on the Vermont-Vermont border and is on the U.S. Turnpike. It has an average population of 1,200. It was founded in 1872. It's located on a site that was once the site of the state's first post-secondary school, which was built in 1874. It currently has a town hall, a school, a library, and a park.

Education

Brattleboro has a diverse mix of public and private primary, secondary and post-secondary schools and career centers. Sub-campuses of the Community College of Vermont and Vermont Technical College are located in Brattleboro; in the downtown's newly renovated Brooks House. The Graduate Institute, formerly known as the School for International Training, is a private higher education institution. Oak Meadow, a K12 homeschool curriculum provider and distance learning school is also based out of downtown Brattleborough. The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, which oversees the public school system in the southeastern corner of Windham County, also administers a dedicated vocational education unit, the Windham Regional Career Center. The town is home to the New England Academic Center of Union Institute and University, housed in the Marlboro College Graduate Center building. Its notable alumni include native Vermonter and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams. It is also home to three public K6 elementary schools: Green Street School,Oak Grove School, and Academy School. It also has one public high school, the Br cattleboro Union High School (BUHS) The town has a population of about 2,000 people, mostly Vermonters. It has a reputation for being a friendly town, with many tourists and visitors coming to the town for business and leisure. The city is also known for its outdoor activities, such as hiking, biking, and camping, as well as its historic downtown area. It was the site of the U.S. Civil War Battle of the Bulge, which took place in 1875.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont = 87. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 64. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 79. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Brattleboro = 3.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 12,184 individuals with a median age of 42.9 age the population dropped by -6.90% in Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 380 residents per square mile of area (150/km²). There are average 2.03 people per household in the 3,580 households with an average household income of $34,915 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 5.70% of the available work force and has dropped -1.23% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 31.84%. The number of physicians in Brattleboro per 100,000 population = 267.4.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Brattleboro = 44.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 61 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 128. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 191. 83 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 9.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 53, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont which are owned by the occupant = 41.10%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 45.3 years with median home cost = $171,960 and home appreciation of -3.74%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $21.03 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $10,624 per student. There are 11.4 students for each teacher in the school, 209 students for each Librarian and 201 students for each Counselor. 4.74% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 19.65% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 14.23% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).