Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Fletcher Union Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1790.
The Fletcher post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Buck Hollow (1850), East Fletcher (1878) and Binghamville (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fletcher is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. 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 Fletcher’s 8.4 sits below most of its state (19% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fletcher’s history is told.
Fletcher had its own post office from 1832 to 1911. Four 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).
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1960, then grew 3-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fletcher’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Fletcher yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Fletcher is a town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,346 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1832. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,277 to 1,346 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereElmina M. Roys Gavitt is born here
Born hereMilo White is born here
Born hereDonly C. Hawley is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGrange hall in Fletcher, Vermont, by Jack Delano, United States Office of War Information…One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fletcher. 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 Fletcher.
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 Fletcher’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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Fletcher post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Fletcher is more historic than 69% 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.
One place: the Fletcher Union Church (listed 1982).
21% of Fletcher’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (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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