History of St. Albans,
Vermont
By Ryan Gaudette
The original railroad station in St. Albans
Town History
• St. Albans was chartered by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth on
August 17, 1763 to Stephen Pomeroy and 63 other people.
• It was a grant from New Hampshire
• First Settled by Jesse Weldon during the Revolution
• They settled there because of the rich farming land.
• Eventually it became known for its repair shops, railroads and its’ iron
foundry.
• People are still there today because of the jobs, the people, the culture
and how close it is to lake Champlain.
• St. Albans is also called the maple syrup capital of the world.
• St. Albans is the northernmost engagement of the civil war. It was know as
the St. Albans Raid.
Locations of
Buildings
City Hall
Congregational Church
Holy Angels Church
Bellows Free Academy
Bellows Free
Academy
Bellows Free
Academy Exterior
Shown in the picture above is the schools clock on
the front of the buildings. You can also notice the
capitals at the top of the pillars.
Exterior
Photo above is of one of the beams in the
front of the building next to the main door. It
has Corinthian capitals and also notice the
details on the ceiling.
Interior
The picture to the right shows
a Greek statue in front of a
partially stained window. This
is in the main hallway in the
front of the building.
To the right is the boarder that goes
around the part of the hallway that the
statue above is in. Notice the attention
to detail with everything in this room
Bellows Free
Academy
B.F.A. St. Albans was first built because of a man by the name of Hiram
Bellows. He left his stock of the of the New York Central Railroad and Hudson
River railroad to the city of St. Albans to be sold to build a free high school.
They built B.F.A. with the $270,000 they got from the stock, it was the first
and only free high school that St. Albans has ever had. He left them the stock
because he wanted to allow St. Albans to have a free high school. It was also
built on the same spot his house was on. It was built by modern standards
back then in 1930. It was equipped with science offices and laboratories. It
also had a basketball court in the gym and a nice auditorium with base floor
seats and balcony seats. The auditorium hasn’t been changed since it was
built and can seat up to 715 people. They still use this school today. The
building has expanded lately adding a tech center and turned the old hospital
building next to it into class rooms and science labs (Haynes, St. Albans).
Bellows Free
Academy
This building played a big role in my life and many others. I graduated
from this school in 2009 and it has helped me get to where I am today.
This is a great school. And although you might not notice it as much
when you are attending the school, it has a lot of history to it and is
beautifully designed for a school. Most schools these days don’t have
the history and architectural look ours has. This building is also built
very strong and should last a very long time. The outside is constructed
of bricks, and as you can see from the pictures has big columns that
support the front balcony, but is mostly still for look purposes. The
inside is built strong too. Its constructed of mostly tile floors and solid
walls. It has three floors with some of the floors all original tiles and
wood. And everything seems to balance the look of the building. Today
these might make it seem like it looks old but that’s what gives the
building its character. And it adds this character to the look of the city
(Haynes, St. Albans).
City Hall
Exterior
The photo above is of the top left of the
building.
The photo to the right is the tower on the
right side of the building. This building has a
unique style.
Exterior
Above is the main entrance to the building. As u can
see it is an arch.
Interior
City Halls basketball court
City Hall
The actual City Hall that is in St. Albans today was built around 1895. The original
building was building was built earlier in the 1800’s and was burnt down in a fire in the
1890’s. It was formally known as the Tremont House before it was burnt down. City
Hall was built by Arthur H. Smith and the town offices were and still are located in the
building. The building has a Romanesque style look to it
(nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com). It is built with brick on just about all of it, with
the roofing and some detailing made from copper. It hard to notice in the pictures but
they replaced the copper roofing a couple of years ago with new copper. The main
entrance has a roman arch that’s detailed with stone blocks around the edge of it. It
also has old style window in it. The part that sticks out the most on it is the offset
tower on the right side of it. It makes the building stand out more than it would
without it. Another neat detail it has on it besides the stone edging is the way the
bricks are assembled on the parts of the building that are rounded. They leave a little
gap in-between the bricks and creates a nice look to the building. I grew up not to far
from this building and played sports in it when I was a kid. I have always loved the
design of this building and look at it every time I enter it. This building will be around
for a very long time as long as there isn’t another fire. This is another building that
adds good character to the city with it’s old brick looks (Haynes, St. Albans).
