Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Montpelier, VT

Montpelier is the capital city of Vermont and the county seat of Washington County, and with 8,074 residents in the 2020 census it is the least populous state capital in the United States.

The city was chartered as a town on August 14, 1781, first permanently settled in May 1787, incorporated as a village in 1818, and chartered as a city in 1894 and organized as one in 1895.

Montpelier was named for Montpellier, a city in the south of France, reflecting the Francophilia inspired by the Franco-American alliance during the Revolutionary War.

The legislature selected Montpelier as the state capital in 1805 because of its central location, and local residents donated land and money to build the first state house.

The 2020 census recorded 8,074 people and 3,929 households in the city, with a median age of 44.0 years, and the daytime population grows to about 21,000 because of the many jobs within the city limits.

The Winooski River flows along the south side of the city and the North Branch River flows through it, leaving Montpelier vulnerable to flooding, with serious floods in 1927, 1992, and 2023.

A fire in 1875 destroyed 38 buildings downtown, and the commercial area was rebuilt in brick to avoid a repeat of the disaster.

State government has been the city's primary business since 1805, joined by an insurance industry dating to the early 19th century that includes the National Life Group.

Montpelier is the only state capital in the United States that has neither a Starbucks nor a McDonald's.

Hubbard Park, established in 1899 with land donated by John Erastus Hubbard to preserve wilderness, rises behind the state capitol and has an observation tower built between 1915 and 1930.