North Bennington Village Hall, PO Box 423, North Bennington VT 05257.
Phone: 802‑447‑7450.
Beginnings [1]
The area now occupied by North Bennington was originally settled by Joseph Haviland in 1761, and named Haviland's Mills. The waterpower provided by Paran Creek drew people to the area and a number of mills were sited along the waterway. In 1776 Haviland's status as a Tory caused villagers to rename the community Sage City, after his son-in-law, Moses Sage.
The village continued as an important industrial center, with early mills producing flax, paper, textiles, lime, marble, iron ore, lenses, furniture, and carpenter squares. Although the dams and millponds along Paran Creek today provide aesthetic value rather than power for manufacturing, the Water Street corridor remains a center of light industry for the region.
With the concentration of manufacturing enterprises in the area, it was natural that residences would be built nearby as well as a variety of commercial and institutional buildings. The center of the village developed at the north end of Water Street, where roads and eventually the rail and trolley lines running between Bennington, New York State, and towns to the north intersected. Retail stores, offices, a bank, library, restaurants, and other businesses were soon clustered amidst attractive homes in this area.
A portion of the Bennington College Campus (less than 1/5th) lies within the village boundaries.
Two Vermont governors were from North Bennington: Hiland Hall who served two one-year terms from 1858 through 1860 after having served five terms in Congress, and John G. McCullough who became governor in 1902 and resided at the Park-McCullough House.