Essex Junction, Vermont

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Essex Junction, Vermont
settlement_type = Village
nickname =
motto =

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pushpin_label_position =left
pushpin_map_caption =Location within the state of Vermont
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Vermont
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Chittenden

government_footnotes =
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leader_title =
leader_name =
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established_title =
established_date =

unit_pref = Imperial
area_footnotes =
area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 12.6
area_land_km2 = 12.3
area_water_km2 = 0.2
area_total_sq_mi = 4.9
area_land_sq_mi = 4.8
area_water_sq_mi = 0.1

population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_total = 8591
population_density_km2 = 696.5
population_density_sq_mi = 1804.1

timezone = Eastern (EST)
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 105
elevation_ft = 344
latd = 44 |latm = 29 |lats = 34 |latNS = N
longd = 73 |longm = 6 |longs = 31 |longEW = W

postal_code_type = ZIP codes
postal_code = 05451-05453
area_code = 802
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 50-24400GR|2
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 1457378GR|3
website =
footnotes =

Essex Junction is a village in the town of Essex, Chittenden County, Vermont, United States incorporated on November 15, 1892. The population was 8,591 at the 2000 census.

Essex Junction is home to the Champlain Valley Exposition which hosts the Champlain Valley Fair at the end of each summer.

Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides daily service to Essex Junction, which serves as a focal point for rail travel in the greater Burlington area, which includes Essex and Winooski. Amtrak operates its "Vermonter" from St. Albans, VT to Washington, D.C..

The Village of Essex Junction is also one of three voting districts (District 6-2) in the Town of Essex, with Districts 6-1 & 6-3 together comprising the town outside the village. The Village and Town each operate their own fire department, library, parks department, and municipal services, and contain separate school districts for grades K–8. Both governments operate a unified police department, and the unified Essex High School.

Essex Junction is home to IBM's Burlington Design Center and 200mm wafer fabrication plant. IBM is the state's largest private employer, with approximately 6500 employees.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.8 square miles (12.6 km²), of which, 4.8 square miles (12.3 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (1.86%) is water.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 8,591 people, 3,409 households, and 2,253 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,804.1 people per square mile (696.8/km²). There were 3,501 housing units at an average density of 735.2/sq mi (284.0/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 95.55% White with a large proportion of those 53% being of Irish descent, 0.69% African American, 0.24% Native American, 2.36% Asian, 0.29% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.14% of the population.

There were 3,409 households out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the village the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.

Economy

Personal income

The median income for a household in the village was $53,444, and the median income for a family was $61,985. Males had a median income of $40,287 versus $26,910 for females. The per capita income for the village was $24,142. About 1.8% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.GR|2

Industry

The largest industrial facility in Vermont is IBM's semiconductor plant in Essex Junction.fact|date=December 2007

Government

In 2007, the IBM plant had the largest assessment in the town, $104 million dollars. [cite book | author = Ryan, Matt |title = Value drops at IBM plant | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 28, 2007]

Merger

The Village of Essex Junction was formed—within the Town of Essex—on 1892-11-15. The Village was formed to provide services (such as sidewalks, water, and sewers) to the villagers that the rest of the, mostly rural, town citizens did not want, and did not want to pay for.

As the town outside the village developed, it added similar services. By 1958, the first hints of merger showed up in a voter petition. Since then a series of votes (often contentious) had defeated or passed merger in each community, but never at the same time in both. The state legislature required a positive vote in both.

This temporarily changed on 2006-11-07 when merger passed in the town as a whole, and in the village. Everyone in the town voted on the merger; the Villagers voted in a second ballot on the merger if it passed the townwide vote. The large regional paper initially misreported the results as a defeat of the merger, based solely on the vote results outside the village. [Citation | last=Welch | first=Victoria | title=Essex Defeats Merger 2-1 | newspaper=Burlington Free Press | date=2006-11-08 | url= .] The next day the correct results were reported in both the town’s paper, [Citation | last=Tyler | first=George | title=Merger Wins: Confusion over vote count | newspaper=Essex Reporter | date=2006-11-09 | url= .] and as a correction in the regional paper. [Citation | last=Welch | first=Victoria | title=Essex merger moves forward: An apology to our Essex readers | newspaper=Burlington Free Press | date=2006-11-09 | url= .]

On 2006-12-06 a petition to reconsider the merger was submitted to the town. The petition contained signatures totaling more than 5 percent of registered voters, which is the threshold required to force a re-vote. [Citation | last=Welch | first=Victoria | title=New rift emerges in Essex merger | newspaper=Burlington Free Press | date=2006-12-07 | url= .] The revote was held on 2007-01-23 with a result that overturned merger by 191 votes, rejecting the current merger proposal. [Citation | last=Welch | first=Victoria | title=This time, Essex rejects merger | newspaper=Burlington Free Press | date=2007-01-24 | url=http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/NEWS01/701240311/1009 .]

If the results had stood, a multi-year merger process would have resulted in a new Town of Essex Junction replacing the current governments of the "Town of Essex" and the "Village of Essex Junction".

Notables

* Trey Anastasio, member of the band, Phish. Hometown.
* Jon Fishman, member of the band, Phish, Hometown.

ee also

*Essex Junction (Amtrak station)

References

External links

* [http://www.essexjunction.org/ Essex Junction official website]