Place · United States
The history of Saint Johnsbury
Assembled from 2 dug tiles · 27 sourced records · 1790–2024 · last reviewed 6 October 2026
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, incorporated as a town in 1791, grew around the Fairbanks scale-works family whose name still marks the place. Its record here turns on one surviving building: a schoolhouse moved, converted to an armory, then split into the Shearer and Corser Double House on Summer Street.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in Saint Johnsbury — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in Saint Johnsbury
A schoolhouse turned Colonial Revival duplexYou're standing near the Shearer and Corser Double House, a two-story wood-frame building on Summer Street in St. Johnsbury. Shearer and Corser Double House
1790–2024 A schoolhouse turned double house
A short walk from here stands a two-story house on Summer Street, built as a schoolhouse and later split into two homes. Shearer and Corser Double House
1790–2024
Saint Johnsbury in layers
Court House Grounds & Park, Saint Johnsbury
Land given for burials in 1790 fell into disrepair by 1855, and families moved their dead to Mount Pleasant Cemetery when St. Johnsbury became the county seat; the old ground now lies under the courthouse and a park. Historical Marker Database (HMDB.org) - Court House Grounds & Park Historical Marker
1126 Main Street, Saint Johnsbury
From 1790 until 1856 the town buried its dead on what is now the Caledonia County Courthouse site, and graves there were later the subject of archaeological work in the 1990s. Find a Grave Cemetery record and Courthouse plaque
St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont
The town took its place in Caledonia County in 1791, a few years after the first burial ground was laid out nearby. FamilySearch
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont
Saint Johnsbury became a chartered Vermont town in 1791, not long after the first burials began downtown. FamilySearch
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
A Fairbanks Scale Works founder who twice served as Vermont's governor, he died in 1864 and is buried near the site. Wikidata
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Saint Johnsbury
Erastus Fairbanks, a Vermont governor, and Jonathan Ross, a U.S. senator for Vermont, are both buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery along with early settler Jonathan Arnold, who died in 1793. Wikidata
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Fairbanks (1796-1886) built the fortune that shaped this town on the strength of his invention and is buried a short walk from here. Wikidata
352 Mount Pleasant Street, Saint Johnsbury
Established in 1851 and dedicated in 1853, Mount Pleasant Cemetery became Saint Johnsbury's main cemetery and received remains transferred from the old burial ground downtown. Find a Grave Cemetery record
592 Summer Street, St. Johnsbury
Built around 1854 at Summer and Winter Streets, this building was moved here in 1864 and converted into an armory before becoming a two-family home. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
592 Summer Street, Saint Johnsbury
The Shearer and Corser Double House at Summer Street began around 1854 as a schoolhouse at the corner of Summer and Winter Streets, 140 meters from here. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
Summer Street, Saint Johnsbury
In 1864 the building was hauled to its present spot on Summer Street and converted into a town armory. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
592 Summer Street, St. Johnsbury
The town sold the building to Franklin Fairbanks, co-owner of the Fairbanks Scale Works, the town's largest employer and the family that laid out Summer Street itself. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
Summer Street, Saint Johnsbury
In 1870 the town sold the former schoolhouse to Franklin Fairbanks, co-owner of the Fairbanks Scale Works, the town's largest employer, whose family had laid out Summer Street itself. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Saint Johnsbury
The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, now a National Historic Landmark, opened in 1873 and still holds its original art gallery, a short walk from this spot. Wikidata
592 Summer Street, St. Johnsbury
New owners Leroy Shearer and Brackett Corser, who bought it from the Fairbanks in 1878, had turned it into a duplex by the time it appeared at a tax sale in 1883. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
592 Summer Street, Saint Johnsbury
Leroy Shearer and Brackett Corser bought the building from Fairbanks in 1878 and are thought to have converted it into the two-family residence recorded at a tax sale in 1883. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Saint Johnsbury
Thaddeus Fairbanks, who invented the platform scale and built the works that defined the town, is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 639 meters away. Wikidata
Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium
Founded in 1890, this natural history museum and planetarium grew out of the same Fairbanks family wealth that built much of the town around you. Wikidata
Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, Saint Johnsbury
Franklin Fairbanks founded the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in 1890, now listed on the National Register, about 400 meters from here. Wikidata
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
The American painter known for his unsparing, decaying portraits died in 1983 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Wikidata
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont
Edward J. Petty, a molder, was run over and killed by a railway car in Saint Johnsbury on August 21, 1902, and Edward M. Moore was killed by a train in the town that December. Vermont History - Summary of Events of 1902
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Saint Johnsbury
Ivan Albright, the American painter famous for his unsettling, decay-laden portraits, is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Wikidata
592 Summer Street, St. Johnsbury
The double house's Colonial Revival porch and Italianate details earned it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in August 1994. Wikipedia - Shearer and Corser Double House
Saint Johnsbury, Vermont
Timothy Persons was beaten to death at his Saint Johnsbury home with a metal pipe by Allen Draper, who then set the house on fire to conceal the killing. WCAX News
Questions about Saint Johnsbury
What is Saint Johnsbury known for historically?
Saint Johnsbury was incorporated as a town in 1791 and became closely tied to the Fairbanks family, inventors of the platform scale, whose museum and whose burials in Mount Pleasant Cemetery remain part of the town's record.
What happened at Summer Street in Saint Johnsbury?
A one-room schoolhouse built around 1854 at Summer and Winter Streets was moved to Summer Street in 1864, served briefly as a town armory, and was bought by the Fairbanks family in 1870 before Leroy Shearer and Brackett Corser converted it into a two-family house after purchasing it from Franklin Fairbanks in 1878. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Who is buried in Saint Johnsbury's Mount Pleasant Cemetery?
Mount Pleasant Cemetery holds Thaddeus Fairbanks, inventor of the platform scale, Governor Erastus Fairbanks, a U. S. senator, and the painter Ivan Albright, known for grotesque realism.
Where was Saint Johnsbury's first burial ground?
The town's original burial ground once stood where the courthouse now sits at Main Street; it was later dug up and moved, with Mount Pleasant Cemetery taking over as the town's burial ground.
Was the Shearer and Corser Double House always a residence?
No. It began as a schoolhouse around 1854, was moved in 1864 and used as an armory, and only became a two-family residence after 1878 under owners Leroy Shearer and Brackett Corser.