Essex is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The population was 18,626 at the 2000 census.
By population, Essex is the largest town in Vermont, and the second-largest municipality (after Burlington).
Government
Essex comprises three Vermont Legislature voting districts (seats): Chittenden District 6-2, is also the Village of Essex Junction (a semi independent village within the town), and Chittenden Districts 6-1 & 6-3 together comprise the town outside the village. The Town and Village each operate their own fire department, library, parks department, and municipal services, and contain separate school districts for grades K–8. Both governments operate a unified police department, and the unified Essex High School.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau,[3] the town has a total area of 39.32 square miles (101.8 km2), of which, 39.01 square miles (101.0 km2) is land and 0.31 square miles (0.8 km2) (0.79%) is water.
The village of Essex Junction is located in the southwestern part of the town.[4]
Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 18,626 people, 7,013 households, and 5,014 families residing in the town. The population density was 477.5 people per square mile (184.4/km2). There were 7,170 housing units at an average density of 183.8 per square mile (71.0 /km2). The racial makeup of the town was 95.37% White, 0.88% African American, 0.19% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.21% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.85% of the population.
There were 7,013 households out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $58,441, and the median income for a family was $65,794. Males had a median income of $45,428 versus $27,426 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,854. About 1.8% of families and 2.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
History
| Town vote to merge |
Revote |
| District |
2006-11-07 |
2007-01-23 |
| Yes |
No |
Yes |
No |
| 6-1 (outside village) |
1,283 |
2,319 |
690 |
2,528 |
| 6-3 (outside village) |
365 |
822 |
| 6-2 (within village) |
2,728 |
1,026 |
2,009 |
362 |
| Townwide totals |
4,376 |
4,167 |
2,699 |
2,890 |
| Village vote to accept |
No revote
required,
result was
uncontested. |
| |
2,922 |
1,085 |
The Village of Essex Junction was formed—within the Town of Essex—on November 15, 1892. The Village was formed to provide services (such as sidewalks, water, and sewers) to the villagers that the rest of the, mostly rural, town citizens did not want, and did not want to pay for.
As the town outside the village developed, they gradually added similar services for themselves, and by 1958, the first hints of merger showed up in a voter petition. Since then a series of votes (often contentious) had defeated or passed merger in each community, but never at the same time in both. (which was required by the state legislature for them to sign off on the merger)
This temporarily changed on November 7, 2006 when merger passed in the town as a whole, and in the village. The Town as a whole (including the village) got to vote once on the merger, and the Village, separately, got to vote in a second ballot to accept the merger if it passed the townwide vote. This was confusing enough that the regional paper misreported the results as a defeat of the merger, based solely on the vote results outside the village.[5] The next day the correct results were reported in both the town’s paper,[6] and as a correction in the regional paper.[7]
On December 6, 2006 a petition to reconsider the merger was submitted to the town. The petition contained signatures totaling more than 5 percent of registered voters, which is the threshold required to force a re-vote.[8] The revote was held on January 23, 2007 with a result that overturned merger by 191 votes, rejecting the current merger proposal.[9]
If the results had stood, a multi-year merger process would have resulted in a new Town of Essex Junction replacing the current governments of the Town of Essex and the Village of Essex Junction.
Education
There are two school districts in the Town of Essex educating 3,500 students in 2009:[10] The Essex Junction School District and the Town of Essex School District.
The Essex Junction School District funds and supervises: Essex High School, Summit Street School, Fleming School, Albert D. Lawton School, the Hiawatha School, and the Center for Technology.[10]
The Town of Essex School District funds and supervises: Essex Elementary, Founder's School and Essex Middle School.[10] The middle school contains a "school within a school". In 2009, 87 students began to study in an alternative environment, called the "Edge Academy" that allows them a say in how and what they study.[11]
Transportation
Vermont's Circumferential Highway (I-289 or "Circ") courses through Essex, and the section within Essex's jurisdiction has been completed. However Circ construction has been halted in surrounding communities by court action from environmental protesters.
Bus service is provided by Chittenden County Transportation Authority.
Rail
Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides daily service from Essex, operating the Vermonter between St. Albans, Vermont and Washington, D.C.. In 2008, a study indicated that the cheapest method for one person to get to NYC from "Burlington" (Essex Junction), was by train at $48 one way. It was also the longest, taking an estimated 9 hours and 25 minutes.[12][13]
Notable residents
See also
References
- ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ "Vermont by Place and County". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTable?_bm=y&-context=gct&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_ST2S&-tree_id=4001&-redoLog=true&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=04000US50&-format=ST-7. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
- ^ Official map by the United States Census Bureau; Chittenden County listed on page 3. Accessed 2009-08-22.
- ^ Welch, Victoria (2006-11-08), "Essex Defeats Merger 2-1", Burlington Free Press .
- ^ Tyler, George (2006-11-09), "Merger Wins: Confusion over vote count", Essex Reporter .
- ^ Welch, Victoria (2006-11-09), "Essex merger moves forward: An apology to our Essex readers", Burlington Free Press .
- ^ Welch, Victoria (2006-12-07), "New rift emerges in Essex merger", Burlington Free Press .
- ^ Welch, Victoria (2007-01-24), "This time, Essex rejects merger" ([dead link] – Scholar search), Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/NEWS01/701240311/1009 .
- ^ a b c [1]
- ^ Ryan, Matt (3 September 2009). "Academy school take role in learning". Burlington, Vermont: Burlington Free Press. pp. 2B.
- ^ Assuming $4 per gallon ($1 per liter) gasoline and 20 mpg-US (12 L/100 km; 24 mpg-imp) when comparing to auto
- ^ McKean, Dan (August 17, 2008). Which way?. Burlington Free Press.
- ^ Crawford, Matt (January 5, 2005). "Phish ex-drummer scraps Shelburne wind tower plan". Burlington Free Press. http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/towns/shelburne/1.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-04. "Late last month Fishman and his family decided to move back to a home he owns on 126 acres (51 ha) in Essex."
External links
