Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns · #31 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
16 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Socialist Labor Party Hall, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 37 buildings. Below: 22 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and old-book passages.
The Barre post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 92% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Barre is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #31 of 71 in Vermont. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Vermont towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Vermont town has 147 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Barre’s 65.4 sits near the middle of its state (50% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 55 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1916Alfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston pa…
1940Barre, Vermont. Marble center
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …
1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …
1941Barre, Vermont. Main Street
1941Barre, Vermont. The main street
1941The Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont
1941At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont
1941At the Wells-Lemson granite quarry near Barre, Vermont
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: Barre, Vermont. …
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: The Wells-Lemson…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…
1941Untitled photo, possibly related to: At the Wells-Lem…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.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Barre yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1802. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 9,052 to 8,491 (-6%).
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 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 the passenger station of the Central Vermont railroad' and when the
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.
BuiltWheelock Law Office is built
BuiltReynolds House is builtBuiltSocialist Labor Party Hall is built
BuiltAldrich Public Library is builtIn the archiveAlfred Hicks, a 10-year-old newsie, selling Boston papers at noon. Location: Barre, Vermo…In the archiveBarre, Vermont. Marble center
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveConstruction of Amtrak's new Acela Express trainsetEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Barre. 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 Barre.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
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 · +15Barre’s post office has been open since 1802.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Barre post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Barre is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns, #31 of 71 in Vermont. 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.
16 listings: 15 buildings, among them the Socialist Labor Party Hall (a National Historic Landmark since 2000) and the Barre City Hall and Opera House (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Barre Downtown Historic District, with 37 contributing buildings. 55 historic buildings in all.
46% of Barre’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1947.
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).
From the Library of Congress (22), the National Register of Historic Places (16), 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.
1980
1980
1980