Vermont is known for welcoming new residents, especially if they had gained prominence elsewhere and their presence here seemed promising.

History records that one distinguished gentleman who moved to the Green Mountain State harbored a past he had reason to forget. And he found that when he and his wife moved to a town in Windsor County, their welcome was not always cordial, yet his contributions to the state were memorable.

The newcomer in 1922 was William J. Wilgus (1865-1949) who had been the engineer responsible in 1902 for the design and construction of the huge Grand Central Terminal in New York, notably its tunnels and double-stacked trackage.

By electrifying the train lines, he solved the problem of choking smoke from hundreds of coal-driven steam engines. Wilgus also coined th

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