Windsor: Birthplace of Vermont sees rebirth

Vermont Business Magazine, Mar 01, 1998

The town of Windsor, where the Vermont Constitution was written and the state seal was first struck, is the third most populous Town in Windsor County. Located approximately 16 miles south of White River Junction and 21 miles north or Springfield, it is served by Exits 8 and 9 of Interstate 91, by US Route 5 and a number of secondary local and regional roads, including Routes 44, 13A, and 131.

The town has been an industrial hub since before the American Revolution. It is the birthplace of the Vermont machine tool industry, which continues to dominate the region. The wealth and property brought about by that industry still survives today, diminished but still there, through such names as Jones & Lansom, Bryant Grinder, and Fellows Gear Shaper in Springfield and Cone Blanchard in Windsor itself. It also survives in some 30 well known machine tool manufacturers across the nation who trace their roots back to Windsor.

The Town has a brand new school facility which combines its K-8 and high school on one campus adjacent to the downtown. The community is served by Mount Ascutney Hospital. Other important community institutions include the Constitution House, Windsor House and Historic Windsor, Inc, the Vermont State Craft Center at Windsor House, and the American Precision Museum ,which celebrates Windsor's history as the birthplace of the machine tool industry. Just a short way down the road is Ascutney Mountain Resort and across the Windsor-Cornish Covered Bridge in New Hampshire is the St Gaudens National Historic Site.

After a 10-year period of decline, which resulted from the loss of 1,000 jobs in the 1980s, Windsor is rebounding. In 1992, Simon Pearce Glassblowing located in the Windsor Industrial Park. In 1997 the facility doubled in size, added a pottery making division and was joined in the industrial park by a brand new facility: Catamount Brewery and its corporate headquarters. A private developer is marketing the remaining lots in the current industrial park under the name See It Made, a concept for manufacturing and marketing that combines great, quality Vermont products with the opportunity for a tourism and buying experience.

Also in 1997, Cone Blanchard Machine's long period of decline was halted when it was purchased by the Park Corporation, an Ohio-base company which is pumping badly needed new capital into Cone. Cone has plans for a significant expansion this spring, which will include upgrading its corporate offices and increasing manufacturing production and employment.

The Goodyear facility, abandoned by the tire manufacturer in the mid-1980s, is now home to a dozen businesses employing 100 people. The newest business is Charron Woodworking, which relocated to Windsor from northern New Jersey. Other businesses located there include Cable and Harness, Clyde River Transport, and Twin State Engine.

Looking to the future, and with industrial sites and buildings at a premium all along the Connecticut River Valley, Windsor is seeking to develop new and attractive locations for industry within its borders. The Town of Windsor is the only town on the Connecticut which still has significant available sewer and water capacity. To build on this asset it sought and recently received a grant from the US Economic Development Administration to conduct a feasibility study of industrial expansion at sites both north and south of town. The study will assess, permitting issues, site planning, and potential market for their sites.