Barre

In the 1880s, immigrant stonecutters from Italy, Scotland, Spain, and Scandinavia flooded into this Washington County city to work the granite quarries that had been operating since the early 1800s. Their labor -- and their radical politics -- transformed Barre from a quiet mill town into the self-proclaimed "Granite Capital of the World." The socialist and anarchist movements that took root among the quarry workers made Barre one of the most politically charged small cities in America at the turn of the twentieth century.

The granite industry still operates today, though on a smaller scale, and the Rock of Ages quarry in neighboring Barre Town remains a major attraction. Hope Cemetery, where master stonecutters created elaborate monuments for their own graves, is an open-air gallery of the artisan tradition. The city's downtown retains the density and character of a working-class New England mill city, with brick buildings, narrow streets, and a cultural mix rarely found in rural Vermont.

Barre City has a population of roughly 8,700 and operates under a city manager and city council form of government rather than the town meeting system used in most Vermont municipalities. It is one of only nine incorporated cities in the state, and its union with neighboring Barre Town in the same school district reflects the intertwined history of city and surrounding community.