The village was originally known as Hubbel's Falls after an early settler who built a mill in Essex on the Winooski River. In the autumn of 1849, Vermont Central owner Charles Paine, who had briefly served as Governor of Vermont from 1841-1843, built the railroad line through Essex, and his conductors called the station stop Painesville. In 1851, the Vermont & Canada Railroad completed tracks from the Canadian border to join the Vermont Central Railroad in Essex. After Paine fell into financial ruin and public scandal connected with construction of the rail line, Vermont & Canada management maneuvered to remove him, and he was voted out as president in 1852. The Vermont & Canada Railroad then took over Paine's lines, ignored his legacy, and its employees called the stop Essex Junction, which became the official name by action of the State Legislature in 1892. From the 1860s through the early 20th century, Essex Junction handled numerous passengers and freight moving between Montreal, the Great Lakes region, and important New England cities such as Boston and Hartford. Trains still move through Essex Junction today, but most people now travel through the area's Five Corners by automobile, making it one of Vermont's busiest traffic intersections at more than 30,000 vehicles per day. A 1956 photograph shows Canadian National Railway steam locomotive #6173, which weighed over 400,000 pounds and produced about 3,000 horsepower. Diesel engines were first introduced in 1941, the last steam engines ran through Essex Junction in 1957, the train shed was built in 1867 and stood for nearly 100 years, and the old Burlington & Lamoille Branch was discontinued in 1938.