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History · Greensboro

Greensboro dates to 1781, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Greensboro Depot and the Lakeview Inn. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1790.

1781founded
2on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Greensboro’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Greensboro began

When was Greensboro founded?

1781

Greensboro dates its founding to 1781 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 19 in 17902020 census: 811245 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1804.The full story ↓

What stands out about Greensboro’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Greensboro, and 6 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Then and nowOne place photographed years apart. Drag to compare.Deep rootsEstablished in 1781: 245 years of Greensboro.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Greensboro’s post office has been open since 1804. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Greensboro
1804–today
East Greensborough
1857–1888
Greensboro Bend
1873–today
Greensboro Station
1873–1873
Greensboro Four Corners
1888–1903
Greensboro Mills
1903–1904
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Campbells CornerEast GreensboroGebbie CornerGreensboro BendThe Four CornersTolman Corner
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Greensboro
BakerGreen Mountain MonasteryGreensboro VillageLincoln - NoyesMitchell - McLarenSaint Michaels

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

Help out

Start Greensboro’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Greensboro’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 viewCaspian Lake from the golf links, Green…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Then & now

The same spot, 77 years apart

Drag across each photo to compare.

Caspian Lake, Greensboro, VtCaspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (69092)c. 19302007
Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (69092)Matched from the two captions
The story

How Greensboro came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Greensboro.

Read it all →

Greensboro was chartered in 1781. The town was named for Timothy Green, one of the original charter recipients and an original landowner under the charter. However, there is no evidence that he ever visited the town, and his land was sold for non-payment of taxes a few decades after he received it.:13-14 Only three of the original proprietors settled in the town; most likely, the others were land speculators who sold their land to others or let it be sold at tax sales when buyers could not be found.:18

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Greensboro in 1882

Passages that mention Greensboro, cut from the printed page as they were published.

ence on my thoughts and actions. In removing from a more favored part of New England where Gospel privileges were fully enjoyed, into the town of Greensboro, in the northern part of Vermont, which was then comparativel}'' a wilderness, and where the preaching of the Gospel was seldom enjoyed, the q…
The history of Orleans county, Vermont. Civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military1882 · page 216Read the page →
Read the text

ence on my thoughts and actions. In removing from a more favored part of New England where Gospel privileges were fully enjoyed, into the town of Greensboro, in the northern part of Vermont, which was then comparativel}'' a wilderness, and where the preaching of the Gospel was seldom enjoyed, the question came home, with more solemn

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
as private soldiers, three clergymen in regular standing as such, and at the present time preac hing the gospel, the three selectmen of the town of Greensboro, the editor of the Newport Express, and a corporal reputed to be worth $150 000, all volunteers, and all displaying a soldierly pride in the…
The history of Orleans county, Vermont. Civil, ecclesiastical, biographical and military1882 · page 374Read the page →
Read the text

as private soldiers, three clergymen in regular standing as such, and at the present time preac hing the gospel, the three selectmen of the town of Greensboro, the editor of the Newport Express, and a corporal reputed to be worth $150 000, all volunteers, and all displaying a soldierly pride in the performance of their duty. — Newspaper since the ivar.

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.

Timeline

Greensboro, 1781 to 1930

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1781
    FoundingGreensboro is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1804Post officeThe Greensboro post office opens
  5. 1849Born hereGeorge Comings is born here
  6. 1852Born hereAnna Elizabeth Stoddard is born here
  7. 1857Post officeThe East Greensborough post office opens
  8. 1873Post officeThe Greensboro Bend post office opens
  9. 1888Post officeThe East Greensborough post office closes
  10. 20th century
  11. 1928On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  12. 1930In the archiveCaspian Lake from the golf links, Greensboro, Vt (69091)
By decade

Greensboro, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s3 items
Caspian Lake from the golf links, Greensboro, Vt (69091)c. 1930Caspian Lake from the golf links, Greensboro, Vt (690…Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (69092)c. 1930Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (69092)Sunset, Blacks Point, Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (69090)c. 1930Sunset, Blacks Point, Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt (6…
1940s–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
Today3 recent
Caspian Lake, Greensboro, Vt2007Caspian Lake, Greensboro, VtVermont2006VermontGreensboro vt highlight2004Greensboro vt highlight
On the map

Greensboro on the map, 1928 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greensboro. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Greensboro on the 1928 USGS mapGreensboro on the 1938 USGS mapGreensboro on the 1951 USGS mapGreensboro on the 1986 USGS map1928Hardwick sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greensboro.

On the National Register

2 historic places in Greensboro

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Greensboro Depot
Greensboro DepotLakeview Inn
Buildings
Greensboro DepotBuilding
Lakeview InnBuilding

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

People over time

Greensboro, census by census

02004006008001,00018001850190019502000Peak: 1,065

Between 19 and 1,065 people in every census since 1790.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Greensboro

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
George ComingsDairyman, politician; Lieutenant Governor of Wi… · b. 1849
Anna Elizabeth StoddardAmerican journalist and anti-secret-society agi… · b. 1852
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

GloverIts storyBHardwick6 historic placesA+Craftsbury2 historic placesA−Wheelock1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStannard2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGreensboro Bend1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWolcott1 historic placeB

Questions about Greensboro’s history

What year was Greensboro founded?

In 1781, according to Wikidata. Greensboro’s post office opened in 1804, and the first U.S. census counted 19 people here in 1790.

What is on the National Register in Greensboro?

Two places: the Greensboro Depot (listed 1975) and the Lakeview Inn (2000).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.