National Register of Historic Places

Railroad Street Historic District

St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont
Listed
June 24, 1974
Type
District
Period
Listed
Ref No.
74000354

About this property

The Railroad Street Historic District encompasses a cluster of commercial and railroad-related buildings at the traditional late 19th-century heart of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. It includes five commercial buildings and the town's 1883 union depot, and is reflective of the town's importance as a major railroad junction in northern New England. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It was subsumed by the larger St. Johnsbury Historic District in 1980. The town of St. Johnsbury was transformed in the mid-19th century into a bustling railroad service center by the arrival of both north-south and east-west railroad lines. The town's Union Station, a substantial brick French Chateau-style building, was built to accommodate the traffic of both the Connecticut and Passumpsic Railroad (which carried main-line passenger traffic between Boston and Montreal) and the St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain Railroad, which served north Vermont to the west. Fires in 1892 and 1896 cleared commercial buildings northwest of the depot, at what is now the corner of Railroad Street and Eastern Avenue. New brick commercial buildings were built to replace those lost in the fires. The historic district includes, in addition to the 1883 depot, four buildings on the east side of Railroad Street, and one on the west side, all extending north from the junction with Eastern Avenue. It also includes Depot Square, a small grassy area between the depot and Railroad Street. The most architecturally prominent of the commercial buildings are the Citizens and Merchants Bank Blocks, a pair of similarly-styled Romanesque four-story blocks at the southern end of the row, which share an elaborate cornice and rows of arched windows. Both were designed by Lambert Packard, a prominent local architect who borrowed extensively from the Richardsonian Romanesque in the design of these buildings. On the west side of Railroad Street is the former New Avenue Hotel, also four stories in height, with a large round entry section at the corner of Railroad and Eastern. National Register of Historic Places listings in Caledonia County, Vermont

Location

St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont
44.41700, -72.01622

Categories

COMMERCETRANSPORTATIONARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Overview
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The Land
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Geology
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Conflict & War
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The Civil War
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The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
How the town grew, who came, and what kind of place it became, traced through the census record.
Rivers & Rail
The rivers, canals and railroads that connected this place between 1830 and 1911.
Notable People
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Finds & Access
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Nearby Historic Sites

St. Johnsbury Historic District
Listed
0.2 mi
Benoit Apartment House-76 Pearl Street
Industrial
0.2 mi
Benoit Apartment House-74 Pearl Street
Industrial
0.2 mi
Fairbanks Museum
Industrial
0.3 mi
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum
Industrial
0.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Railroad Street Historic District listed on the National Register?

Railroad Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 24, 1974.

What type of historic resource is Railroad Street Historic District?

Railroad Street Historic District is classified as a district in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Railroad Street Historic District?

The period of significance for Railroad Street Historic District is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Railroad Street Historic District?

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