Congregational
Church
Exterior
This photo above shows and old archway
with a door you can not see from the
picture.
The photo on the right is of the tall tower
of the left side of the building.
Exterior
The photo below is of the right side of
the building.
This photo above is another
photo of the front.
Congregational
Church
This church that is in the pictures is not the original building. It was
burned down in 1891 by a fire. For the three years that the building
was not in service do to the fire, they held their services at the
courthouse that was located and is still there today which is next door.
It rebuilt in 1894 on Church Street. It looks a lot like a gothic revival
piece of architecture to me. It is constructed of bricks like many
churches. The church has a door on the left side that is constructed of
roman arches. It has a complex look to it. It doesn’t look like the
average church design. The church also has stained window that add a
nice look to it. The Congregational Church has a very dark look to it,
but overall is a beautifully designed church. I like the old style look of it
so much that I took some of my senior pictures around it. It also looks
like it is structurally sound for the most part. There has been very little
renovations to it in the past 100 years. One of them including the
sanctuary's’ center aisle (Haynes, St. Albans)
Holy Angels Church
(cardcow.com/261608/holy-guardian-angels-church-st-albans-vermont/)
Exterior
Side view of the church from parking lot
Exterior
Side view of the church with Steeple
Exterior
Below is the front view below
the steeple
Above is the front of the
steeple
Interior
This is a picture taken from up on the balcony in the back
of the church where the organ and more seats are
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/69087264@N00/350546
4245/).
Interior
Another picture from the balcony decorated for Christmas. This
picture also has a better view of the dome in the back
(flickr.com/photos/69087264@N00/4208546217/).
Interior
Picture above is taken from floor level looking
at the alter (picasaweb.google.com).
Holy Angels Parish
Holy Angels Church was made by the order of Bishop
DeGoesbriand as a French national church. It was to serve
everyone of French descent. The church was built in 1887 and
stayed unchanged until about 1985 when they preserved the
art and features of the original church. It has an organ that is
one of only three of its’ kind in New England. As you can see
in the first picture, it has no steeple. This is because it burned
down in 1918. It wasn’t replaced until 2000. Today Holy
Angels has over 1300 families, and do to the development in
St. Albans it is constantly growing in numbers. It looks to be a
roman style church. It is made from bricks, and has beautiful
stained glass windows. I wish I had more pictures to show how
wonderfully decorated the inside ceilings are. They are
covered in painting and designs completely.
Holy Angels Parish
The have arches that run the entire length of the church on
the inside which are also very well decorated. In the very back
of the church above the alter there is a nice small dome. And
above the center aisle is rounded ceiling. The ceiling is very
high and amazing to look at. Although it was not the first
church in St. Albans, in my mind it is the best designed church.
The attention to detail when building it was magnificent.
Every part of the church is detailed very well. I also grew up
going to this church and loved to look at all the decorative
features in it. It adds character to the city just like the other
three buildings because of its history and old style look. This
church is very well maintained and seems to have a sturdy
structure. I think it will also be around for a lot longer
(myfairpoint.net).
Citations
• Images of America – St. Albans, 1996.,
By: Louise
Haynes
• St. Albans Town Hall (City Hall) – National Register of Historic
Places
Nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com
• “Holy Angels Parish” myfairpoint.net. History, n.d. n.p. 8 Dec.
2010
myfairpoint.net/holyangels/history.htm
• “Holy Angels Church” flickr.com. Picture, 5 may 2009. n.p. 8
Dec. 2010
flickr.com/photos/69087264@N00/3505464245/
Citations
• “Holy Angels Church, St. Albans VT” google.com. Picture,
n.d. n.p. 8 Dec. 2010
picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Xgj8OGwLZbMnOjOR0hkcTA
• “Holy Angels” flickr.com. Picture, 1 Dec. 2009. n.p. 8 Dec.
2010
flickr.com/photos/69087264@N00/4208546217/
• “Holy Guardian Angels Church” cardcow.com. Picture, n.d.
C. W. Hughes and Co.
8 Dec. 2010
cardcow.com/261608/holy-guardian-angels-church-st-albansvermont/