If you were in Brattleboro on September 1st, 1902, there is a good chance that you might have worked your way downtown to the train station late in the afternoon in expectation of the arrival of a notable visitor.

Arrangements had been in the works for months for a visit to Brattleboro by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Young Men’s Republican club had sent an invitation and had been forming committees to schedule the visit, arrange a program of activities, decorate the parade route, and welcome him to town. As the President’s plans changed (his time available was increasingly short), so did Brattleboro’s. The reception banquet was cancelled and a more simple ceremony substituted.

The visit, Roosevelt’s welcome, and his speech made headlines, and he spoke to those assembled on the topic of good government and Abraham Lincoln.

In additional to its historical Importance and preservation, one of the prime movers behind the redevelopment and renovation of the Brooks House is the economics of Brattleboro’s daily life. Historically, Brooks House was, and remains, the largest commercial structure in Brattleboro.

In the midst of The One and Only the Brooks House continues to be an important visual symbol of what makes Brattleboro so unique. Of all of Southern Vermont’s noteworthy landmarks none capture the quintessential past and renewed hopes for the future as this Main Street frontage in the center of downtown Brattleboro.

Hall Town, Aug. 27^th, 1864.

Dear Wife,-

I received a letter from you yesterday Hope you received my last. It was short but it was good, was it not? Warren’s wound was not considered dangerous, though it was very severe. My old bunk mate at Brattleboro was wounded. The shot came from a flank fire and in some way passed between the heel cord and the bone without touching either. We fought all day. We drove the rebels back. Drove them up a long slope of a hill side, through a corn field; after getting up the hill the land was in ridges. About two hundred yards from the crest of one hill to another. We drove them one ridge too far. They were not driven back immediately on our right, and there was a wooded ridge that came in between in this shape.