Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1790.
Cornwall dates its founding to 1761 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cornwall is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age 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 Cornwall’s 91.1 sits near the middle of its state (55% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 11 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cornwall’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cornwall. 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 Cornwall.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWilliam Slade is born here
Born hereSheldon Peck is born here
Born hereSolomon Foot is born here
In the archiveGlen Dale
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cornwall yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cornwall is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. It was founded November 3, 1761. The population was 1,207 at the 2020 census.
Cornwall was established in 1761. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,185 in 2010, 1,207 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Cornwall, cut from the printed page as they were published.
After Daniel Foot discovered the defect in his title under the Weybridge charter, he purchased the right of pitching under the Cornwall charter and laid out one hundred acres, which included the whole of the falls on the Cornwall side and extended some forty rods south of them to " the old Weybridge corner." In the same year (1784) he erected a large building for a saw and a gristmill; the first was put in operation in July, and the other in November, 1785.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
As a considerable tract of territory now included in the town of Middlebury was formerly in the town of Cornwall and its settlement made under the jurisdiction of that town, it becomes essential to trace those settlements in order to complete the history of Middlebury.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, that the north-eiiscorly part of the town of Cornwall, in the County of Addison, hereinafter described, be, and the same 13 anne.xed to the town of Middlebury, in said County, bounded as follows, viz : Beginning at the south-west corner of said Mid llebury, then running west so far that a north line will strike the west end of the long causeway, so called, then on a straight line to the southcast corner of Ethan Andrus's farm, on which he now lives, thence
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2016CornwallVT GlenDale
2016CornwallVT FirstCongregationalChurchParsonage
2014FooteHouse
2014FooteHouse 20140818 2
2012Cornwall, Vermont general store
2012Cornwall, Vermont Town Hall
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2010Cornwall, Vermont
2004Cornwall vt highlightNo 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 Cornwall’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 640 and 1,279 people in every census since 1790.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cornwall’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Cornwall had its own post office from 1827 to 1906. Another post office, West Cornwall, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1761, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cornwall’s post office opened in 1827, and the first U.S. census counted 826 people here in 1790.
Cornwall is more historic than 93% 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings and 1 structure. 11 historic buildings in all.
27% of Cornwall’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.9 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (16), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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 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.
