Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lamoille County Courthouse · Photo: Redjar at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 71% of U.S. towns · #56 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Lamoille County Courthouse and the Valley Hall. Below: 11 old photos and papers and maps from 1896 on.
The Hyde Park post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Garfield (1890) and Centerville (1895), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hyde Park is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #56 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 Hyde Park’s 6.7 sits below most of its state (17% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Hyde Park’s post office has been open since 1811. 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).
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1896Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveOld Vermont farm building near Hyde Park, VermontWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hyde Park yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1811. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,954 to 3,020 (+2%).
One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1936Old Vermont farm building near Hyde Park, Vermont
1936Old Vermont farm shed near Hyde Park, Vermont
1936Hyde Park (vicinity), Vermont. An auction
1936Auction near Hyde Park Village, Vermont
1936Auction near Hyde Park Village, Vermont
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Old Vermont farm…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction near Hyd…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction near Hyd…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Auction near Hyd…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hyde Park (vicin…
1936Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hyde Park (vicin…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hyde Park. 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 Hyde Park.
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 Hyde Park’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.
Nobody well known was born in Hyde Park itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 Hyde Park post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hyde Park is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns, #56 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.
Two places: the Lamoille County Courthouse (listed 1996) and the Valley Hall (2022).
21% of Hyde Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (11), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
