HISTORY OF WILLSBORO
Willsboro, on Lake Champlain, was first settled in 1765 by William Gillilland, a New York City merchant who had purchased 9,000 acres granted by the British Crown to veterans of the French and Indian Wars. Razed by the British during the War for Independence, Willsboro was rebuilt after the war and organized as a town on March 7th, 1788.
Willsboro was a vital frontier settlement for the next hundred years, providing Canadian markets with timber and iron. With the opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823, Willsboro, like other communities on the lake, would expand its business to the south and overseas, building ships, smelting iron, refining potash, and quarrying a highly valued blue limestone which, among other things, forms the foundation for the state capitol and the Brooklyn Bridge. By the end of the nineteenth century, linked to the outside world with a railroad in 1875, Willsboro had shifted from iron and potash to mining and paper milling, which closed only in 1965. Today Willsboro, with fewer than 1,800 year-round residents, still depends on mining, but has also diversified into light manufacturing and various smaller enterprises, servicing both the annual and summer population.
Willsboro today encompasses 25,000 acres, divided into about 1,800 parcels. The eastern parts of the town are fairly flat, with a gentle slope toward Lake Champlain. There are also two smaller ponds in the western part of the town, where the Adirondack Mountains begin with Rattlesnake or Willsboro Mountain (there are no rattlesnakes on Rattlesnake Mountain). The Bouquet River runs through the town, emptying into Lake Champlain, and the town has 28 miles of shoreline on the lake. Once a thriving stream-ship launch and limestone mining site, Willsboro Point is now a famous vacation home location, jutting five miles into the lake directly opposite from Burlington, VT.
Whether for a summer spot or a new home, Willsboro offers a pleasant atmosphere for the sportsman and boater, and is a great get-away spot on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain.
Willsboro was a vital frontier settlement for the next hundred years, providing Canadian markets with timber and iron. With the opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823, Willsboro, like other communities on the lake, would expand its business to the south and overseas, building ships, smelting iron, refining potash, and quarrying a highly valued blue limestone which, among other things, forms the foundation for the state capitol and the Brooklyn Bridge. By the end of the nineteenth century, linked to the outside world with a railroad in 1875, Willsboro had shifted from iron and potash to mining and paper milling, which closed only in 1965. Today Willsboro, with fewer than 1,800 year-round residents, still depends on mining, but has also diversified into light manufacturing and various smaller enterprises, servicing both the annual and summer population.
Willsboro today encompasses 25,000 acres, divided into about 1,800 parcels. The eastern parts of the town are fairly flat, with a gentle slope toward Lake Champlain. There are also two smaller ponds in the western part of the town, where the Adirondack Mountains begin with Rattlesnake or Willsboro Mountain (there are no rattlesnakes on Rattlesnake Mountain). The Bouquet River runs through the town, emptying into Lake Champlain, and the town has 28 miles of shoreline on the lake. Once a thriving stream-ship launch and limestone mining site, Willsboro Point is now a famous vacation home location, jutting five miles into the lake directly opposite from Burlington, VT.
Whether for a summer spot or a new home, Willsboro offers a pleasant atmosphere for the sportsman and boater, and is a great get-away spot on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain.
