October

October

October 2, 1867

The first "little World's Fair" opens in Tunbridge.

The Circus and Fair: A Summertime Delight (PDF)

October 5, 1829 

Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, was born in Fairfield, Vermont. Arthur was vice-president under President Garfield. When James Garfield was assassinated in 1881 Chester Arthur became president. Arthur was said to have owned a huge wardrobe of more than sixty suits of clothes.

October 7, 1827

Abby Maria Hemenway, the compiler of the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, was born in Ludlow. Hemenway had been a schoolteacher, but decided to ask "a reliable person in every town in Vermont" to write down all he or she could about the town's history. She worked for thirty years and finally published four thick volumes.

Abby Hemenway's Thirty-Year Legacy (PDF)

October 10, 1924

Vermont's first radio broadcast was made by WCAX from Burlington, Vermont.

October 14, 1795

Ethan Allen's brother Ira offered to pay the University of Vermont 1,000 pounds sterling if it would change its name to Allen University.

October 15, 1787

Rutland County Grammar School was founded. Students went to a grammar school before they went to college. The Rutland County Grammar School later became Castleton University, now part of Vermont State University.

October 19, 1864

A small group of Confederate soldiers brought the Civil War home to Vermont by raiding St. Albans and robbing three banks. After killing one man and wounding others, they escaped into Canada.

October 20, 1859

John Dewey, educator, philosopher, and reformer, was born in Burlington. Dewey believed that children learn best by doing. He changed the way school was taught in America and around the world.

October 22, 1790

On the motion of Stephen R. Bradley of Westminster, the general assembly calls a convention to decide whether Vermont should ratify the United States Constitution and join the Union as the fourteenth state.