The city is part of the Essex Westford Unified Union School District which operates K-12 schools including Essex High School. The city is surrounded on three sides by the Town of Essex ("Essex Town").
Essex Junction is home to GlobalFoundries' Burlington Design Center and 200 mm wafer fabrication plant. GlobalFoundries is the largest private employer in the state of Vermont, with approximately 3,000 employees.[6]
History
IBM and GlobalFoundries
The village history was affected in a major way by the presence of IBM (now GlobalFoundries), which chose Essex Junction as the site for its facility in 1958.
In 1958, IBM leased a 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) facility in the southeast part of the village for its new Data Processing Division. By the end of the year, there were 500 workers. In 1969, the plant expanded to 820,000 square feet (7.6 ha).
In 1982, employment reached an all-time high of 8,000. In 2007, the town listers dropped the value of the plant from a high of $147.5 million to $104 million.[7] The plant's workforce was a little over 5,000 in 2011. As a GlobalFoundries operation since July 2015, the plant retains about 3,000 employees.
On November 2, 2021, voters in the village of Essex Junction voted overwhelmingly to separate from the town of Essex, citing an unfair tax burden. The vote was 3,070-411 in favor of separation.[10]
Geography
Essex Junction is located southwest of Essex and is bordered on the south by the Winooski River. The city is 6 miles (10 km) east of downtown Burlington via Vermont Route 15. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12.3 km2), of which 4.6 square miles (11.8 km2) is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km2), or 3.72%, is water.[11]
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 8,591 people, 3,409 households, and 2,253 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,804.1 people per square mile (696.8/km2). There were 3,501 housing units at an average density of 735.2/sq mi (284.0/km2). There were 3,409 households, out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.4% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 26.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.
Economy
Personal income
The median income for a household in the city was $53,444, and the median income for a family was $61,985. Males had a median income of $40,287 versus $26,910 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,142. About 1.8% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.[2]
Industry
The largest industrial facility in Vermont is GlobalFoundries' semiconductor plant in Essex Junction. In 2007, the then-IBM plant had the largest assessment in the town, $104 million.[16]
Champlain Valley Exposition
Essex Junction is home to the Champlain Valley Exposition, a former dirt racetrack that has evolved into a large event field, with stadium seating for concerts, and multiple halls that can host a variety of indoor events.
Champlain Valley Fair
The 10-day Champlain Valley Fair is the most notable event held at the Expo. The state's largest fair consists of five components blended together at the same time:
A large agricultural exhibit with a dairy cows, other farm animals, and 4-H-style events for both livestock and agriculture.
A commercial exhibit for a variety of local and regional vendors to showcase their products to the public.
The Fair was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. The headliner for the Fair Darius Rucker will return to the Fair in 2021.
Over the last decade, total fair attendance has been almost 300,000 per year. In 2010, the fair had 46 carnival rides and almost 200 vendors.[17]
Other Expo events
Other events held at the Champlain Valley Expo include an Antique Car Show, WOKO Giant Flea Market, Nightmare Vermont, Vermont International Festival, and the Champlain Valley Balloon Festival.[citation needed]
Government
Town vote to merge
Revote
District
2006-11-07
2007-01-23
Yes
No
Yes
No
6-1 (outside village)
1,283
2,319
690
2,528
6-3 (outside village)
365
822
6-2 (within village)
2,728
1,026
2,009
362
Townwide totals
4,376
4,167
2,699
2,890
Village vote to accept
No revote required, result was uncontested.
2,922
1,085
The Village of Essex Junction was formed within the town of Essex on November 15, 1892. The village was formed to provide services (such as sidewalks, water, and sewers) to the villagers that the rest of the mostly rural town did not want, and did not want to pay for.
As the town outside the village developed, it added similar services. By 1958, the first hints of merger showed up in a voter petition. Since then a series of votes (often contentious) had defeated or passed merger in each community, but never at the same time in both. The state legislature required a positive vote in both.
This temporarily changed on 2006-11-07 when merger passed in the town as a whole, and in the village. Everyone in the town voted on the merger; the villagers voted in a second ballot on the merger if it passed the townwide vote. The large regional paper initially misreported the results as a defeat of the merger, based solely on the vote results outside the village.[18] The next day the correct results were reported in both the town's paper,[19] and as a correction in the regional paper.[20]
On December 6, 2006, a petition to reconsider the merger was submitted to the Town. The petition contained signatures totaling more than 5 percent of registered voters, which is the threshold required to force a re-vote.[21] The revote was held on 2007-01-23 with a result that overturned merger by 191 votes, rejecting the current merger proposal.[22]
In late 2020 and early 2021 merger discussions took place again, and a new charter for a merger between the Town of Essex outside the Village and the Village of Essex Junction was voted down in March 2021.[23]
On November 2, 2021, Essex Junction voted heavily in favor of secession from the Town of Essex, forming a new city.[24] The referendum requires approval by the Vermont State Legislature in order to take effect.[25]
On July 1, 2022, the Village of Essex Junction became the City of Essex Junction.
Education
The Essex Westford School District was consolidated in 2017. The district includes and funds schools in Essex Junction, Essex Town, and Westford. The schools in Essex Junction include Essex High School, Summit Street School (K-3), Thomas Fleming School (4-5), Albert D. Lawton School (6-9), the Hiawatha School(K-3), and the Center for Technology Essex.[26]
^"Residential Listings". The Essex Guide. Essex Jct., VT. 2014. p. 46. Archived from the original on July 3, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2021 – via Issuu.
^"Brian Wood - Class of 1990". EHS Alumni. Essex Jct., VT: Essex Westford School District. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
