Historic White River Junction, one of five villages in the Town of Hartford and widely regarded as the Gateway to Vermont, began to develop in 1849 with the arrival of the railroad, despite the town having been chartered in 1761. More than any other village in Hartford, it drew its life from the steam engines that passed through it and from the necessity and convenience of the rails. Within twenty years, it had become a major commercial and transportation center, where railroad cars carrying wholesale goods from meat to paper were unloaded at warehouse doors and distributed to local and distant markets. By 1903, White River Junction was bustling, welcoming travelers on fifty trains each day and supporting more than thirteen wholesale businesses. The village sustained this vitality for more than a century, and its original configuration remains largely intact, with many buildings reflecting nineteenth- and twentieth-century architectural trends.