Windsor, Vermont: Court Square brochure

A one-sheet brochure featuring the Court Square in Windsor, Vermont. From the brochure: "Windsor purchased land from farmer Jacob Hastings for a town square and built its first courthouse on the eastern edge in 1784. Secluded above the activity of Main Street, the square and nearby State Street were popular residential areas for prominent citizens in the late 1700s. As the site of parades, fairs, athletic events, political gatherings, and band concerts over the years, the square has been the center of community life. Designated a shire town, or county seat, in 1781, Windsor built a simple, white, clapboard courthouse with a cupola for court sessions. Although the permanent county seat moved to Woodstock in 1794, the building continued to function as a U.S. district courthouse until 1857, occasional meeting space for the Vermont legislature until 1808, the town hall, and a public auditorium. In 1880 the town moved it down the hill to the north side of State Street (#24) to make way for a new town hall. Private owners used the building as a reading room and recreation center, Methodist chapel, and tenement building. From the Romanesque Revival-style town hall, now the home of the American Legion, look counterclockwise around Court Square at a remarkable collection of architectural styles, from Federal and Greek Revival buildings of the early 1800s to the more picturesque revival styles of the mid to late 1800s built by Windsor’s growing merchant and professional classes. The playfully exuberant McIndoe House (#5 Court Street, circa 1849), one of the most outstanding Gothic Revival cottages in Vermont, anchors the northeast corner." Funding for this item was provided in part through a 2007 Preserve America grant to the Town of Windsor, Vermont (grant number 50-07-PA-3038) for the project Welcome to Windsor. The grant was administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Preserve America is a federal initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage. The goals of the program include a greater shared knowledge about the nation's past, strengthened regional identities and local pride, increased local participation in preserving the country's cultural and natural heritage assets, and support for the economic vitality of our communities.

Windsor, Vermont: Court Square brochure

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