Business View Civil and Municipal | May 2021

29 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MAY 2021 ST . ALBANS , VERMONT operations.” The Central Vermont Railway was chartered in 1843 to build a line down the middle of the State. It stretched from New York to Canada (although some connections reached farther west) and was once St. Albans’ biggest employer, with a workforce of thousands and 23 tracks. “We were like a lot of small towns across America,” concedes City Manager Dominic Cloud. “Our historic growth engines moved on and we were left to fend for ourselves.” This set St. Albans down a path of development that prioritized business above all else. Today, the community boasts both a strong agricultural base and a diverse manufacturing sector; the City’s Cooperative Creamery merged with Kansas-based Dairy Farmers of America (the largest cooperative in the country), while the Town’s Industrial Park became a catalyst for economic development and innovation. “The Cooperative Creamery actually made it to its 100th anniversary, but it’s been a really difficult ag market, especially for raw milk, which necessitated a merger with the Dairy Farmers” Deso explains. “St. Albans is also home to a pretty major industrial park by Vermont standards. We have Peerless Clothing, which is based out of Montreal. They’re a fulfillment site for higher-end clothes – suits, primarily. Of course, we’ve got Ben & Jerry’s. We have Superior Technical Ceramics that engineers and manufactures just about anything ceramic. We also have Berry Callebaut, a huge producer of chocolate with headquarters in Switzerland.” With these tenants in place, Deso says they’ve shifted to viewing themselves as “the manufacturing gateway from Montreal into New England.” The Autoroute 35 (A-35) is the primary route for traffic between Montreal and Boston, stopping short just eight miles north of the U.S. border. Downtown Core Courtesy of Cross Consulting Engineers