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–Not graded
History · Kirby

16% of Kirby’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1937 on.

0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kirby’s archive · credits on each photo
The story

How Kirby came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kirby.

Read it all →

The town was chartered to Roswell Hopkins in 1790; Hopkins served as Clerk of the House of Representatives and Secretary of State of Vermont, and he accepted the land grant in lieu of cash as payment for his government service. The grant Hopkins received was originally called Hopkinsville; it was later combined with a parcel from the town of Burke, and renamed Kirby. Several ideas have been proposed for how the name Kirby was chosen; the most common is that it is a variant of the English Kirkby, which means a village or settlement around a church. By the time the town was organized in 1807, Hopkins had sold his interest and moved to Hopkinton, New York.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Kirby, decade by decade

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

1930s6 items
Bob McNally and the bull, Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothstein, United States Resettlement Administration, September 193…1937Bob McNally and the bull, Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur R…Hired girl ironing. McNally farm1937Hired girl ironing. McNally farmHired girl taking in the washing. McNally farm1937Hired girl taking in the washing. McNally farmMcNallys at dinner. Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothstein, United States Office of War Information, Sept. 1937, from the …1937McNallys at dinner. Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothste…Mr. McNally milking. Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothstein, United States Office of War Information, Sept. 1937, from the…1937Mr. McNally milking. Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothst…McNally farm. Kirby, Vermont1937McNally farm. Kirby, Vermont
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
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bob McNally and the bull, Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothstein, United States Resettlement Administration, September 193…
Retake this viewBob McNally and the bull, Kirby, Vermont, by Arthur Rothstein, United States Resettlement Administration, September 193…, 1937

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Kirby’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Kirby

Nobody well known was born in Kirby itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Eleanor H. PorterAmerican novelist · b. 1868
C
Chris HedgesAmerican journalist · b. 1956
Thaddeus StevensAmerican statesman · b. 1792
Solon Irving BaileyAmerican astronomer · b. 1854
Clement Calhoun YoungGovernor of California · b. 1869
B
Bob SmithAmerican physician and surgeon · b. 1879
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
North KirbySouth Kirby
Gone or out of use
Kirby Mountain Quarriesmine
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kirby
North Kirby - BrooksideSouth Kirby

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Kirby’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBob McNally and the bull, Kirby, Vermon…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Burke3 historic placesALyndon10 historic placesA−VictoryIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSt. Johnsbury14 historic placesA+Concord1 historic placeA−

Questions about Kirby’s history

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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia 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.