St. Johnsbury, VT
| St. Johnsbury, Vermont | |
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| Town | |
St. Johnsbury Welcome sign
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| Nickname(s): St. Jay | |
| Motto: Very Vermont | |
 St. Johnsbury, Vermont |
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 St. Johnsbury, Vermont
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| Coordinates: 44°26′1″N 72°0′54″W / 44.43361°N 72.01500°WCoordinates: 44°26′1″N 72°0′54″W / 44.43361°N 72.01500°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Vermont |
| County | Caledonia |
| Chartered | 1786 |
| Settled | 1786 |
| Organized | 1790 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 36.8 sq mi (95.2 km2) |
| • Land | 36.4 sq mi (94.3 km2) |
| • Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.9 km2) |
| Elevation | 614 ft (187 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 7,603 |
| • Density | 209/sq mi (80.6/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 05819, 05838, 05863 |
| Area code(s) | 802 |
| FIPS code | 50-62200 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1462199 |
| Website | www |
St. Johnsbury (known locally as "St. Jay") is the shire town (county seat) of Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,603 at the 2010 census. St. Johnsbury is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the Connecticut River and 48 miles (77 km) south of the Canada-U.S. border.
St. Johnsbury is the largest town by population in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and serves as a commercial center for the region. In 2006, the town was named "Best Small Town" in National Geographic Adventure's "Where to live and play" feature. The more densely settled southern half of the town is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place, where over 81% of the population resides.
The town was originally granted in 1760 as part of the New Hampshire Grants and named Bessborough. It was regranted by Vermont in 1786 as Dunmore, and settled the same year. An early settler was Jonathan Arnold, a member of the Continental Congress and author of Rhode Island's act of secession from the United Kingdom in May 1776. Arnold left Rhode Island in 1787 and, with six other families, built homes at what is now the town center.
By 1790, the village had grown to 143 inhabitants, and the first town meeting took place in Arnold's home that year, where the name St. Johnsbury was adopted. According to local lore, Vermont founder Ethan Allen himself proposed naming the town St. John in honor of his friend Jean de Crèvecœur, a French-born author and agriculturist and a friend of Benjamin Franklin. (He was known in the United States as J. Hector St. John.) According to this account, de Crèvecœur suggested instead the unusual St. Johnsbury to differentiate it from Saint John, New Brunswick.
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