The St. Johnsbury Caledonian Archive

Residents of northeastern Vermont have been reading the Caledonian since 1837. A weekly edition was published until 1958 under various titles, including the Caledonian (1837 to 1867), St. Johnsbury Caledonian (1867 to 1919 and again in 1920), and the Weekly Caledonian (1919 to 1920). The weekly merged with a competitor in 1920, and was issued as the St. Johnsbury Republican until 1958. Following another merger, the weekly ended as the St. Johnsbury Republican & Vermont Union Journal later in 1958. A daily edition appeared as the St. Johnsbury Daily Caledonian from 1916 to 1918, the Evening Caledonian from 1918 to 1920, and the Caledonian-Record from 1920 to the present. When the 3rd Vermont Infantry Regiment assembled at Camp Baxter in St. Johnsbury during June and July 1861, the paper issued a special edition called the St. Johnsbury Tri-Weekly Caledonian, and then the Daily Caledonian, to give the community news about the Civil War and activities at the camp. It ceased when the soldiers headed south in late July.

The Caledonian has experienced remarkably stable leadership. Albert G. Chadwick, its first owner and editor, remembered that he started the paper in 1837 with "fear and doubt" that it would succeed in what was then a very small rural community. By the time Chadwick retired almost two decades later in 1855, St. Johnsbury and the Caledonian were prosperous and thriving, in large measure due to the success of E. & T. Fairbanks and Company, which manufactured scales that were distributed worldwide. Charles M. Stone began working for the paper in 1848 or 1849, became a partner in 1855, and full owner in 1857. Stone and his son Arthur F. ran the paper until 1909. After more than a half century of successful operation under the Stones, the Caledonian experienced a challenging decade under William Bigelow, who introduced an unsuccessful daily morning edition, and William D. Pelley, who was more committed to his lucrative literary career and distracted by extended travel abroad. Herbert A. Smith acquired the Caledonian in 1919, beginning almost a century of family leadership that included his son H. Gordon Smith, grandson Mark Smith, and great-grandson, Todd Smith.

The Caledonian maintained a strong commitment to the area's growth and prosperity from its first issue, when Albert Chadwick promised that the paper would advocate Whig principles, including "the protection of American enterprise and industry." Articles and editorials frequently promoted and documented the progress of manufacturing, commerce, agriculture, and cultural institutions, providing a particularly detailed record of a thriving industrial center located in a remote rural area. The paper has also been a primary source of local news for towns in northeastern Vermont and northwestern New Hampshire for many decades. In 1867 Charles Stone proudly noted that the Caledonian was the first Vermont weekly to dedicate a separate page to a local section. Stone and subsequent editors expanded local coverage until columns with news from towns in the region became a prominent feature of the paper.