| Businesses
Apart from the expected sawmill, public house, and harvesting, etc. business in the late 1700's and early 1800's included smuggling. An estimated nine out of ten settlers took part in this illegal activity. As a result of the Embargo Act of 1808 which restricted trade with Quebec and closed Atlantic ports, many Vermont settlers took part in the business of illegally importing and exporting such things as salt and peerlashes via the rivers in the area. A spot known as the Indian Landing and Barton Landing at the junction of the Barton and Willoughby Rivers was a main area of rest for both the natives of the area and later for the smugglers. A rock with the inscription "Indian and Pioneer Landing, Dedicated Aug. 27, 1892" was placed at the spot. (Orleans, 1820-1920)
In the Orleans section of Barton town, the business district developed around Post Office Square, now called Memorial Square. The earliest building in Orleans was a sawmill built by Roger Enos in 1820. Jesse Cook bought the mill in 1830 and used it also for weaving cloth. It became John Little's pudding mill (grain mill) in 1839. Many fires took their toll on the original buildings. The last original building still standing is Howard Bartlett's house, built in 1839. With the coming of railroads to Barton in 1863, industries began to thrive. In 1869, the pudding mill became a board mill operated by Lovinas Chandler. This business expanded under E.L.Chandler in the 1890's.
The most rapid growth in the village as a whole was experienced between 1890 and 1920. Business in the mills increased as the population of the village expanded. The Parker Young Company bought the E.L. Chandler Company and greatly augmented it. The Company built twenty-five houses around this time. Sidewalks, new homes, electricity, telephones, and new streets and bridges for automobiles added to the growth that was steady and clearly apparent. The November 1927 flood that hit Vermont caused damage to stocks of goods and the cost of repairs on buildings was great, however the paving of several streets prevented their being undermined. Demand for piano sounding boards, keg bottoms, and veneer declined and the Parker Young Company resold to E.L. Chandler. Ownership of the company changed again: The Sweat-Comings Company, the Vermont American Corporation, and the Baumritter Corporation followed.
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