Town file
Rutland, Vermont
Rutland, Vermont (Rutland County, Vermont) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 241, "The Murdered Murderer Murders" (16 September 2021). Shortly after ten-thirty on the night of 3 July 1971, a New Jersey man named Charles Hoover was driving his family home to their camp near Killington, Vermont, when he saw a fire beside a dirt road.
- Town
- Rutland
- County
- Rutland County
- State
- Vermont
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 241
- Approximate location
- 43.610, -72.978
Episode 241 / 16 September 2021 / 148 min / full
The Murdered Murderer Murders
"James says the town is Rutland, in Rutland County, area code 802, about seven and a half square miles." about 0:07:04
The case: Murder of Ronald A. Rogers (3 July 1971). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2021
- Population
- 14,914
- Median age
- about 43 and a half
- Median household income
- $42,861
- Median home value
- $209,500
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $933
- Cost of living
- 83
- Religious
- 38%
- Property crime
- ▲ about 50% high
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 20% lower
History, in brief
- Started as a small hamlet called Mill Village, on Otter Creek, in the early 1800s. about 0:08:03
- Named by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1761 and renamed Rutland after John Manners, the third Duke of Rutland. about 0:08:10
- High-quality marble deposits were discovered in the early 1800s. about 0:08:56
- In the 1830s a huge deposit of nearly solid marble was found in West Rutland. about 0:09:05
- By 1840 people had started excavating the marble. about 0:09:14
- The railroad arrived in 1851, which made it possible to move the marble out. about 0:09:19
- Rutland became one of the world's top marble-producing areas. about 0:09:51
- Italian marble workers were brought over with their families, creating a large Italian population. about 0:09:58
- The quarries closed in the 1980s and 1990s, taking away many local jobs. about 0:10:36
- There are 108 buildings in the downtown area listed on the National Register of Historic Places, many dating to the mid-1800s. about 0:10:54
- Rutland was one of the few towns not destroyed by the 1895 fire that burned many other towns. about 0:11:06
- The Rutland Halloween parade has taken place since 1960. about 0:23:23
- Local writer Tom Fagan helped give the parade its superhero theme. about 0:23:44
- In 1965 the Joker, Plastic Man and Dr. Strange were roaming the streets of Rutland along with Batman, according to the Boston Globe. about 0:24:16
- Five thousand spectators watched the 1970 Halloween parade. about 0:24:31
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Amazing and beautiful; surrounded by mountains and forests full of animals and nature; the city is small but people's hearts are big."about 0:11:42
3 stars
"Grew up there and has been there over fifty years; great sense of community but a serious decline in businesses, jobs and activities; fairly safe and not a bad place to raise children."about 0:12:12
2 stars
"You could get robbed by three guys who are robbing each other at the same time, but it is not the worst; the school was all right but the people are not; complains about a traffic light by the Catholic school that turns red and never green."about 0:12:37
1 star
"By far the worst place the reviewer has ever lived; too expensive for how bad it is, rude people, very little to do and drug addicts all over town; would not come here to visit."about 0:14:22
1 star
"Housing availability is nil, especially pet-friendly housing; not enough industry, decent-paying jobs or convenient shopping."about 0:15:12
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Grafton, Vermont36 miles
- Townshend, Vermont42 miles
- Newfane, Vermont46 miles
- Lempster, New Hampshire47 miles
- Richmond, Vermont55 miles
- Stillwater, New York57 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.