with listing of landmarks Vermont granted the town on November 2, 1780, when the
New Hampshire settlers could not locate the original grantees, whose patents were issued by
New York. It was chartered on June 29, 1781, to Aaron Storrs and 70 others, and was originally named "Middlesex". The town was first settled , when
Vermont was an unrecognized state whose government existed in defiance of the government of New York, which claimed Vermont was a part of New York. To encourage recognition of the state by the United States, the town was renamed in honor of
Edmund Randolph, one of the
Founding Fathers of the United States. Two branches of the
White River provided
water power for
watermills. By 1859, the town had three
gristmills, one oil mill, and one
carding mill. In 1848, the
Vermont Central Railroad opened service through the town. Randolph's prosperity during the
Victorian era endowed it with some fine
architecture, including the
Second Empire Randolph Railroad Depot and
Renaissance Revival Kimball Public Library. In 1921, Randolph was the setting for, and provided some of the cast of, a
silent movie called
The Offenders. In 1922, the same was true for the film
Insinuation. Today, Randolph is a thriving meeting-spot and shopping center for the surrounding area. The town is home to attractions such as the Porter Music Box Museum and the Chandler Music Hall. Also located in Randolph are the Gifford Medical Center, a hospital; Dubois & King, a civil and structural engineering firm; and Randolph Union High School, which also serves students from the neighboring towns of Braintree and Brookfield. Downtown Randolph hosts the
Amtrak station, shops, restaurants, Playhouse Movie Theatre, and several gas stations. Image:Union Block, Randolph, VT.jpg|Union Block in 1912 Image:Kimball Public Library, Randolph, VT.jpg|Kimball Library Image:Corner Main & Pleasant Sts., Randolph, VT.jpg|North Main Street in 1913 ==Geography==