[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 85 (Thursday, June 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6110-S6111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MANCHESTER, VERMONT
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today to note the 100th
anniversary of the Charter of Manchester Village.
Manchester Village lies in the valley of the Battenkill River nestled
between the Green Mountains to the east and the Taconic Mountains to
the west. Due to its geography and topography, Manchester Village has
been at the crossroads of the earliest trails and roads in Vermont. The
slopes of Mount Equinox, which rise 3,800 feet above the village,
provide numerous fresh water streams and natural springs for the
enjoyment of the resident and visiting populations.
From its earliest days to the period of the Civil War, Manchester was
very much frontier country with numerous inns and taverns at its
crossroads. In 1781, according to the town history detailed in the 1998
Village Plan, ``there were no churches, but there were four taverns, a
jail, a pillory and a whipping post.'' But by 1840, Vermont was the
slowest growing state in the Union, as much of the natural resources of
the state had been depleted, and wool imports from Australia had
brought an end to a brief boom of sheep raising in Manchester and other
parts of the state.
Beginning just prior to the Civil War, however, tourists began to
discover Manchester. In 1853, the Equinox Hotel was opened by Franklin
Orvis, who converted an inn that had begun in 1770. In 1863, when Mrs.
Abraham Lincoln and her son, Robert Todd, stepped off the ten o'clock
train, Manchester's reputation was made. Later, Presidents Ulysses S.
Grant, William Howard Taft, Benjamin Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, and
Vice-President James S. Sherman would follow as visitors to Manchester
Village.
Today, the Equinox remains as one of Vermont's grandest
establishments. The Village is also home to Hildene, the summer home of
Robert Todd Lincoln and now operated as a house museum. The Southern
Vermont Art Center, the Mark Skinner Library, Burr and Burton Academy,
and two world class golf courses can be found in Manchester Village,
along with numerous delightful inns and hotels, charming churches,
exquisite restaurants, engaging museums, enchanting galleries and
unique shops.
Manchester Village thrives today in large part due to careful
planning and the guardianship of an impressive streetscape
characterized by marble sidewalks, deep front lawns, large, historic
buildings, and an absence of fences. Village residents have faced the
challenge of responsible and active stewardship since the tourist boom
of the second half of the 19th century, and the Village Charter is an
important part of that history.
For some details of the genesis of the incorporation of Manchester
Village 100 years ago, I turn to ``The Manchester Village Charter,''
written by Mary Hard Bort and reprinted here by permission of the
Manchester Journal. Congratulations to the Village of Manchester on the
event of its 100th birthday. I ask that that be printed in the Record.
The material follows.
The Manchester Village Charter
(By Mary Hard Bart)
By 1900 a building boom was flourishing in Manchester
Village,. It was nearly impossible to hire a carpenter and
the ``summer people'' who intended to build ``cottages'' that
year often found it necessary to hire labor from out of town.
Some twenty years earlier in 1880 Village boundaries had
been laid out by the town's selectmen and approved by the
Vermont Legislature for the purpose of providing fire
protection in Fire District #2 (the Village).
[[Page S6111]]
In 1894 John Marsden came to Manchester from Utica, NY and
contracted to purchase the springs on Equinox Mountain from
the Fire District and rights of way for a water system. Prior
to this time water for fighting fires was stored in huge
barrels strategically placed throughout the Village and
individual households were supplied by wells, or springs, or
cisterns.
Pipes were laid, a reservoir built and The Manchester Water
Company was formed in October 1894. The company had purchased
all the water contracts, springs, rights of way and conduits
from the Marsden family. Officers of the corporation included
Mr. Marsden, Mason Colburn of Manchester Center, J.W. Fowler
of Manchester Depot and E.C. Orvis of the Village. The
Marsden family continued to manage the water company until it
was purchased by the Town of Manchester in 1980.
With a water system in place, the need for a sewage system
was pressing. The inadequacy of the open trench installed by
Franklin Orvis in 1882 was apparent and, in the spring of
1900, public spirited Village residents borrowed enough
capital to build proper sewer lines through District #2. Many
householders put in bathrooms at this time and eschewed the
outhouses that had served their modest needs up til then.
