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History · Pittsfield

Pittsfield dates to 1780, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1790.

1780founded

0on the National Register

18%homes built before 1940

3old photos & papers

1famous people

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From Pittsfield’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Pittsfield began

When was Pittsfield founded?

1780

Pittsfield dates its founding to 1780 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 49 in 17902020 census: 504246 years

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1820.The full story ↓

What stands out about Pittsfield’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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1840 and 1950, then more than doubled.On the map since 19154 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1997. Watch Pittsfield change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1780: 246 years of Pittsfield.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pittsfield’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pittsfield’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewLooking toward Pittsfield from Rutland …: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Pittsfield, census by census

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1840 and 1950, then more than doubled.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

On the map

Pittsfield on the map, 1915 to 1997

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

1915Rochester 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 Pittsfield.

The story

How Pittsfield came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Pittsfield.

Read it all →

Granted on November 8, 1780, the town was chartered on July 29, 1781, to Samuel Wilcox and 129 others. Pittsfield was named after Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which itself had been named in honor of William Pitt. It was first settled in 1786. The town proved suitable for grazing livestock because of its mountainous terrain. Indeed, in the 19th century, humorists attributed the invention of the one-legged milking stool to Pittsfield, "...as a means of conquering a stern difficulty."

The Farmhouse pictured in this 1915 Postcard to the left still stands

and was converted in 1960 to The Fleur De Lis Lodge, for travelers and

skiers to stay. Six rooms remain in the original farmhouse, while

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Pittsfield, 1882–1886

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

Gamaliel Leonard came in 1785 from Pittsfield, Mass., to Greenfield, N. Y., staying on Hampton Hills, and while there in 1786 bought land on Poultney River in Fairhaven. In the spring of 1786 he erected the second saw-mill in town on the site now covered by the saw-mill of Edward Bristol, having pr… — **History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers**1886 · page 596Read the page →
Read the text
Gamaliel Leonard came in 1785 from Pittsfield, Mass., to Greenfield, N. Y., staying on Hampton Hills, and while there in 1786 bought land on Poultney River in Fairhaven. In the spring of 1786 he erected the second saw-mill in town on the site now covered by the saw-mill of Edward Bristol, having previously built his house near the falls. In 1788, in company with Elias Stevens and Daniel Arnold, of Hampton, he built a forge at the west end of the mill. An ancestor of his, James Leonard, erected the first forge in the country, on the banks of the Taunton River. Gamaliel Leonard was a Revo-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

CAPT. JOEL DICKINSON, who removed from Westhaven to Benson in 1809, wras originally from Pittsfield, Mass., where he had been an active and prominent citizen. As a private he marched with the Pittsfield company of minute-men to Cambridge, on the Lexington alarm in April, 1775, and was subsequently … — **The history of Rutland county, Vermont**1882Read the page →
Read the text
CAPT. JOEL DICKINSON, who removed from Westhaven to Benson in 1809, wras originally from Pittsfield, Mass., where he had been an active and prominent citizen. As a private he marched with the Pittsfield company of minute-men to Cambridge, on the Lexington alarm in April, 1775, and was subsequently a lieutenant and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

THE town of Chittenden lies in the northeastern part of the county and is bounded on the north by the towns of Goshen in Addison county, and Rochester in Addison county, on the east by Pittsfield and a part of both Rocliester and Sherburne, on the south by Mendon, and on the west by Pittsfield and … — **History of Rutland County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers**1886 · page 547Read the page →
Read the text
THE town of Chittenden lies in the northeastern part of the county and is bounded on the north by the towns of Goshen in Addison county, and Rochester in Addison county, on the east by Pittsfield and a part of both Rocliester and Sherburne, on the south by Mendon, and on the west by Pittsfield and Brandon.
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

Pittsfield, 1780 to 1915

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

18th century
1780
FoundingPittsfield is established
19th century
1820Post officeThe Pittsfield post office opens
1840CensusPopulation peaks at 615
1863Born hereWillard Webster Eggleston is born here
20th century
1900In the archiveLooking toward Pittsfield from Rutland R.R., Green Mts., Vt
1910In the archiveBird's-eye View of
1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Pittsfield, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s3 items

Looking toward Pittsfield from Rutland R.R., Green Mts., Vt

1900Looking toward Pittsfield from Rutland R.R., Green Mt…

c. 1910Bird's-eye View of

c. 1915A Residence at

1920s–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

2011Defense.gov photo essay 110906-A-DZ751-008

2011Untitled photo

2004Pittsfield 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.

Retake this viewLooking toward Pittsfield from Rutland R.R., Green Mts., Vt, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Pittsfield’s post office has been open since 1820.

Gone or out of use

Branch SchoolschoolBrown SchoolschoolWhite Schoolschool

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Pittsfield

ParmenterVillage

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.

Rochester1 historic placeA⁻ChittendenIts storyC⁺Stockbridge4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Killington2 historic placesB⁺

Questions about Pittsfield’s history

What year was Pittsfield founded?

In 1780, according to Wikidata. Pittsfield’s post office opened in 1820, and the first U.S. census counted 49 people here in 1790.

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, 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.

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