Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #1 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
15 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
Bellows Falls dates its founding to 1753 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bellows Falls is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 71 in Vermont. All 2 inputs put Bellows Falls near the top nationally; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest.
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 Bellows Falls’ 1,377 sits above most of its state (99% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 398 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bellows Falls.
The community was settled in 1753 by colonists of English descent, who called it Great Falls. Later the settlers renamed the town for Colonel Benjamin Bellows, a landowner, but kept the name "Great Falls" for the waterfall, a translation of their Abenaki name, "Kitchee pontegu."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bellows Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The next bridge, after the two toll bridges, to span the Connecticut at Bellows Falls, was the first Cheshire railroad bridge located only a few feet north of the toll bridge. This was erected a few months after the completion of the railroad between Fitchburg and Bellows Falls in 1849, the depot being located on the New Hampshire side until the bridge was built, and passengers for Bellows Falls were obliged to cross the toll bridge.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
described, was placed across the river almost directly over the dam during the summer of 185 1, about the time of the completion of the Vermont Valley railroad from Brattleboro to Bellows Falls. The Sullivan railroad had been open from here to Windsor nearly two years, using a station located near the New Hampshire end of the toll bridge. This primitive bridge in turn gave way to the present iron lattice bridge in 1882, the first piece of iron being laid Februarj' i,
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.
Born hereJennie Maria Arms Sheldon is born here
In the archiveBellows Fallslabel QS:Len,"Bellows Falls"
In the archive1886 birds-eye map of
In the archiveBellows Falls, Vermont
Born hereRoger Robb is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereCarlton Fisk is born here
Born hereErnest Thompson is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bellows Falls. 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 Bellows Falls.
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 Bellows Falls’ page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 4,883 in 1910; 2,747 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bellows Falls’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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.
In 1753, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bellows Falls’ post office opened in 1801, and the census of 1870 counted 697 people here.
Bellows Falls is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 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.
62% of Bellows Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (7), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1886
1900
1900
1900
1905
1905
1907
