The Early 1960s: Dawn of a New Era in Vermont

The Early 1960s: Dawn of a New Era in Vermont

As the bulldozers clearing the way for I-91, Vermont's first interstate highway, reached Ascutney, Romaine Tenney made good on his promise not to see his family's farmland paved over. He burned his house and farm with him inside. The state was changing and not all Vermonters were willing to let it happen. Besides the new highways and all the tourism and industry that they brought, the early 60s also saw the first Democrat elected to the governorship since the Civil War, who created an office to plan and manage the state's growth. In town meetings around the state, water treatment plants were hotly debated.