Vergennes Historic Walking Tour 2024 - Manual / Resource - Page 24
37
PUMP HOUSE
346 Main Street
Fires were a scary reality back when many buildings were built of wood
and heated with wood or coal stoves. In Vergennes, fire suppression
was made more difficult because the downtown was uphill from Otter
Creek. City officials invested in a water system with three pumps in
1868, but the pumps proved to be unreliable. Officials asked John P.
Flanders, owner of Vergennes Machine Co., if he could come up with
something better. In 1871, he had a new kind of pump ready for use.
The city purchased a 150x60 foot island in Otter Creek on which to
build a pump house. The 30x30 foot building has three-foot thick walls
of limestone quarried in Essex, New York. The pump system, invented
by Flanders, operated until the 1930s and is the only existing Flanders
Pump left in America. The Pump House is no longer in use, but the tiny
island on which it sits provides a unique up-close vista of the falls for
visitors.
38
GRIST MILL
360 Main Street
B.J. Bradbury built a mill on this island in 1830. The so-called
Bradbury Mill burned in 1877 and local businessman N.G.
Norton built a new grist mill on the site which also burned.
He rebuilt again in 1878, this time with brick as the structure
stands today. N.G. Norton & Sons ground flour, meal and
feed at the mill and were also dealers in grain, Nova Scotia
plaster, lumber, shingles and lath. The mill had four water
wheels and could grind as much as 1,500 bushels a day. The
Nortons also had a store on Main Street where they sold
grain and feed. Today, the mill building has been converted
into apartments.
39
SHADE ROLLER FACTORY
2 Canal Street
A number of industries operated on this
western riverbank site before 1885 when
the Nevins & Haviland Shade Roller Co.
built
its
three-story
factory
to
manufacture rollers and slats, across
West Main Street from its first mill. The
two structures were originally connected
by an enclosed bridge, similar to the one
that spanned Canal Street prior to its
removal in 2022. The factory ran until
1926
ceaxswhen it was bought by Green Mountain Power Co. and produced jet fuel regulators there until
1999. Since that time, the building has remained unused although there are plans for renovation.
