St. Johnsbury History
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The town that eventually became St. Johnsbury was originally granted in 1760 as part of the New Hampshire Grants and originally named Bessborough. It was subsequently renamed St. Johnsbury in honor of Michel Guillaume St. Jean de Crevecoeur author of "Letters from an American Farmer." St. John was a friend of Washington and Franklin, as well as a correspondent of Ethan Allen. Realizing that several places already bore the name of St. John, Jean de Crevecoeur suggested the longer name, St. Johnsbury, which remains the only place with that name in the world.
The town of St. Johnsbury flourished in the mid-1800s under the leadership of the Fairbanks family. Thaddeus Fairbanks invented the platform scale, and the Fairbanks family became the chief employer and the chief benefactor of the town. The Athenaeum, Fairbanks Museum, and St. Johnsbury Academy (a private high school which educates most of the town's high-school students as well as boarding students from around the world), all exist because of the Fairbanks family's interest in art, nature, and education.
Today, St. Johnsbury has a diversified economy, mixing retailing, tourism, manufacturing, education, and cultural pursuits. Its prime location near major highways, close by numerous recreational activities, makes St. Johnsbury a prime destination for visitors as well as attractive to new businesses.