Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #55 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1986 on, and the census since 1830.
The East Montpelier post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, East Village (1826) and North Montpelier (1840), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, East Montpelier is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #55 of 71 in Vermont. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 East Montpelier’s 15.3 sits below most of its state (29% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% 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.
Lost a third of its people between 1850 and 1920, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on East Montpelier’s Wikipedia page.
East Montpelier’s post office has been open since 1826. Two other post offices 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereClarence H. Pitkin is born here
In the archiveUntitled negative showing Washington County Extension Agricultural agent Gordon Loveless …
In the archiveEast Montpelier, Vermont. The Charles Ormsbee family at dinner
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of East Montpelier yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
East Montpelier () is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,598 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1826. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,576 in 2010, 2,598 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention East Montpelier, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of East Montpelier was organized Jan. I, 1849, having been set off from Montpelier 'by the General Assembly at their session in 1848, on the petition of citizens of Montpelier village. The meeting for organization was called by Addison Peck, a justice of the peace, on the petition of 6 freeholders to him directed for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
earlier at the centre of the old town, and shared the meeting-house there with other denominations, and at a later date a third was formed in East Montpelier, and erected a house of worship in East Montpelier village, which has been maintained ever since, and is now a handsome structure.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of East Montpelier was organized Jan. I, 1849, having been set off from Montpelier by the Genei^al Assembly at their session in 1848, on the petition of citizens of Montpelier village. The meeting for organization was called by Addison Peck, a justice of the peace, on the petition of 6 freeholders to him directed for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
herd, was one of the early settlers of East Montpelier, and became an opulent farmer. The old two-story brick house he built near the line of East Montpelier and Plainfield is occupied by his descendants. He was the author of "The Phoenix Chron- 74
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of East Montpelier.
1986Plainfield sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of East Montpelier.
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 East Montpelier’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.
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.
The East Montpelier post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
East Montpelier is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #55 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings and 2 structures.
17% of East Montpelier’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.
1935![East Montpelier, Vermont. The Charles Ormsbee family and his widowed mother, Mrs. [Myrtie] Ormsbee, at dinner](https://images.townratings.com/story/34236/b36c81c97f58b24f83c2-s.jpg)
1942
1942
