Newport is the only city in, and the shire town[5] of, Orleans County, Vermont, United States.

The city contains the second-largest population of any municipality in the county (only neighboring Derby is larger), and has the smallest geographic area.

Newport was founded by European Americans as a settlement in 1793 and was first called Pickerel Point.

It was the place where Rogers' Rangers retreated in 1759 after a French and Indian War incursion into Canada.

In the 19th century, the village was stimulated by construction of the railroad in 1863, during the American Civil War.

Long after the post-war Reconstruction era, the village was the site for a Reunion Society of Vermont Officers in 1891.

In 1753, during the French and Indian War, an Abenaki band took English captive John Stark by canoe down Lake Memphremagog and came ashore at the site where the city of Newport later developed.

Given the warfare on the border with Canada, both sides took captives for ransom beginning in the late 17th century.

[10] In 1932, during the Great Depression, the city operated a poor farm for the indigent, who worked for their board.

In 1868, a livery stable started operating behind a hotel, several blocks from the railway station, which opened in 1863.

[12] By the late 19th century, the Boston & Maine and Central Vermont railroads were routed through Lake Bridge.

The small village expanded because of increased connections to outside markets and ease of transportation; it attracted more residents.

[15] Rogers' Rangers, a Vermont militia, were forced to retreat through the county following their attack on Saint-Francis, Quebec in 1759, during the French and Indian War.

[16] In the early 19th century, the women of pioneer Calvin Arnold's household refused to continue to live there.

[17] During the American Civil War, the city had a scare when they received news of the St. Albans Raid.

The ferry from Magog was met with determined-looking armed men, much to the captain's surprise, who had heard nothing about the raid.

[18] In August 1942, a single-engine Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) training plane crashed into the lake near the west shore and the city, killing the pilot, the only occupant.

At the time, it included the United States post office, which has since relocated to a more modern facility.

[10] The Frost Veneer Mill, located on Prouty Bay, was once a primary employer in the Batesville neighborhood.

They included: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Barnet, Les Brown, Cab Calloway, Rosemary Clooney, the Dorsey Brothers, Jimmy and Tommy; Stan Kenton, Kay Kyser, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Tony Pastor, and Louis Prima.

Its assets and operations were divided between Great Bay Hydro and Vermont Electric Cooperative.

Poulin Grain ships farm feed products to customers in New England and upstate New York.

[46] The local Rotary has held an annual music festival involving county high schools since 1947.

Municipal offices are located in the former National Guard Armory, 222 Main Street, Newport.

There are normal officers for Vermont cities and sometimes towns, except they are appointed for cities: Delinquent tax collector, town service officer, animal control, health officer, tree warden, weigher of coal, inspector of wood and shingles, representative to NVDA (Northeastern Vermont Development Association) board, representative to EDC board (Vermont Economic Development Authority), and Fence Viewers.

In addition, the city belongs to North Country Supervisory Union with members from nearby towns.

RCT (Rural Community Transportation), a non-profit organization, runs out of Saint Johnsbury and serves Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties.

[59] The city was once a junction for the Boston & Maine Railroad's Alouette and Red Wing trains splitting northwest to Montreal on the Canadian Pacific Railway and other Red Wing sections joining the New Haven Railroad's Connecticut Yankee and going directly north on Quebec Central Railway tracks to Sherbrooke, Quebec and Quebec City.

The Massawippi Valley Railway line, which was part of the Quebec Central Railway, once ran east of Lake Memphremagog up to Lennoxville, Quebec, but it has been abandoned and the right-of-way has been converted into a mixed-use bicycle and walking path.

The city discharged an average of 908,917 US gallons (3,440,630 L; 756,832 imp gal) of treated wastewater daily into the Clyde River in 2003–2004.