Colchester

Colchester. The Early Years. , By 1763, the English had driven the French armies from Canada making the Champlain Valley safe for settlement. In the same year, King George III chartered Colchester Township on the Onion River - now known as the Winooski. In 1773, Ira Allen's Onion River Land Company bought much of the Onion's north bank from the royal grantees. Ira, land speculator and settler, made his home in Colchester. During the Revolutionary War Allen was active in the movement to win statehood for Vermont. Congress rejected Vermont's bid, however, because both New York and New Hampshire claimed its territories. Colchester's Ira Allen joined delegates from Vermont's other towns at Windsor in 1777, where they declared Vermont an independent state. He became Secretary of the State's Ruling Council under Governor Thomas Chittenden. Not until 1791, after settlement of the New Hampshire and New York claims, did Congress admit Vermont to the Union as the 14th State. Newly incorporated that year, Colchester prospered. Lumber, woolens, and agricultural products sold well on both sides of the U.S. - Canadian border. The British invasion of the Valley in 1814, threatened Colchester once again, but the combined forces of Commodore Macdonough and General Macomb - including Colchester volunteers - repulsed the invaders at Plattsburgh. Colchester was never again in danger. , Now in our bicentennial year, we raise this marker to honor those pioneers who secured these lands for us and our children.