Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
15 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1880.
Vermont dates its founding to 1835 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Vermont’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Vermont.
The village was founded in 1835 by James and Joseph Crail. According to local tradition, it was named after the state of Vermont by Abitha Williams, to whom the Crail brothers had traded the naming rights in exchange for a gallon of whiskey. A post office was established in 1837, and the village was incorporated in 1857.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Vermont, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Vermont a free and independent state. He assisted in forming the first constitution of Vermont, which was adopted by the convention, July 2d, 1777, and in 1778 he was elected the first governor of Vermont, which office he held, with the exception of one year, till his death.* Governor Chittenden possessed in an eminent degree, precisely those qualifications which fitted him for the
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Now it seems to me that the leading minds of Dartmouth College must have seen, as soon as the union which had put that institution within the boundaries of Vermont was dissolved, that the clause in the Constitution of Vermont, which provided that "one University in this State ought to be established by the General Assembly," became a strong, if not an impassable barrier to any further assistance to Dartmouth College from Vermont, and that it also contained a fore-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
delegates from forty-three towns, and resulted in a new application to the General Assembly of Yermont, then sitting at Windsor, for a union of all the Grants on both sides of the River, under the Government of the State of Vermont. It seems to have been due to the exertions and influence of Ira Allen that that Convention did not resolve to seek a union with New Hampshire instead of Vermont.f The question of union was referred by the General Assembly of Vermont
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Although that beautiful portion of Vermont bordering on Lake Champlain was thus early explored, and although settlements were made in its immediate vicinity, by the Dutch at Albany in 1613 — by the English at Springfield, on the Connecticut, in 1635 — and by the French at Montreal in 1640, the whites did not permanently occupy any portion of the territory comprised in the present boundaries of the State, until
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltHarvey Lee Ross House is built
Born hereJohn Calhoun Phillips is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2024Vermont, Illinois Public Library
2024Abandoned Vermont Gas Station
2023USPS Post Office of
2023Fire Department of
2023Ballpark of
2023Abraham Lincoln historical marker in
2022On the Crack of Dawn
2022Field in
2015Mersin HouseImage
2015McCormick HouseImage
2015Image Whitney House
2015Image Snowden House
2015Image Patterson Hamer House
2015Image Page House
2015Image O'Connell House
2015Image Liberty Street House
2015Image Hunter House
2015Image Edward Hamer House
2015Image Durell House
2015Image Chipman HouseEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vermont. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Vermont.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 570 and 1,195 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Vermont’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Vermont’s post office has been open since 1837.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1835, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Vermont’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 1,133 people here.
15 listings: 15 buildings, among them the Vermont Masonic Hall (listed 1988, the first). 27 historic buildings in all.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (20), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (15), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
