Franklin County, Vermont

Franklin County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Saint Albans
Year Organized: 1792
Square Miles: 637

Court House:

PO Box 808
County Courthouse
Saint Albans, VT 05478-0808

Etymology - Origin of County Name

For Benjamin Franklin.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Franklin County is one of several Vermont counties created from land ceded by the state of New York on January 15, 1777 when Vermont declared itself to be a distinct state from New York. The land originally was contested by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Netherlands, but it remained undelineated until July 20, 1764 when King George III established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the Connecticut River, north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude. New York assigned the land gained to Albany County. On March 12, 1772 Albany County was partitioned to create Charlotte County, named for Benjamin Franklin, and this situation remained until Vermont's independence from New York and Britain. However, this did not end the contest.

On September 3, 1783, as a result of the signing of the Treaty of Paris the Revolutionary War ended with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. Vermont's border with Quebec was established at 45 degrees north latitude

President Chester A. Arthur was born near Fairfield in 1829. St. Albans, the county seat, was a regional railroad centre from 1850; the city was the site of the St. Albans Raid (October 19, 1864) during the American Civil War, carried out by Confederate soldiers from Canada. Other communities are Enosburg Falls, Richford, and Montgomery Center.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 692 square miles (1,792 km²), of which, 637 square miles (1,650 km²) of it is land and 55 square miles (142 km²) of it (7.94%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Orleans County, Vermont - east
Lamoille County, Vermont - southeast
Chittenden County, Vermont - southwest
Grand Isle County, Vermont - west
Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, Quebec - north

Cities and Towns:

- Bakersfield	town
- Berkshire	town
- Enosburg	town
- Enosburg Falls	village	Incorporated Area
- Fairfax	town
- Fairfield	town
- Fletcher	town
- Franklin	town
- Highgate	town
- Montgomery	town
- Richford	town
- Sheldon	town
- St. Albans (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Swanton	village	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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