About Victory, Vermont
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Essex County
Chartered: September 6, 1781 (Vermont Charter)
Area: 27,604 Acres = 43.13 Square Miles [ Size Rank: 85* ]
Coordinates (Geographic Center): 71°51''W 44°31'N
Altitude: 1,100 feet ASL
Population (US Census, 2000): 97 [ Population Rank: 244* ]
Population Density (persons per square mile): 2.2 [ Density Rank: 247* ]
Tax Rates (2006): Homestead $1.3026; NonResidential $1.3739

*Area, Population and Density rankings above refer to Victory's relative position among Vermont's 255 civic entities (9 cities, 242 towns, 4 gores and grants). Complete rankings are here.

Victory was granted a full year before it was chartered. It is one of the few Vermont place-names that derives from an idea rather than a person or place, and has thus been the object of much conjecture. Two principal suggestions exist for the choice of the name:

1. It was granted to Captain Ebenezer Fisk and others, the same day as Navy (now Charleston) was granted to Abraham Whipple and others. Both towns were named to honor the victory of John Paul Jones in the Bonhomme Richard over the British Serapis six weeks earlier. More likely, the name derives from Whipple's own naval background.
2. It was so named because a general feel of victory over the British was in the air in the Fall of 1780. The Continental Army was in turmoil for lack of pay, but the previous year had seen some successes. John Adams had been appointed to negotiate a treaty with the British, and the French had joined the American cause.

Regardless of the reason, Victory was a completely suitable name: on the very day it was chartered, the French Admiral deGrasse was engaging the British fleet off Yorktown in the battle that set the stage for Cornwallis' total defeat ten days later.

In 1970 there were only 42 residents, but eighty years earlier the place had been rather busy. Heavily timbered, it had been a magnet for the lumbermen; later, large quantities of potatoes were grown for starch and alchohol. In its heyday, there were seven villages, three post offices, five schools, six lumber mills, a starch factory, a granite quarry, four railroad stations and a hotel, plus various boarding houses for the factory and mill workers. Today, there are only a few more people than thirty years ago, and the only paved road roads are portions on hills, to prevent washouts.

Victory made national news in 1963 when electricity was installed in the town for the first time, one of the last two towns in the state to get power.

Material excerpted or adapted from Esther Munroe Swift's
Vermont Place-Names: Footprints of History
(Used with permission)

Activities
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Goings-on in and near Victory
Calendar of Events provided by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing.

Contact Info
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Emergency Services (Statewide): 911
Hospital: Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (St. Johnsbury) 802-748-8141
Town Clerk: Ruth Anne Neborsky, 802-328-2400, PO Box 609 North Concord, VT 05858

Neighboring Towns
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Utilities
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Notes about utilities:

• One electric or phone company indicates that company serves the entire town. More than one of either indicates each serves different areas of town.
• A listed cable company MIGHT mean the entire town is covered, but not necessarily. More than one listed indicates each serves different areas of town.
• Unless your area is one served by Vermont's only gas utility, your only option is bottled gas (any dealer).

  Electric	Central Vermont Public Service 800-451-2877
  Electric	Lyndonville Electric Dept. 802-626-3366
  Telephone	Verizon 800-870-9999

  

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