The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Rutland (Vermont)

RUTLAND, Vt., city, county-seat of Rutland County; on the Otter and East creeks, and on the Rutland and Burlington and the Delaware and Hudson railroads; about 56 miles south-southwest of Monpelier, the State capital, and about 62 miles south by east of Burlington. It was settled in 1770 by persons from the East having been incorporated in 1761, by New Hampshire. It was chartered as a city in 1892. Rutland was in the battle region of the War of the Revolution. Two forts were erected here, as it was situated on the Great Northern Military Road. In 1781 it was made the capital of the county, and from 1784 to 1804 it was one of the State capitals. The old boundaries included an area of 26,000 acres with the Green Mountains on the east and the Taconic Range on the west. In 1886 the towns of Proctor and West Rutland were set off from Rutland. The new towns have independent governments, but all are united commercially. Rutland is in an agricultural region, but is well known for its extensive marble quarries and industries connected with the shipment of marble. Iron ore, fire-clay and slate are found in the vicinity. The marble works have been of considerable importance since 1830. The quarries are now in the new towns, but the industries continue as formerly. The chief industrial establishments of Rutland are manufactories, in which are made machinery for quarrying, and channeling marble, machine shops, engine and boiler works, Howe's scale factory, sash, door and blind factories, butter and cheese factory machinery, lumber and brick yards, sugar evaporator works, creameries and flour and grist mills. The principal buildings are Memorial Hall, built in honor of the soldiers of Rutland who fell in the Civil War, Baxter Memorial Hall, the government building, the county courthouse, city-hall, house of correction, opera house, bank buildings, churches and schools. The material for the construction of Memorial Hall was donated by the marble quarry companies and the cost additional was $60,000. The educational institutions are a high school, Saint Joseph's Academy, public and parish graded schools, the Rutland Free Library and Baxter Memorial Library. The city is well equipped with banks, newspapers, and wholesale and retail business establishments. Pop. (1919) 14,417. Consult Hemingway, ‘Gazetteer of Vermont’; Moore, ‘Churches of Rutland, Vermont.’