Vermont Secretary of State
Kids Page
VERMONT FIRSTS IN THE NATION
Vermont was the
first ...
- State admitted to the Union after the ratification
of the Constitution was Vermont on March 4, 1791.
- Constitution to outlaw slavery was Vermont's in
1777.
- Constitution to abolish the requirement that voters
must be property owners was Vermont's in 1777.
- Beneficiary of monthly Social Security payments was
Ida M. Fuller of Ludlow who received check #00-000-001 for $22.54, January
31, 1940.
- U.S. Patent, signed by George Washington, was
issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford for making potash out of wood
ashes. Postage stamp used in America was made in Brattleboro in 1846.
- Woman elected Lieutenant Governor was Consuelo N.
Bailey, elected in 1954.
- American medal in an Olympic nordic skiing event
was won by Bill Koch of Guilford in 1976.
- Revolutionary soldier to shed British blood at the
Battle of Lexington April 19, 1775 was Solomon Brown of New Haven, who thus
fired the first effective shot in the Revolutionary War.
- Stars and stripes flag to lead American armed
forces on land was the Bennington Flag used at the Battle of Bennington
August 16, 1777.
- State to offer troops in the Civil War was Vermont.
- Person to cross the entire United States by
automobile was Dr. H. Nelson Jackson, a Burlington physician, who started
out from San Francisco in 1903.
- State absentee voting law was enacted in 1896 by
Vermont.
- Agriculture society for dairymen, the Vermont Dairy
Association, was organized in 1869 in Montpelier.
- Electric railway, printing press, piano, and motor
were built by Thomas Davenport of Brandon. He was also the editor of the
first electrical journal.
- Boy Scout Club was organized in Barre in 1909 by
William F. Milne, a Scottish immigrant.
- Head Start Program, used to prepare disadvantaged
preschool children for elementary school, was started in East Fairfield with
12 children.
- Marble quarry was started at East Dorset in 1785 by
Isaac Underhill.
- School for higher education of women was
established by Emma Willard at Middlebury in 1814.
- Steel carpenter's square was invented by Silas
Hawes of Shaftsbury in 1814.
- Sandpaper was invented by Isaac Fischer at
Springfield in 1834.
- Laughing gas was discovered by Gardner Colton of
Georgia. Horace Wells of White River Junction was the first person to use
laughing gas as an anesthetic for pulling teeth in 1844.
- United States Ambassador to the United Nations was
Warren R. Austin of Burlington. Before that, Austin was a United States
Senator.
- U.S. Congressman elected who had served time in
jail was Matthew Lyon of Vermont. Jailed under the terms of the Alien and
Sedition Acts, later declared unconstitutional, Lyon was re-elected to
Congress while still in jail.
- Flat turret lathe, a basic industrial tool, was
invented in 1891 by James Hartness of Springfield.
- Seeding machine patent was issued to Eliakim
Spooner in 1799.
- Platform scale was built by Thaddeus Fairbanks at
St. Johnsbury in 1830.
- Morgan horse, owned by Justin Morgan, was foaled at
Randolph in 1795.
- Normal school excusively for the preparation of
teachers was established by S.R. Hall in 1823 in Concord. Hall also wrote
the first textbook on teaching and was the first person to use the
blackboard in the classroom.
- Constitution to provide for a system of public
school education was Vermont's in 1777.
- Pulp paper mill was established in 1869 by William
A. Russell in Bellows Falls. Russell later became the first president of the
International Paper Company.
- Toy carts, violin cases and guitar cases sold in
America were invented by Joel A.H. Ellis of Springfield in the mid-1800's.
Ellis also invented doll carriages and jointed dolls.
- Chair lift was used on Mt. Mansfield in 1940.
- Marble-cutting saw as invented by Hiram Kimball of
Stockbridge in 1837.
- Fishing spoon lure was invented in 1830 by Julio
Buel of Castleton.
- Private military college was established at Norwich
in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge. At that time, it offered the first Civil
Engineering course. The college was later moved to Northfield.
- Olympic gold medals in skiing awarded to a woman
were won by Andrea Mead of Rutland in 1952.
- Copper cents minted by a state were authorized by
the Vermont General Assembly in 1785 and made by Reuben Harmon, Jr. at
Rupert.
- Successful photographs and measurements of
snowflakes and raindrops were made by Wilson A. ("Snowflake")
Bentley.
- Steam-heated factory was the Burlington Woolen
Company in 1846.
- State symphony orchestra was organized in 1935,
with Alan Carter of Rutland as its conductor.
- Globe factory was established in 1813 by James
Wilsonof Bradford for the manufacture of geographic globes. Wilson made the
first artificial globe in America in 1799.
- Horse farm operated by the United States government
was established in 1907 at Middlebury.
- Wind turbine used to generate power for an
alternating current power system, was operated at Grandpa's Knob in
Castleton in 1941.
- Educational society was established in Pawlet in
1804.
- 300-mile endurance horse race was from Burlington,
VT to Camp Devens, MA in 1919.
- State anti-sit-down strike legislation was enacted
in 1937.
- Air Traffic Regulations course was set up in 1934
at Norwich University in Northfield.
- Agricultural land grant college act, proposed by
Senator Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont, was signed by President Lincoln in
1862.
- American gold medal in the Olympic three-day
individual equestrian event was won by Tad Coffin of Strafford in 1976.
- Long distance hiking trail, Vermont's 265-mile Long
Trail, was begun in 1910 and completed in 1930.
- Experimental eye surgery with laser beam was
performed at the University of Vermont in 1957.
- Woman elected to the post of Adjutant General in
the U.S. was Martha Rainville in 1997.
- For more copies, write the Secretary of State's Office, 109 State
Street, Montpelier, VT 05609-1103, or call us at (802) 828-2363.
revised 2/99
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