"As manufacturing opportunities expanded, so to did the options for moving goods across the region and nation. Although the Connecticut River flowed to Long Island Sound where ferries took goods and people to cities such as Boston and New York, the waters were not constant, for spring floods and winter icing disrupted shipping. State leaders began to explore other options, and meetings in the 1840s roused interest in the railroad. In 1843, the legislature chartered the Vermont Central Railroad (VC) to traverse the state from Burlington to Windsor via the capital, and initial construction began in 1845.
The track along the Connecticut River from Hartford to Windsor was opened to traffic in February 1849, with the full line in operation by the end of the year. Another line, the Sullivan County Railroad, ran south from Windsor to Bellows Falls, a major industrial center. As the rail network rapidly expanded, Windsor residents and shippers could easily access the major towns of New England and southern Canada. Depot Street was opened from Main Street to allow access to the station and to the new businesses that wanted to establish themselves close to the rail line.
A reorganization of the VC in 1872 created the Central Vermont Railway. It built the present Windsor depot in 1901 after its predecessor suffered extensive damage in a fire. The one-storey, buff brick structure is topped by a steep hipped roof. Its wide overhang, supported by large curved brackets, was designed to protect passengers from inclement weather as they waited on the platform for the arrival of the train. On the principal facades, projecting bays with gables break through the roofline and effectively lighten the roof’s visual weight. The trackside bay, canted with windows on all three elevations, gave the station master an unobstructed view down the right-of-way so that he could monitor traffic on the rails. To the north, a wide canopy extended from the station along the platform to shelter workers as they transferred baggage and parcels from the trains to the freight room.
The depot displays a mix of architectural styles: the rounded-arch windows point to the Italianate; the fancy fretwork and sunburst motif woodwork in the gables is more characteristic of later Queen Anne tastes; and the overall massing is indicative of a vernacular version of the Romanesque Revival, especially popular in New England. Tying together the numerous arched windows and doors is a belt course. Highlighted through the use of a darker brown brick, it encircles the building at the base of the arches. Barre granite from Vermont was used for trim such as the window sills. Built to a standard design costing $10,000, the rectangular depot featured separate waiting rooms for men and women that reflected Victorian sensibilities about the mixing … in public places. Birch veneer seating and electric lights completed the thoroughly modern interior. The station was restored in the late 1970s and later converted into a restaurant.
Local industry experienced some revival after the Civil War when New England became the nation’s textile manufacturing center. Other businesses included the Windsor Manufacturing Company which gained fame for diverse products such as fine machine tools, sewing machines, and sawmills. Prosperity lasted into the first decades of the 20th century when the American South began to dominate the textile business. With manufacturing fading, the bucolic landscapes and small, quiet villages of Vermont and New Hampshire began to attract a new crowd of artists looking to escape the cacophony of city life.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, a highly respected sculptor of the American Renaissance, first came to the area in the 1880s at the invitation of Charles Cotesworth Beaman, Jr., a New York lawyer and patron of the arts. While staying on Beaman’s property across the river in Cornish, New Hampshire, Saint-Gaudens worked on his commissions. Informally, other friends—including sculptors, painters, writers, dramatists, landscape gardeners, and architects—followed suit and took up residence in the adjacent towns of Cornish and Plainfield. Windsor, directly across the river and connected to the opposite shore by a covered wooden bridge, was the arrival point for the great majority of those who came from New York City and Boston by train.
Many of Saint-Gaudens’ friends and associates came for the cool New England summers and camaraderie, but a few eventually settled in for year-round living. Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, but his legacy of artistic endeavor, teaching, and discussion lived on for another three decades in the form of the “Cornish Colony,” which included the likes of Daniel Chester French, Paul Manship, Maxfield Parrish, and Charles Platt; even President Woodrow Wilson spent a few summers at the colony, as Mrs. Wilson was a painter. The informality of the gathering at Cornish resulted in diverse works that reflect the many personalities drawn there.
The colony’s legacy and spirit remains alive at the Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor. The institution holds artworks by colony members, develops educational programs to explore the colony’s lasting impacts on American art, and also exhibits works by contemporary artists from the region. Across the river, Saint-Gaudens’ house and studio is now owned by the National Park Service and open to the public for tours. In addition to examining some of his sculptures up-close, visitors can interact with artists-in-residence and walk around the property on one of the many nature paths.
Aside from its historic architecture and landscapes, Windsor is also home to the American Precision Museum, housed in the old Robbins and Lawrence building. The large collection of machine tools—including spindle lathes, planers, and shapers—as well as displays of firearms, measuring devices, typewriters, and sewing machines, provide insights into the industrial development of the United States and the diversity of manufactured goods produced by the factories and mills of the Connecticut River Valley. Those looking for a little holiday cheer amid the snowy hills of Vermont head to Windsor in early December for the annual Winter Wonderland celebration. Residents and visitors can greet Santa Claus, sing carols, attend a tree lighting, view artwork by local students, and warm-up with a cup of hot chocolate." www.greatamericanstations.com/stations/windsor-vt-wnm/
