Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #65 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Fairfax Covered Bridge. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1790.
The Fairfax post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, North Fairfax (1837), Beaver (1892) and Huntville (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fairfax is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #65 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 Fairfax’s 1.9 sits below most of its state (12% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 half of its people between 1850 and 1950, then grew 4-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fairfax’s Wikipedia page.
Fairfax’s post office has been open since 1802. Three 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 hereIsrael Bush Richardson is born here
Born hereGeorge N. Dale is born here
In the archiveFairfax Falls, (from above,) Lamoille River, Vt.Alternate Title: Green Mountain scenery
In the archiveBellows Free Academy
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fairfax yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fairfax is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States, with a population of 5,014 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1802. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,285 to 5,014 (+17%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
2 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 Fairfax. 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 Fairfax.
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 Fairfax’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 Fairfax post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Fairfax is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #65 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.
One place: the Fairfax Covered Bridge (listed 1974).
14% of Fairfax’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1994.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.
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