What changed in Vermont over the past century?

[soniquemd21921]

The Census statistics for Vermont are also pretty interesting to point out:

1900 - 343,641
1910 - 355,956 (+12,315)
1920 - 352,428 (-3,528)
1930 - 359,611 (+7,183)
1940 - 359,231 (-380)
1950 - 377,747 (+18,516)
1960 - 389,881 (+12,134)
1970 - 444,732 (+54,851)
1980 - 511,456 (+66,724)
1990 - 562,758 (+51,302)
2000 - 608,827 (+46,069)
2010 - 625,741 (+16,914)

Conclusion: In the 50-year period between 1960 and 2000, the state's population increased by 235,860 - whereas in the 50 years preceding 1960 it increased by only 33,925.

And going all the way back to 1860, the population was 315,098. So during that entire 100 year period between 1860 and 1960, the state's population only grew by 74,783, whereas in the 20 years between 1960 and 1980 it grew by 121,575!

[soniquemd21921]

In the pre-Southern Strategy era upper-income suburbs were always overwhelmingly Republican, several of them being the most Republican communities with more than 10,000 residents. How ironic is it that in that era the richest city (Scarsdale) and poorest county (Owsley, Kentucky) voted the same way by lopsided margins?
 
BTW, is Edina in Michele Bachmann's district? That used to be the most Republican town in Minnesota, but I'm not sure how it is now.

[soniquemd21921]

Chittenden was a Democratic stronghold decades before the influx of new residents due to its large Catholic population. The city of Winooski really stuck out like a sore thumb in Vermont in the 30s, 40s and 50s: it was 85-90 percent Democratic at a time when nearly all of the other small towns were 80-90% Republican.

From looking at election returns, it appears that the first of the really heavily Republican counties to move in a leftward direction was Windham beginning in the 70s (note how it's Republican percentage got smaller and smaller after 1972).

Lamoille's Democratic drift has been in the last 15 years or so. I'm guessing it being the location of Stowe has contributed.