This article is the first in a new 30-part series on the historic quilt created by the Congregational Women’s Association in 1978. Each article will cover one of the quilt’s 30 squares, the woman who sewed it, and how the landmark it portrays fits into Brandon’s history.
In June, 1978, Bette Moffett suggested to Maridon Gibson, then president of the Congregational Women’s Association, that a village quilt would be a good Christmas Bazaar project. Maridon had recently completed “an elegant, appliquéd quilt of her own design,” so she was considered the group expert.
Maridon determined that there would be 30 white muslin squares, each measuring 14 inches square and designed to represent a Brandon landmark of the needleworker’s choice. After a few organizational meetings, 30 women ranging in age from 22 to 77 were off and running, and the individual blocks were finished by November.
With the help of the block sewers and eight other members at quilting bees, Maridon then joined the squares together into a double-bed-size quilt measuring 91 inches by 103 inches. After a big debate, the group decided to keep the quilt rather than sell it at the bazaar.
A formal dedication was held on Palm Sunday, 1979, in the meeting room of the Brandon Free Public Library, where the quilt hung for many years after. When space eventually became an issue, it was taken down, rolled up, and stored on top of some of the bookcases. During the most recent extensive renovations starting in 2023, the quilt was temporarily stored at Town Hall before being returned to the Brandon Congregational Church for safekeeping.
The quilt was recently hung in the Fellowship Hall of the Congregational Church by the church deacons and Reverend Sara Rossigg. The hall is open every Sunday from 9 to 11 a.m. and will also be open on Friday, July 3, for the silent auction, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. except during the parade. If you are interested in seeing the quilt at other times, you can also call the church office at 802-247-6121 to arrange for someone to let you in.
Square One
This week we take a closer look at Square One, the leftmost block in the quilt’s top row.
The needle artist was none other than Maridon Gibson herself! At the time, at 50 years of age, she was the project leader and the most experienced quilter in the group.
Today, Maridon is 97, lives by herself on Mount Pleasant, is active on Facebook and is still as sharp as two tacks.
Ayrshire Cow
Maridon’s square choice was to commemorate the historical significance of the Ayrshire cow for Brandon’s history, a subject she was very familiar with. Her husband, David Gibson Jr., was then the secretary-treasurer of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association, a position he had held since 1957 when the Gibsons first moved to town. Not only that, but Dave was actually born in the County of Ayr, Scotland, and grew up on an Ayrshire dairy farm in Port Chester, NY.
Imported from Ayr in 1822, Ayrshire cows were prized by New England farmers for their ability to thrive in rough terrain and survive cold winters. In 1875, the breed’s popularity had led to the formation of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association (ABA). In 1882, the association moved its headquarters to Brandon, where charter member and then Secretary-Treasurer Charles M. Winslow had a large dairy farm on the corner of Pearl and Maple Streets.
The national headquarters of the ABA would remain in Brandon for the next 100 years. It employed many in town and was a great supporter of farms in Brandon and throughout the state.
Winslow ran the ABA out of his farm until 1910, when the offices moved to the second floor of the Brandon National Bank building at 2 Park Street. The offices remained there for five years before relocating to 28 Park for seven years. From 1922 through 1952, the office was on the second floor of the Conant Block, above and adjacent to the First National Bank (now the town offices).
In 1952, a new two-story brick office building was built for the ABA on the corner of Carver and Union streets, at a cost of $216,000.
Dave Gibson ran the office from 1957 to 1978, the year the quilt was made. In 1982, the headquarters moved to Columbus, Ohio.
Hardy Breed
The best demonstration of the hardiness of the Ayrshire cow came in 1929, when the ABA staged one of the most spectacular promotional events ever conducted by a dairy breed registry association. That year, two Ayrshire cows were literally walked from the headquarters in Brandon 1,200 miles to the National Dairy Show in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Both cows, Tomboy and Alice, not only survived the trip but Alice, who was pregnant during the journey, calved normally and went on to produce outstanding milk records. Accompanying the cows was young Bill Philippsen, a longtime veterinarian in Brandon with an office at 83 Park Street.
More Cows than People
Vermont has never been a heavily populated state and still isn’t today (the second least populated after Wyoming). As tourists visited the state throughout the 1800s and into the 1970s, it was often said that there were more cows than people. That legend is still repeated today, though much less frequently.
In fact, this was true until the early 1960s, as confirmed in a 1950 UVM survey cited in this clipping.
By 1960, bovines still outnumbered people, with 1.12 cows for every person. However, by 1978, when Maridon Gibson sewed square one of the Congregational Women’s quilt, people outnumbered cows in Vermont. The ratio today is three people for every cow, except in two counties, Addison and Orleans, where cows still outnumber humans.
Back in 1926, the Rutland Herald commented that, “The cows, as a whole, are better behaved and more industrious,” a statement that would not get much argument, especially in today’s political climate!
Thanks to Carol Fjeld, Bobbie Torstenson, and Reverend Sara Rossigg for information for this article and to Clair Pate for her photos of the quilt.
