FAIRFAX DREAMS
SEPTEMBER 14, 1903

(I sent the following article in to the St. Albans Messenger and they published it in the February 19, 2003)

Photo is courtesy of Cain/Southard Families of Fairfax, Vermont

On September 14, 1903, F. W. Shepardson of Fairfax, in a Special Report to the St. Albans Messenger, reported that 30 men were working on the new Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax and 90 men were working for The Vermont Power & Manufacturing Company at the Falls in Fairfax. The above photo on an old post card, taken by L. R. Tabor, a photographer from Fairfax reads: "Falls of the Lamoille River, generating electricity for use as power for St. Albans, Vermont." At that time, a score of men were setting transmission poles along the highway leading to the city of St. Albans. Our town would get all the light they wanted; later, it was expected that trolleys would make us next door neighbors to adjoining towns and cities. The electric trolley cars from Fairfax to St. Albans never did materialize, however, the p0ower plant still operates and even though the original Bellows Free Academy (below) burned in 1941, a new building was built and BFA-Fairfax still goes on 100 years later.

Above photo is courtesy of The Bellows Free Academy Archives

Henry A. Raymond
vtgrandpa@yahoo.com
February 19, 2003