Founding year: the first Montpelier post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Montpelier’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Montpelier is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Montpelier’s overall grade.
Indiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Indiana town has 7.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Montpelier’s 6.5 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Indiana towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Montpelier’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 3,405 in 1900; 1,540 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Montpelier’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Montpelier, building by building, 1895–1920
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.
In 1836 and 1837, several groups of settlers from Vermont moved to East Central Indiana, and settled on the high ground on the south side of the Salamonie River. Abel Baldwin, a veteran of the War of 1812, was the leader of this group of Vermont natives. They named their community Montpelier, after the capital of their original home state. Baldwin and his son-in-law, civil engineer John Cook, surveyed the area in 1836, and it was platted on September 5, 1837. The original plat had 16 blocks with a total of 154 lots.
Passages that mention Montpelier, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Montpelier, from the time it was first chartered in 1781 to the year 18601860 · page 15Read the page →
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The geological formation of the township of Montpelier is mainly slate and limestone, prevailing separately and wholly in a few localities, but perhaps more generally alternating on the same piece of ground, and mingled with other substances, such as talc, mica, hornblend, &c. The crumbling and pulverization of intermingled slate and lime compose, perhaps, the best and most durable soils to be found ; and this will account for the excellence of the soil of the town of Montpelier, and that of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the town of Montpelier, from the time it was first chartered in 1781 to the year 18601860 · page 58Read the page →
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On the 4th day of March, 1791, was made the first movement among the inhabitants of Montpelier towards effecting a municipal organization of their town. On that day the following petition of three of the freeholders of the town of Montpelier was presented to John Taplin, Esq., a resident of Berlin, but a Justice of the Peace of Orange County, to which both Berlin and Montpelier then belonged : To Jo] in Taplin, Esquire :
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The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882Read the page →
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But it is not to be understood that all of these ministers were engaged in preaching in Montpelier during the years set against their names. No doubt all resided here, and some of them preached within the limits of the old town of Montpelier, but som.e were employed elsewhere.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882Read the page →
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transported the mails for short terms until about 1830, when Cottrill and Clark became owners of the route, and put on good horses and good coaches from Montpelier to Danville, there connecting with stages from Canada to Boston, also to Littleton and the White Mountains, going from Montpelier to Danville one day and return-
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.
Timeline
Montpelier, 1840 to 1962
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Montpelier post office opened in 1840, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Montpelier rank for history?
Montpelier is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Montpelier?
One place: the Montpelier Carnegie Library (listed 2007).
How old are the homes in Montpelier?
32% of Montpelier’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 14% for an Indiana town; the median home was built in 1964.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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