Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Hoag Gristmill and Knight House Complex, the South Starksboro Friends Meeting House and Cemetery and the Starksboro Village Meeting House. Below: old-book passages.
Starksboro dates its founding to 1780 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1816.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Starksboro is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Starksboro’s 30.9 sits near the middle of its state (41% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Starksboro’s history is told.
Starksboro’s post office has been open since 1816. Another post office, South Starksboro, 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltStarksboro Village Meeting House is builtFrom Wikipedia’s history of Starksboro.
The Town was named after John Stark, a prominent Officer from the New Hampshire Militia during the Revolutionary War.
The Robinson Elementary School is named in honor of Albert J. Robinson, who helped build the school. Starksboro was chartered by state legislation on November 9, 1780.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Starksboro, cut from the printed page as they were published.
John Ferguson settled in that portion of the original town of Monkton which was afterward set off to Starksboro. At an early day he represented the town in the Legislature. He has descendants now living in Starksboro. Others who lived in this neighborhood were the following: Richard and Samuel Barnum; Stephen Haight, who settled on the place now occupied by Norman Finney.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At about the same date as the settlement of Bidwell and Kellogg, John Ferguson located in the vicinity of the present village at Starksboro, building his house in what was the town of Monkton. He subsequently represented that town in the Legislature three years, and then, becoming impressed with the fact of the inconvenience it caused the people east of Hogback Mountain to reach the business center of that town, used his influence towards getting a tract lying west of the mountain annexed to Starksboro. His endeavors were successful, as mentioned on another page, making him a resident of this town.
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.
The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1780, according to Wikidata. Starksboro’s post office opened in 1816.
Starksboro is more historic than 68% 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.
Three places: the Hoag Gristmill and Knight House Complex (listed 1980), the South Starksboro Friends Meeting House and Cemetery (1985) and the Starksboro Village Meeting House (1985).
11% of Starksboro’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1986.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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