Lewiston had a long history before its 1967 destruction. Four years older than the College, the village was founded in 1765 on the Vermont-New Hampshire border — where present-day River Road, Foley Park and some of VT-10A are now located.
At the time, the hamlet served as a main entry point into the College. According to Norwich Historical Society director Sarah Rooker, the Connecticut River used to be narrower, allowing for foot crossings from Lewiston to Hanover during periods of low rainfall. During the wet season, travelers still had to cross through Lewiston to reach Hanover by boat — the town’s location at one of the narrowest points on the Connecticut River made Lewiston a natural spot for a rope ferry and, later, a toll bridge. The village’s prime river real estate, in turn, led to revenue, as Lewiston charged tolls on river crossings until the mid-1800s.
In 1848, the town’s revenue was further bolstered by the construction of the Passumpsic and Connecticut Railroad. The first railroad line to serve the area, the station built a freight depot in Lewiston and increased the town’s importance, according to Dartmo, a website documenting Dartmouth architecture.
The College used the railroad line to transport its coal supply from 1898 through the late 1920s, when Dartmouth switched from coal to oil. Many Dartmouth students also relied on the station to travel to campus after 1848. Even United States presidents used the railroad — President Ulysses S. Grant stopped in Lewiston in 1869 and President Rutherford B. Hayes made a whistle stop in 1887.
The popularity of the station increased the town’s prosperity, according to The Norwich Times. During the 1930s, Lewiston was bustling, housing dairy farms, a brothel, mills, a general store and a speakeasy, among other businesses, the paper reported.
The town’s fate changed, however, in the middle of the 20th century. First, Lewis Road, which connected Lewiston to Norwich, was nearly impossible to traverse by horse-drawn wagon during the mud season, which further isolated the village from Norwich at this time.
In addition, the construction of Wilder Dam, which began in 1947, “flooded the lower portions of old Lewiston,” including buildings at the river’s edge, according to anthropology professor Jesse Casana. The flooding inundated low-lying farmland and forced some Lewiston citizens to move, Casana said.
The diminishing economy of the 1930s, a decline in passenger train travel and these natural challenges ultimately contributed to the town’s demise — so much that the post office closed in 1954 and the town’s rail station closed in 1959, according to The Norwich Times.
However, the true end of Lewiston came in the 1960s, when construction on I-91 required the destruction of Lewiston’s nine remaining buildings.