These sewer lines emptied directly into the Bauerkill and it
was not until 1935 that a modern sewage treatment plant was
built with federal funds, appropriated Village funds and
private contributions.
Back in 1858 citizens of the Village had petitioned the
Legislature for authority to create a charter and had
received permission to do so but no action had ever been
taken. Now, at the end of the century, an entity with the
authority to purchase and construct a sewer, to provide
street lights, to regulate the width and grade of roads and
sidewalks, to prohibit certain activities, regulate others
and to protect property was clearly in order.
The desire on the part of Village leaders to develop
Manchester as a fine summer resort with all the amenities
city people expected proved to be a strong incentive for
action. These men whose vision of a thriving summer resort
led to the building of elegant summer cottages, a golf course
and the opening of new streets were not satisfied with the
progress being made by the town in providing services they
deemed essential.
Village voters were called to a series of meetings at the
Courthouse where the need for a charter was explained and by
October a bill was presented by Edward C. Orvis. He was the
son of Franklin Orvis and the current operator of the Equinox
House, a selectman for eight years and a representative and,
later, senator in the Vermont Legislature. Also on the
committee were William B. Edgerton, well-known realtor and
creator of several spacious summer estates, and Charles F.
Orvis, now elderly but with a wisdom greatly valued and
respected in the village. He was the proprietor of the Orvis
Inn as well as the manufacturer of fishing equipment.
On November 11, 1900 the Bill of Incorporation for the
Village of Manchester, Vermont passed in the House of
Representatives and was signed by the governor.
On December 3, 1900 the voters of Fire District #2 met at
the Courthouse and following an explanation of the provisions
of the charter, adopted the Village Charter, unanimously. The
Charter compels the Village to assume the obligations and
duties of Fire District #2, which ceased to exist with the
adoption of the charter. Also incumbent upon it is care of
its highways, bridges and sidewalks. Permitted are
improvements to public grounds, sidewalks and parks and
ordinances compelling property owners to remove ice, snow and
garbage from their property. Also allowed are street lights
provided by the Village and the purchase or construction of
sewers as well as the regulation of the width and grade of
streets and sidewalks.
Elected to serve this new Village of Manchester were:
Edward C. Orvis, as president, D.K. Simonds, clerk, George
Towsley, treasurer and Trustee; C.F. Orvis, Hiram Eggleston,
M.J. Covey and Charles H. Hawley. Promptly on January 10,
1901, according to provisions in the Charter, the Village of
Manchester purchased from private investors, the sewer that
served it.
Quickly following on the heels of incorporation, the
Manchester Development Association was formed in 1901 to
promote tourism in the area. This group, made up of full-time
and summer residents, underwrote the printing of 15,000
promotional booklets extolling the virtues of Manchester-in-
the-Mountains as a summer resort. Its newly opened golf
course (the Ekwanok), its pure spring water, its
``salubious'' climate were sure to bring people here.
In 1912 the Village hired a special police officer for the
summer to control the traffic. The mix of automobiles and
horses had created some dangerous situations and some
automobile drivers were accused of driving too fast for
conditions.
In 1921, the year after women secured the vote, Mrs. George
Orvis, who had taken over the Equinox Hotel after her
husband's death, was elected president of the Village.
Assaults on the integrity of the Village as a separate
entity have been vigorously repelled. In 1956 a measure to
consolidate the Village with the Town was soundly defeated
and, though fire protection and police protection are
provided by the Town of Manchester, the Village retains its
own planning and zoning boards and its own road department
and the privilege of hiring additional police officers if it
deems that necessary.
Numerous amendments had been made to the charter over time.
As estates bloomed land was added to the Village, other
amendments brought the charter up to date as time went on. A
new document was written to bring the charter up to date in
language and in provision and it was approved by the Town of
Manchester and by Village voters and by the Legislature in
1943.
For one hundred years Manchester Village has existed as a
recognized legal entity with the rights, privileges and
obligations that follow. Its officers today guard its
integrity with as much vigor as did their predecessors.
July 2000.
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