Granville, Vermont, New England USA
About Granville, Vermont
Addison County
Chartered: August 8, 1781 (Vermont Charter)
Area: 32,626 Acres = 50.98 Square Miles [ Size Rank: 25* ]
Coordinates (Geographic Center): N 43° 59′ W 72°51′
Altitude: 950 feet ASL
Population (US Census, 2010): 298 [ Population Rank: 228* ]
Population Density (persons per square mile): 5.8 [ Density Rank: 237* ]
Full Census Info: Town County State
*Area, Population and Density rankings refer to Granville’s relative position among Vermont’s 255 civic entities (9 cities, 242 towns, 4 gores and grants). Complete rankings are here.
Granville was granted to Reuben King and six other members of his family, and named Kingston in the charter. Unlike the grantees of some other towns, the Kings took part in the settlement of their town. The first proprietors’ meeting was held at Windsor in the spring of 1783, at which Reuben King was elected proprietors’ clerk. The following year the proprietors offered 100 acres of land to any woman who would make a permanent settlement in Kingston with her family. Mrs. Daniel King was given the first award, and her husband became the proprietors’ clerk. Daniel later became the first justice of the peace and built the first sawmill and gristmill, for which he was awarded four more 100-acre lots. Their son, Henry King, was the first child born in town.
Hemenway’s Gazetteer (1868) said about Kingston: “This name it retained until 1834 when, for some local prejudice on the part of the inhabitants, it was changed by the legislature to Granville.” It seems more probable that it was changed because there weren’t enough Kings left for the name to be meaningful any longer. The town’s name was changed by the legislature in November 1834; the name of the post office was not changed by postal authorities until a year later.
It is generally assumed that the Vermont Granville derives from Granville in either Massachusetts or New York, both of which were named for John Carteret (1690-1763), the first Earl of Granville, one of the most illustrious men of his day. Already a peer by the time he was six years old, he became one of the best classical scholars of the 18th Century, and was second to none in political infiuence under the first three Georges. Horace Walpole, said the Earl was “handsome, open and engaging; … his genius was magnificent and lofty; his heart was without gall or friendship, for he never tried to be revenged on his enemies or to serve his friends.”
Strangely enough, some of the earliest Vermont records for the town of Granville show its name spelled Grantville. This gives rise to the thought that possibly the name merely meant that the town was granted by the Vermont legislature.
Until recently, Granville had the oldest continuously operating one-room schoolhouse in the US. The building is now part of Town Hall.
Activities
Calendar of Events provided by the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing.
Contact Info
Emergency Services (Statewide): 911
Hospital: Porter Medical Center (Middlebury) 802-388-7901
Town Clerk: Kathy Werner PO Box 66 Granville, VT 05747
802-767-4403
M-Th 9-3
Churches, Ministries, Charitables
United Church of Christ : United Church of Christ
Schools
Windsor Northwest Supervisory Union 802-234-5364
Granville Village School 802-767-3144
Neighboring Towns
This is a basic geographic reference, intended to show relative location of adjacent towns. Directional accuracy is limited to 16 compass points. There isn’t even the slightest suggestion that one can necessarily travel directly from one town to the next (as in “You can’t get there from here”).
Granville
Utilities
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 Green Mountain Power 888-835-4672
Telephone Fairpoint 866-984-2001
