| Type | Daily Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Publisher | Todd M. Smith |
| Editor | Dana Gray |
| Staff writers | 36 (2007) |
| Founded | 1837 |
| Headquarters | 190 Federal Street St. Johnsbury, Vermont 05819  United States |
| Circulation | 10,204 (2013) |
| ISSN | 1054-3716 |
| OCLC number | 12180513 |
| Website | Caledonian-Record |
The Caledonian-Record is a daily newspaper published in St. Johnsbury, Vermont and primarily circulates throughout Caledonia County. [1] It was established in 1837. [2] It employed a total staff of 36 as of 2007. [3]
The paper is distributed in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the western portion of Coos County, New Hampshire. It maintains a New Hampshire office located at 263 Main Street in Littleton, New Hampshire. [4] It is published daily except Sunday and some holidays. [2] [5] [6]
The Caledonian has focused on local news from 50 communities, which are located in three Vermont counties and two New Hampshire ones. [7] The average daily net paid circulation has dipped from a peak of about 12,500 about 1999 to the six months ending March 2013 at 10,204. [8]
Penetration of the primary market area of St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville was under 93%. For the area immediately surrounding St. Johnsbury the Caledonian provided coverage of 80% of the occupied households. [9]
Albert G. Chadwick began publishing the paper as a weekly in August, 1837. It is the oldest paper in the county. It started as a four-page, twenty-four column paper. [10]
It was a Whig paper when it started. [11] At the time, Vermont was strongly Whig. [12] The paper advocated the principles of the Free Soil element and became an early adherent and unswerving supporter of the principles of the Republican Party. It was edited and published by its founder for 18 years. George D. Rand and Charles M. Stone bought it in July 1855. Stone became the sole owner, editor and publisher in April 1857.
In 1875 it was still a weekly newspaper. Subscribers paid $1.50 a year. In 1909, Walter J. Bigelow, a former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, purchased the St. Johnsbury Caledonian, which he turned into a daily newspaper. [13]
In the 20th century, the paper was bought by a former Hearst reporter from Boston, Herb Smith. His son, Gordon Smith, Class of 1941 at Yale, joined the paper on the business side upon graduation and went on to own and publish the paper. Gordon brought with him as a writer who stayed a year; a classmate, Barry Zorthian. [14]
The Caledonian garnered attention in 2003 over a court case entitled Caledonian-Record Pub. Co., Inc. v. VT State College. The Caledonian wanted to have access to student disciplinary records and hearings from Lyndon State College. Lyndon state claimed that it was exempt from making the requested information public per the Vermont Public Records Act and the Open Meetings Law. The local court sided with Lyndon State College, and an appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court followed. The Vermont Supreme Court upheld the verdict. [15] [16] [17] Julie Fothergill, an attorney with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, stated that the ruling "is important for all public bodies because it indicates how the Court may interpret other exceptions to the Public Records Law." [18] [19]
Besides the Caledonian, the paper also published the Orleans County Record and the Littleton Record. [20]
In 2007 the paper employed a staff of 40. Sales ranged from $1 to $5 million annually. [2]
In 2007 the paper partnered with the American Society of News Editors at Lyndon Institute to publish a school newspaper, the first at the school, entitled The Campus News. [5]
In 2008 the paper outsourced the printing of the paper to Upper Valley Press in Haverhill, New Hampshire, citing equipment, quality control and personnel problems. [21]
In 2017, the paper was family owned. [20]
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Caledonia County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,233. Its shire town is the town of St. Johnsbury. The county was created in 1792 and organized in 1796. It was given the Latin name for Scotland, in honor of the many settlers who claimed ancestry there.
Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It is the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. Its southern terminus is in New Haven, Connecticut at I-95, while the northern terminus is in Derby Line, Vermont at the Canadian border. Past the Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing, the road continues into Canada as Quebec Autoroute 55. I-91 is the longest of three Interstate highways whose entire route is located within the New England states and is also the only primary (two-digit) Interstate Highway in New England to intersect all five of the other highways that run through the region. The largest cities along its route, from south to north, are New Haven, Connecticut; Hartford, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; Northampton, Massachusetts; Greenfield, Massachusetts; Brattleboro, Vermont; White River Junction, Vermont; St. Johnsbury, Vermont; and Newport, Vermont.
Danville is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,335 at the 2020 census. The primary settlement in town is recorded as the Danville census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 385 at the 2020 census.
Wells River is a village in the town of Newbury in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 431 at the 2020 census. The village center is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 5 and 302.
St. Johnsbury is the shire town of Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,364. St. Johnsbury is situated on the Passumpsic River and is located approximately six miles northwest of the Connecticut River and 48 miles (77 km) south of the Canada–U.S. border.
The Northeast Kingdom is the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, approximately comprising Essex, Orleans and Caledonia counties and having a population at the 2010 census of 64,764. The term "Northeast Kingdom" is attributed to George D. Aiken, former Governor of Vermont and a U.S. senator, who first used the term in a 1949 speech.
Lyndon State College was a public liberal arts college at Lyndon, Vermont. In 2018, it merged with Johnson State College to create Northern Vermont University; the former campus of Lyndon State College is now the university's Lyndon campus. It was accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Jonathan Arnold was an American physician and statesman from New England. He was born in Gloucester, Rhode Island, served in the Continental Army as a surgeon, and directed the army hospital in Providence. He represented Rhode Island as a delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1782 and 1783. He moved to a farm in St. Johnsbury, Vermont in 1787, and later served as a judge.
St. Johnsbury Academy (SJA) is an independent, private, coeducational, non-profit boarding and day school located in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in the United States. The academy enrolls students in grades 9-12. It was founded by Thaddeus Fairbanks, and accepts the majority of its students through one of the nation's oldest voucher systems. It has a sister school in Jeju Island, South Korea.
Horace Fairbanks was an American politician and the 36th governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878.
Lyndon Institute is a coeducational, nonprofit, independent, day and boarding comprehensive high school located on a 52 acres (21 ha) campus in the village of Lyndon Center, in the town of Lyndon, Vermont. It provides education for grades 9 through 12 for both local students and students resident on campus. Tuition is $45 000 for full boarders and $16,825 for day students. The current head of school is Twiladawn Perry.
WSTJ is a radio station broadcasting an adult album alternative format. Licensed to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, United States, the station is currently owned by Vermont Broadcast Associates, Inc. WSTJ is an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox Radio Network.
Thaddeus Fairbanks was an American businessman, mechanic, and engineer. He invented furnaces, cooking stoves, cast iron steel plows, and other metal items related to farming. He invented and manufactured the first platform scale, the Fairbanks scale, that allowed the accurate weighing of large objects. His scales revolutionized farming and manufacturing and were sold worldwide, and he received numerous honors and awards for his development of the technology. Fairbanks was also a philanthropist, and was a co-founder of the St. Johnsbury Academy.
Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA) is an anti-poverty community action agency that helps people in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom meet their basic needs and become self-sufficient. The agency is a partner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families and is primarily funded by federal and state government resources.
Harland Bradley Howe was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.
Wendell Phillips Stafford was an American attorney and jurist. He was most notable for his service as an Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.
Franklin D. Hale was a Vermont politician who served as State Auditor and want on to a career as a diplomat.
Zedekiah Silloway Stanton was an attorney and judge who served as the 44th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1902 to 1904.
Reginald W. Buzzell was an American government official and military officer from Vermont. A longtime member of the Vermont Army National Guard, he was a veteran of the Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I and World War II and attained the rank of brigadier general.