The story so far
St. Albans, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of St. Albans yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 5,999 to 6,988 (+16%).
–Not graded
History · St. Albans
1 of St. Albans’ places is on the National Register
Its Register listing is the St. Albans Town Hall. Most of St. Albans was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and old-book passages.
1on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
What stands out about St. Albans’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · On the map
St. Albans on the map, 1914 to 1987
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Albans. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914St Albans sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Albans.
From the old history books
What they wrote about St. Albans in 1889
Passages that mention St. Albans, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A centennial history of St. Albans, Vermont1889 · page 18Read the page →
Read the text
Railroads center at St. Albans from four directions, and the V illage has attained distinction in the railway world as the headquarters of the Central Vermont Railroad system. It is a notable fact that from the general offices of the management more miles of road are operated and a larger number of employes are directed than from the headquarters of any other railroad company in New England. The Central Vermont Railroad management control and operate nearly 800 miles of main line of road,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A centennial history of St. Albans, Vermont1889 · page 37Read the page →
Read the text
Manufactures THE manufacturing interests of St. Albans give employment to a large number of persons. They include the car and railroad shops of the Central Vermont Railroad Co., the bridge works of the Vermont Construction Co., the extensive works of the St. Albans Foundry, the Willard Manufacturing Co., and several others, individual sketches of each of which follow. St. Albans should and must be a large manu-
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
St. Albans, 1848 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1848Post officeThe Saint Albans Bay post office opens
- 1865
In the archiveSt. Albans as seen from the residence of Hon. J. Gregory Smith. Lake Champlain and Adiron… - 1882
In the archiveCvmemo1882jgregorysmithletter - 20th century
- 1902
In the archiveStAlbans Library ca1901 Vermont 2 - 1914
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
St. Albans, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1860s–1880s5 items
c. 1865
c. 1865
c. 18651900s1 item
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 albumThen & 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 viewSt. Albans as seen from the residence of Hon. J. Gregory Smith. Lake Champlain and Adirondacks in the distance, by T. G…, c. 1865
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on St. Albans’ page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in St. Albans
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1996
St. Albans Town Hall
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Romanesque1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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
Hill Farm EstatesSaint Albans Bay
Gone or out of use
Saint Albans Air Force Stationmilitary
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. Albans
Holy CrossKattleMontefioreSaint Albans BaySaint Albans PointWarner
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish St. Albans’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.Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about St. Albans’ history
What is on the National Register in St. Albans?
One place: the St. Albans Town Hall (listed 1996).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.