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History · Canaan

Canaan’s post office opened in 1811, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Jacobs Stand, the U.S. Inspection Station-Beecher Falls, Vermont and the U.S. Inspection Station-Canaan, Vermont. Its Register listings are the Jacobs Stand, the U.S. Inspection Station-Beecher Falls, Vermont and the U.S. Inspection Station-Canaan, Vermont. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1912 on and the census since 1790.

1811first post office
3on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Canaan’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Canaan began

When was Canaan founded?

1811

The Canaan post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Wallis Pond (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 19 in 17902020 census: 896215 years
Founding year: the first Canaan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Canaan’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1810 and 1820, then grew 3-fold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Canaan, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Deep rootsA post office since 1811: 215 years of Canaan.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Canaan’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Canaan’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPanoramic birdseye view Canadian Bounda…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Canaan, census by census

02004006008001,0001,20018001850190019502000332 in 1810Low: 227

Lost a third of its people between 1810 and 1820, then grew 3-fold.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Canaan’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Canaan’s post office has been open since 1811. Another post office, Wallis Pond, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Canaan
1811–today
Beecher Falls
1889–today
Wallis Pond
1890–1923
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ArlinsBeecher FallsWallace Pond
Gone or out of use
Bunnell Airfieldairport
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Canaan
Alice HuntCanaan HillCanaan VillageMorrison-SchoolhouseOld Canaan HillSouth Canaan ChurchWallace PondWilson

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

The story so far

Canaan, in brief

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

Canaan is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 896 at the 2020 census. Canaan contains the village of Beecher Falls, located at the confluence of the Connecticut River and Halls Stream. It is part of the Berlin, NH-VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. Due to Québécois ancestry, 26% of Canaan residents speak French as their primary language, making the town one of New England's "Little Canadas." This is a decrease from 1982, when nearly 44% spoke French as their native language.

Its first post office opened in 1811. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 972 to 896 (-8%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Canaan, 1811 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1811Post officeThe Canaan post office opens
  3. 1889Post officeThe Beecher Falls post office opens
  4. 1890Post officeThe Wallis Pond post office opens
  5. 1898Born hereNeil Tillotson is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1912In the archivePanoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt., Beecher Falls, Vt., West Stewarsto…
  8. 1923Post officeThe Wallis Pond post office closes
  9. 1930BuiltJacobs Stand is built
  10. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 1,196
By decade

Canaan, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s2 items
Panoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt., Beecher Falls, Vt., West Stewarstown, N.H. - Photo by Moore1912Panoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt.…Panoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt., Beecher Falls, Vt., West Stewarstown, N.H. - Photo by Moore1912Panoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt.…
1920s–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
Today15 recent
Charles Hoyt2014Charles HoytPark - panoramio (86)2013Park - panoramio (86)Nice House - panoramio (2)2013Nice House - panoramio (2)Grace United Methodist Church2013Grace United Methodist ChurchConnecticut River near Stewartstown2013Connecticut River near StewartstownConnecticut River dam Stewartstown2013Connecticut River dam StewartstownConnecticut River at2013Connecticut River atConnecticut River 72013Connecticut River 7Connecticut River 62013Connecticut River 6Canaan directions2013Canaan directionsCanaan Vermont border station north view2013Canaan Vermont border station north viewCanaan VT signs2013Canaan VT signsCanaan VT 52013Canaan VT 5Canaan VT2012Canaan VTCanaan vt highlight2004Canaan vt highlight
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.

Panoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt., Beecher Falls, Vt., West Stewarstown, N.H. - Photo by Moore
Retake this viewPanoramic birdseye view Canadian Boundary Canaan, Vt., Beecher Falls, Vt., West Stewarstown, N.H. - Photo by Moore, 1912

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Canaan

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

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Jacobs Stand
Jacobs Stand, built 1930U.S. Inspection Station-Beecher Falls, VermontU.S. Inspection Station-Canaan, Vermont
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Adamesque1
Neo-Palladian1
Jacobs StandAdamesque · Built 1930
U.S. Inspection Station-Beecher Falls, VermontBuilding
U.S. Inspection Station-Canaan, VermontBuilding

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Beecher Falls1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLemingtonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Canaan’s history

What year was Canaan founded?

The Canaan post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Canaan?

Three places: the Jacobs Stand (listed 1980), the U.S. Inspection Station-Beecher Falls, Vermont (2014) and the U.S. Inspection Station-Canaan, Vermont (2014).

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 Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.