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A−History
History · Warren

Warren’s post office opened in 1819, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Warren was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 74 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1919 on, and the census since 1800.

1819first post office
2on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Warren’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Warren began, and where its name came from

When was Warren founded?

1819

The Warren post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, East Warren (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 58 in 18002020 census: 1,977207 years

How did Warren get its name?

Warren was named for Dr. Joseph Warren, Revolutionary War patriot.

How historic is Warren?

A−

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Warren post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Warren’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warren is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warren’s overall grade.
Founding era1819, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19408.6% of homes (±3.8) · typical VT town 22.4% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register2 listings, 74 historic buildings, 467 per 10,000 residents · typical VT town 147 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 80%
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 Warren’s 467 sits above most of its state (84% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 74 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 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 Warren’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1860 and 1940, then grew 4-fold.A historic districtThe Warren Village Historic District takes in 74 historic buildings.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Warren, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Warren’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Warren’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 viewMain Street, Looking North: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Warren, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000180018501900195020001,041 in 1860Low: 450

Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1940, then grew 4-fold.

23 censuses, 1800–2020.

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

On the National Register

2 listings protect 74 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
74
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
Warren Covered Bridge
Warren Covered BridgeWarren Village Historic District
DistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Italianate1
Second Empire1
Warren Covered BridgeStructure
Warren Village Historic DistrictGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Warren came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Warren.

Read it all →

Granted on November 9, 1780, Warren was chartered on October 20, 1789, to John Throop and 67 others. It was named for Dr. Joseph Warren, Revolutionary War patriot. The first settlers, Samuel Lard and Seth Leavitt, arrived in 1797. Grain and lumber mills were built on the Mad River to grind grain or manufacture lumber and clapboards. On the fertile intervales, farmers grew hay. By 1839, when the town's population was 766, cattle and about 4000 sheep grazed the hills. Milk and maple syrup were important commodity goods.

In the late 1930s, the area began to be developed for recreational skiing.The first ski tow was erected in the Mad River Valley by the Warren Outing Club.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Warren in 1882

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

Warren has quite a village. There are some 50 dwelling-houses, 1 church, 1 school-house, a very good one ; 3 stores, 2 boot and shoe .shops, 1 tannery, 5 blacksmith shops, 2 clap-board mills, 2 sawmills, I grist-mill, 3 carriage shops, 1 harness-shop, 1 tin-shop, 2 cooper-shops, 2 clothes-pins shop…
The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 807Read the page →
Read the text

Warren has quite a village. There are some 50 dwelling-houses, 1 church, 1 school-house, a very good one ; 3 stores, 2 boot and shoe .shops, 1 tannery, 5 blacksmith shops, 2 clap-board mills, 2 sawmills, I grist-mill, 3 carriage shops, 1 harness-shop, 1 tin-shop, 2 cooper-shops, 2 clothes-pins shops, 1 gunsmith, 1 millin-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Warren has quite a village. There are some 50 dwelling-houses, 1 church, 1 school-house, a very good one ; 3 stores, 2 boot and shoe .shops, 1 tannery, 5 blacksmith shops, 2 clap-board mills, 2 sawmills, I grist-mill, 3 carriage shops, 1 harness-shop, 1 tin-shop, 2 cooper-shops, 2 clothe_s-pins sho…
The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 807Read the page →
Read the text

Warren has quite a village. There are some 50 dwelling-houses, 1 church, 1 school-house, a very good one ; 3 stores, 2 boot and shoe .shops, 1 tannery, 5 blacksmith shops, 2 clap-board mills, 2 sawmills, I grist-mill, 3 carriage shops, 1 harness-shop, 1 tin-shop, 2 cooper-shops, 2 clothe_s-pins shops, 1 gunsmith, 1 millin-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Hiland G. Campbell, age 26, enlisted for the town of Warren, as a recruit for the 3d Vt. Battery. In Oct. kicked by a horse, and injured in'the thigh ; remained in hospital ; discharged ; receives a pension of $8 per month ; bounty $733.34, Government and town.
The History of Washington County in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 799Read the page →
Read the text

Hiland G. Campbell, age 26, enlisted for the town of Warren, as a recruit for the 3d Vt. Battery. In Oct. kicked by a horse, and injured in'the thigh ; remained in hospital ; discharged ; receives a pension of $8 per month ; bounty $733.34, Government and town.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Hiland G. Campbell, age 26, enlisted for the town of Warren, as a recruit for the 3d Vt. Battery. In Oct. kicked by a horse, and injured in the thigh ; remained in hospital ; discharged ; receives a pension of $8 per month ; bounty $733.34, Government and town.
The history of Washington county, in the Vermont historical gazetteer1882 · page 799Read the page →
Read the text

Hiland G. Campbell, age 26, enlisted for the town of Warren, as a recruit for the 3d Vt. Battery. In Oct. kicked by a horse, and injured in the thigh ; remained in hospital ; discharged ; receives a pension of $8 per month ; bounty $733.34, Government and 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.

Timeline

Warren, 1819 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1819Post officeThe Warren post office opens
  3. 1857Post officeThe East Warren post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1907Post officeThe East Warren post office closes
  6. 1910In the archiveMain Street, Looking North
  7. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 21st century
  9. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 1,977
By decade

Warren, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Main Street, Looking Northc. 1910Main Street, Looking NorthPostcard
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
Today16 recent
Andrena erythronii2022Andrena erythroniiAndrena erythronii2022Andrena erythroniiPhotographer Carol M. Highsmith collects images of Freeman Brook2017Photographer Carol M. Highsmith collects images of Fr…Rock-strewn Freeman Brook2017Rock-strewn Freeman BrookMtEllen WarrenVT2015MtEllen WarrenVTMtEllen WarrenVT 22015MtEllen WarrenVT 2CamelsHump from Sugarbush MtEllen2015CamelsHump from Sugarbush MtEllenWarren, Vermont2011Warren, VermontAbies balsamea phanerolepis2009Abies balsamea phanerolepisWarren, Vermont 100706 2742006Warren, Vermont 100706 274Warren, Vermont 100706 2732006Warren, Vermont 100706 273Warren, Vermont 100706 2722006Warren, Vermont 100706 272Warren, Vermont 100706 2692006Warren, Vermont 100706 269Warren, Vermont 100706 2672006Warren, Vermont 100706 267Warren, Vermont 100706 2652006Warren, Vermont 100706 265Castlerock - Flickr - dvs2004Castlerock - Flickr - dvs
On the map

Warren on the map, 1919 to 1997

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

Warren on the 1919 USGS mapWarren on the 1921 USGS mapWarren on the 1970 USGS mapWarren on the 1997 USGS map1919Lincoln Mountain 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 Warren.

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.

Main Street, Looking North
Retake this viewMain Street, Looking North, c. 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Warren’s post office has been open since 1819. Another post office, East Warren, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Warren
1819–today
East Warren
1857–1907
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Alpine VillageEast WarrenSugarbush Village
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Warren
East WarrenEast WarrenWarren

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.

LincolnIts storyBFayston2 historic placesB+Roxbury1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGranvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWaitsfield7 historic placesA

Questions about Warren’s history

What year was Warren founded?

The Warren post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Warren rank for history?

Warren is more historic than 80% 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.

What is on the National Register in Warren?

Two places: the Warren Covered Bridge (listed 1974) and the Warren Village Historic District (1992).

How old are the homes in Warren?

9% of Warren’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1977.

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 (15), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.