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History · Barre

18% of Barre’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Nichols House. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and old-book passages.

1on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Barre’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Barre’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1916, drew every building in Barre.A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1916–1941.Lost villages7 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Every building

Barre, building by building, 1884–1916

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.

Barre fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Barre, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1940s18 items
Alfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston papers at noon. Location: Barre, Vermont1916Alfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston pa…Barre, Vermont. Marble center1940Barre, Vermont. Marble centerUntitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. Marble center1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. Marble center1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …Barre, Vermont. Main Street1941Barre, Vermont. Main StreetBarre, Vermont. The main street1941Barre, Vermont. The main streetThe Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941The Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, VermontAt the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, VermontAt the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, VermontUntitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. The main street1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. The main street1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Wells-Lemson…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

South Barre
1830–today
East Barre
1860–today
Graniteville
1890–today
Websterville
1900–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East BarreGranitevilleLower WebstervilleSouth BarreUpper GranitevilleWebstervilleWildersburg Common
Gone or out of use
Ibarre Granite Quarriesmine
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Barre
MaplewoodSaint SylvesterWest HillWilson

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Barre, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Barre yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 7,924 in 2010, 7,923 in 2020.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Barre, 1882–1928

Passages that mention Barre, cut from the printed page as they were published.

When the small streams had been bridged again to permit trafhe into Barre, these quarry gangs went over and helped the railroads to lift their bridges back into place, working not only with much speed but also with remarkable precision. Huge derrick sticks from the Barre quarries also were put to u…
Barre in the great flood of 19271928 · page 109Read the page →
Read the text

When the small streams had been bridged again to permit trafhe into Barre, these quarry gangs went over and helped the railroads to lift their bridges back into place, working not only with much speed but also with remarkable precision. Huge derrick sticks from the Barre quarries also were put to use in bridging the Winooski river where the “two-way” bridge

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The flood, of course, occupied all the territory of the low-lying ground. Swift currents tore their way through the railroad yards of the Barre and .Chelsea, the Central) Vernionteand the Montpelier and Wells River railroads, carrying debris of all descriptions. A number of people were marooned in …
Barre in the great flood of 19271928 · page 71Read the page →
Read the text

The flood, of course, occupied all the territory of the low-lying ground. Swift currents tore their way through the railroad yards of the Barre and .Chelsea, the Central) Vernionteand the Montpelier and Wells River railroads, carrying debris of all descriptions. A number of people were marooned in the passenger station of the Central Vermont railroad' and when the

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
two or three such appointees, and one of them usually resident at Plainfield. On and after the conference of 1838, this station lost its identity with Barre circuit, and the preachers were appointed directly to Plainfield. The complete list of Methodist preachers on Vershire circuit to 1804, and on…
The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 728Read the page →
Read the text

two or three such appointees, and one of them usually resident at Plainfield. On and after the conference of 1838, this station lost its identity with Barre circuit, and the preachers were appointed directly to Plainfield. The complete list of Methodist preachers on Vershire circuit to 1804, and on Barre circuit from that time to 1838,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
two or three such appointees, and one of them usually resident at Plainfield. On and after the conference of 1838, this station lost its identity with Barre circuit, and the preachers were appointed directly to Plainfield. The complete list of Methodist preachers on Vershire circuit to 1804, and on…
The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 728Read the page →
Read the text

two or three such appointees, and one of them usually resident at Plainfield. On and after the conference of 1838, this station lost its identity with Barre circuit, and the preachers were appointed directly to Plainfield. The complete list of Methodist preachers on Vershire circuit to 1804, and on Barre circuit from that time to 1838,

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

Barre, 1830 to 1947

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1830Post officeThe South Barre post office opens
  3. 1860Post officeThe East Barre post office opens
  4. 1890Post officeThe Graniteville post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1916In the archiveAlfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston papers at noon. Location: Barre, Vermo…
  7. 1940In the archiveBarre, Vermont. Marble center
  8. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Barre on the map, 1947 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Barre. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Barre on the 1947 USGS mapBarre on the 1957 USGS mapBarre on the 1981 USGS map1947Corinth sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Barre.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Alfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston papers at noon. Location: Barre, Vermont
Retake this viewAlfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston papers at noon. Location: Barre, Vermont, 1916

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Barre’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Barre

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Nichols House
Nichols House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Cape Cod1
Nichols HouseCape Cod

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Barre’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAlfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, sel…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Williamstown1 historic placeB−Berlin3 historic placesASouth BarreIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOrange1 historic placeB+GranitevilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEast Montpelier4 historic placesB+East Barre1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Barre’s history

What is on the National Register in Barre?

One place: the Nichols House (listed 1978).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 the Library of Congress (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.