Proctor, VT

Proctor is a Rutland County census-designated place of 1,565 people at the 2020 census, occupying the northern half of the Town of Proctor and including the unincorporated village of Proctor. It sits in a north-south valley along Otter Creek, where marble deposits, the Great Falls, and rail lines drew Redfield Proctor to form the Vermont Marble Company in 1880. The settlement of Sutherland Falls became the Town of Proctor in 1886; this place is the town's built-up northern section.

Marble is still the giveaway. The Fletcher Proctor Memorial Bridge, sidewalks, foundations, churches, and public buildings carry the local stone, while the Vermont Marble Museum tells the quarrying and manufacturing story. Wilson Castle adds a wildly different landmark, with towers, arches, imported materials, and a long life as a house museum. Proctor Elementary and Proctor Junior/Senior High, the free library, Beaver Pond, Carriage Trails, skating rink, and village green fill in the present-day map. The local scoop is narrower: this is the Proctor CDP, the village-centered northern section, not all 7.56 square miles of the town.