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AHistory
History · Waterbury

Waterbury’s post office opened in 1801, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #30 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it

6 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 205 buildings between them. Below: 15 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1790.

1801first post office
6on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
15old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Waterbury’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Waterbury began

When was Waterbury founded?

1801

The Waterbury post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 93 in 17902020 census: 5,331225 years

How historic is Waterbury?

A

More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Waterbury’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waterbury is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #30 of 71 in Vermont. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waterbury’s overall grade.
Founding era1801, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194025.8% of homes (±7.6) · typical VT town 22.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register6 listings, 208 historic buildings, 385 per 10,000 residents · typical VT town 147 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 93%
NewerOlder
Vermont towns of 2,500+ (71)Ahead of 59%

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 Waterbury’s 385 sits above most of its state (81% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 208 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 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 Waterbury’s past

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

A historic districtThe Waterbury Village Historic District takes in 189 historic buildings.Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1919, drew every building in Waterbury.A town in old photos15 old photos, postcards and papers, 1914–1963.Landmarks on the Register6 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

6 listings protect 208 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
6
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
208
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Waterbury Center Methodist Church
Waterbury Center Methodist ChurchGreen Mountain SeminaryMill Village Historic DistrictColby MansionWaterbury Village Historic DistrictVermont State Hospital Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Italianate3
Federal2
Greek Revival2
Queen Anne2
Neo-Colonial Revival1
Cape Cod1
Waterbury Center Methodist ChurchFederal
Green Mountain SeminaryItalianate
Mill Village Historic DistrictNeo-Colonial Revival
Colby MansionBuilding
Waterbury Village Historic DistrictFederal
All 6 listings
Vermont State Hospital Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2016

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

Every building

Waterbury, building by building, 1884–1919

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Waterbury fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

By decade

Waterbury, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s–1930s9 items
Waterbury, Vt1914Waterbury, VtA wrecked home in flood stricken Waterbury, Vt., Nov. 4, '271927A wrecked home in flood stricken Waterbury, Vt., Nov.…Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont1939Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, VermontTruck picking up logs to be taken to the mill on farm near Waterbury, Vermont1939Truck picking up logs to be taken to the mill on farm…Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the mill. He said "There ain't nothin' me…1939Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermon…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the …1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man haulin…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the …1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man haulin…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the …1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man haulin…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. They are then sold to the …1939Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man haulin…
1940s5 items
Hired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont going to haul logs with sled and team1940Hired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont going to ha…Hired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont, going to haul logs with sled and team1940Hired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont, going to h…Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont, going to haul logs with sled and team1940Untitled photo, possibly related to: Hired man on far…Hired man hauling logs with sled and team on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. He said "There ain't nothin' meaner than a l…1940Hired man hauling logs with sled and team on farm nea…Hired man hauling logs with sled and team on farm near Waterbury, Vermont. He said "There ain't nothin' meaner than a l…1940Hired man hauling logs with sled and team on farm nea…
1960s1 item
VT 4 I89 FHWA 1963 9021963VT 4 I89 FHWA 1963 902
1970s–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
Today11 recent
The Prohibition Pig, a brewpub2017The Prohibition Pig, a brewpubThe town hall, public library, and history center, all functioning out of this building2017The town hall, public library, and history center, al…Storm clouds loom over a hillside outside Waterbury, Vermont2017Storm clouds loom over a hillside outside Waterbury, …The Vermont State Hospital2017The Vermont State HospitalThe Vermont State Hospital2017The Vermont State HospitalThe Vermont State Hospital2017The Vermont State HospitalWaterburyVT WinooskiStreetBridge2015WaterburyVT WinooskiStreetBridgeWash stand, Washington L. Atkins, Waterbury VT, 1848, painted pine with basswood - Bennington Museum - Bennington, VT -…2015Wash stand, Washington L. Atkins, Waterbury VT, 1848,…Untitled photo2012Untitled photoWaterbury, Vermont2011Waterbury, VermontWaterbury Vermont2008Waterbury Vermont
The story

How Waterbury came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Waterbury.

Read it all →

The townsite was once the frontier between the Mahican and Pennacook people. European settlement dates from 1763, when King George III granted a charter for land in the Winooski River valley. James Marsh became the first permanent white settler in the region in 1783. Many of the early settlers came from Waterbury, Connecticut, and named their new town in honor of the hometown. The village of Waterbury was incorporated in 1882 with a population of over 2,000.

The Central Vermont Railroad came to Waterbury in 1849. The railroad expanded a passenger station for the railroad in 1875, making the station a more major stop on the Vermonter. The Green Mountain Seminary was built in Waterbury Center in 1869.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Waterbury, 1801 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1801Post officeThe Waterbury post office opens
  3. 1802Born hereLucius Benedict Peck is born here
  4. 1834Born hereGeorge I. Butler is born here
  5. 1840Post officeThe Waterbury Center post office opens
  6. 1843Born hereWilliam P. Dillingham is born here
  7. 20th century
  8. 1907Born hereWallace M. Greene is born here
  9. 1914In the archiveWaterbury, Vt
  10. 1924On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 1927In the archiveA wrecked home in flood stricken Waterbury, Vt., Nov. 4, '27
  12. 1939In the archiveHired man hauling logs on farm near Waterbury, Vermont
  13. 1940In the archiveHired man on farm near Waterbury, Vermont going to haul logs with sled and team
  14. 1963In the archiveVT 4 I89 FHWA 1963 902
On the map

Waterbury on the map, 1924 to 1944

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

Waterbury on the 1924 USGS mapWaterbury on the 1944 USGS map1924Camels Hump 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 Waterbury.

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.

Waterbury, Vt
Retake this viewWaterbury, Vt, 1914

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Waterbury, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,500180018501900195020005,331

Grew from 93 people in 1790 to 5,331 in 2020, more than tenfold.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

Famous people

9 famous people were born in Waterbury

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

See all →
William P. DillinghamAmerican politician · b. 1843
Wallace M. Greene23rd Commandant of the Marine Corps · b. 1907
Lucius Benedict PeckAmerican politician · b. 1802
George I. ButlerAmerican Seventh-day Adventist minister · b. 1834
William W. HenryUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1831
K
Ken SquierAmerican sports commentator · b. 1935
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Waterbury’s post office has been open since 1801.

Waterbury
1801–today
Waterbury Center
1840–today
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ColbyvilleMill VillageWaterbury Center
Gone or out of use
Kenyon SawmilllocaleSchoolhouse District 10 Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Waterbury
Loomis HillMaple Street

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

Help out

Finish Waterbury’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
5 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWaterbury, Vt: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Duxbury1 historic placeC+Moretown1 historic placeB+MiddlesexIts storyB−Bolton2 historic placesB−Stowe4 historic placesA

Questions about Waterbury’s history

What year was Waterbury founded?

The Waterbury post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Waterbury rank for history?

Waterbury is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #30 of 71 in Vermont. 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 Waterbury?

6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Waterbury Center Methodist Church (listed 1978, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Mill Village Historic District, the Waterbury Village Historic District and the Vermont State Hospital Historic District, with 205 contributing buildings. 208 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Waterbury?

26% of Waterbury’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1983.

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 (6), the Library of Congress (20), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.