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) is the shire town (county seat) of Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,571 at the 2000 census. St. Johnsbury is located approximately 10 miles northwest of the Connecticut River and 40 miles south of the Canadian border.
St. Johnsbury is the major town in the Northeast Kingdom. In 2006, the town was named "Best Small Town" in
"Where to live and play" feature. The more densely-settled southern half of the town is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place (CDP), where over 83% of the population resides.
The town was originally granted in 1760 as part of the New Hampshire Grants and named Bessborough. However, it was regranted by Vermont in 1786 as Dunmore, and settled the same year. An early settler was Dr. Jonathan Arnold, a member of the Continental Congress and author of Rhode Island's act of secession from the United Kingdom in May of 1776. Arnold left Rhode Island in 1787 and, with six other families, built homes at what is now the center of town.
By 1790, the village had grown to 143 inhabitants, and the first town meeting took place in Arnold's home that year, where the name St. Johnsbury was adopted. According to local lore, Vermont founder Ethan Allen himself proposed naming the town St. John in honor of his friend Jean de Crèvecœur, a French-born author and agriculturist and a friend of Benjamin Franklin (he was known in the United States as J. Hector St. John). According to this account, de Crèvecœur suggested instead the unusual St. Johnsbury to differentiate it from Saint John, New Brunswick.
In the mid-1800s, St. Johnsbury became a minor manufacturing center, with the main products being scales — the platform scale was invented there by Thaddeus Fairbanks in 1830 — and maple syrup and related products. With the coming of the railroad line from Boston to Montreal in the 1850s, St. Johnsbury grew quickly and was named the shire town (county seat) in 1856, replacing Danville. The oldest occupied residence in St. Johnsbury was built in 1801 and is located on Clarks Avenue.