A Brief History of Barre, Vermont

Settled in 1781, Barre, Vermont is a rural community with a population of 17,500 and a remarkable past. The granite quarries and manufacturing plants of the "Granite Capitol of the World" have attracted immigrants from Europe, Canada and the Middle East since the 1880s. Today, Barre is one of only a handful of Vermont communities with a culturally diverse population, boasting some fifteen distinct ethnic groups, including Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Lebanese, Norwegian, Polish, Scottish, Spanish, Swedish and Yugoslavian, as well as Yankee peoples. Barre was profoundly influenced in its development by the dramatic expansion of the local granite industry following the installation of a rail line in 1875. Highly skilled craftsmen were attracted to the community from the quarry districts of Europe to quarry, cut and carve the granite memorials which made Barre prominent in the stone industry. Trade unionism was already a familiar phenomenon in the quarry districts of Europe, and organized labor became a way of life in Barre. By 1900, for example, the Barre branch of the Granite Cutters' National Union was the largest local in the entire United States, with over 1,000 members.

The nature of the granite industry dictated that many of those who came to carve and sculpt the stone were not merely skilled craftsmen, but highly educated artists. This alliance between the arts and industry has always been an uneasy one, but it has made for a vigorous atmosphere in the community, a kind of creative tension which does not normally characterize industrial cities.

Cultural life in Barre took on new dimensions with the coming of the many immigrant groups, and the Italians, for example, formed an independent opera company here which performed such favorites as "Il Trovatore", "Aida" and "Otello". Ethnic societies like the Societa' di Mutuo Soccorso and the Clan Gordon No. 12 of the Order of Scottish Clans were organized. Clan Gordon No. 12 grew to be the largest Scottish society in this country, with upwards of five hundred members.

Many of those who came to Barre from abroad also brought with them a passionate interest in politics. Socialism and anarchism found many adherents in the community, and during the early decades of this century as many as eight different Italian-language political newspapers were published in Barre. Copies of several of them have been preserved on microfilm and form a part of the Archives.

Perhaps because Barre's population remained relatively steady throughout the twentieth century, a melting pot effect did take place. Over time the different ethnic groups intermarried and ethnic heritage, though still evident, has had a diminishing impact on Barre's cultural life. The granite industry, too, has declined somewhat from its heyday in the early 1900s, though it still provides the major industrial underpinnings of Barre's economy. It is possible to study these changes, the growth and transformation of Barre's cultural life, through the collections held at the Archives of Barre History.

 
Home