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BHistory
History · Marlboro

Marlboro’s post office opened in 1812, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1790.

1812first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
5famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Marlboro’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Marlboro began

When was Marlboro founded?

1812

The Marlboro post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 629 in 17902020 census: 1,722214 years

How historic is Marlboro?

B

More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Marlboro post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Marlboro’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marlboro is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marlboro’s overall grade.
Founding era1812, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194025.1% of homes (±10.4) · typical VT town 22.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical VT town 147 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 60%
NewerOlder

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 Marlboro’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (5% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Marlboro’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1820 and 1940, then grew 7-fold.On the map since 18914 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1984. Watch Marlboro change.Deep rootsA post office since 1812: 214 years of Marlboro.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Marlboro’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Marlboro’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 viewView of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Marlboro, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,800180018501900195020001,296 in 1820Low: 225

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1820 and 1940, then grew 7-fold.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

On the map

Marlboro on the map, 1891 to 1984

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

Marlboro on the 1891 USGS mapMarlboro on the 1935 USGS mapMarlboro on the 1954 USGS mapMarlboro on the 1984 USGS map1891Brattleboro 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 Marlboro.

The story

How Marlboro came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Marlboro.

Read it all →

Named "New Marlborough" for the Duke of Marlborough until 1800, the town was a New Hampshire grant chartered on April 29, 1751, to Timothy Dwight and 64 others from Northampton, Massachusetts and vicinity. The French and Indian War prevented settlement, so the first charter was forfeited and a new one issued by Governor Benning Wentworth on September 21, 1761, then again on April 17, 1764, as New Marlborough. The town was surveyed in 1762, and 64 equal "rights" (divisions) were created, with four lots in the center of town excepted. First settled in 1763, the town grew rapidly between 1764 and 1770 with emigrants from Massachusetts and Connecticut. By 1799 there were 313 children registered in the town's schools.

ChaptersTown Common20th century21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Marlboro in 1930

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

“At an ecclesiastical council convened at Marlboro, the 8th day of December, A. D. 1778, pursuant to letters missive from the church of Christ in said Marlboro, dated Nov. 12th, 1778, for the purpose of separating Mr. Gershom Clark Lyman to [70]
The history of the town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont1930Read the page →
Read the text

“At an ecclesiastical council convened at Marlboro, the 8th day of December, A. D. 1778, pursuant to letters missive from the church of Christ in said Marlboro, dated Nov. 12th, 1778, for the purpose of separating Mr. Gershom Clark Lyman to [70]

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Writing from Wilmington, Oct. 20, 1863, Dr. Newton reviewed his life in Marlborough. “50 years ago today, I went to Marlboro’ as a candidate to preach the gospel, and for settlement. Then the snow was four inches deep and all looked dreary and sad.
The history of the town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont1930Read the page →
Read the text

Writing from Wilmington, Oct. 20, 1863, Dr. Newton reviewed his life in Marlborough. “50 years ago today, I went to Marlboro’ as a candidate to preach the gospel, and for settlement. Then the snow was four inches deep and all looked dreary and sad.

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

Marlboro, 1795 to 2020

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1795Born hereNewel K. Whitney is born here
  3. 19th century
  4. 1802Born hereEdson B. Olds is born here
  5. 1812Post officeThe Marlboro post office opens
  6. 1816Born hereChauncey N. Olds is born here
  7. 1826Born hereDaniel Halladay is born here
  8. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 20th century
  10. 1908In the archiveView of
  11. 21st century
  12. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,722
By decade

Marlboro, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
View of1908View ofView of South Pond1908View of South Pond
1910s–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
Today10 recent
The Colonel Williams Inn, a country inn and wedding venue dating to 1769, near Marlboro, Vermont2017The Colonel Williams Inn, a country inn and wedding v…A tree that's lost most of its leaves for fall near Marlboro, Vermont2017A tree that's lost most of its leaves for fall near M…A tree in the midst of changing colors for fall, near Marlboro, Vermont2017A tree in the midst of changing colors for fall, near…Autumnal scene on a drive past an old country cemetery near Marlboro, Vermont2017Autumnal scene on a drive past an old country cemeter…Marlboro College campus, Marlboro, Vermont2017Marlboro College campus, Marlboro, VermontMarlboro Whetstone Inn2012Marlboro Whetstone InnMarlboro Town Offices and Post Office2012Marlboro Town Offices and Post OfficeColonel Williams Inn2012Colonel Williams InnRiver in the Mist2011River in the MistMarlboro vt highlight2004Marlboro vt highlight
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.

View of
Retake this viewView of, 1908

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

5 famous people were born in Marlboro

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

See all →
Newel K. WhitneyPresiding Bishop of the LDS church · b. 1795
Edson B. OldsAmerican politician · b. 1802
Chauncey N. OldsAmerican politician · b. 1816
Daniel HalladayAmerican businessman · b. 1826
Francis Lyman WordenAmerican businessman · b. 1830
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Marlboro’s post office has been open since 1812.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Ames Hill
Gone or out of use
Hogback Ski Arealocale
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Marlboro
CenterCollinsFirstKingOld Hogback - West MarlboroPowers

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

HalifaxIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDover4 historic placesB+Brattleboro17 historic placesA+Dummerston4 historic placesA−

Questions about Marlboro’s history

What year was Marlboro founded?

The Marlboro post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Marlboro rank for history?

Marlboro is more historic than 60% 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.

How old are the homes in Marlboro?

25% of Marlboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.4 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1976.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (4), 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.