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History · Westminster

71% of Westminster’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1790.

1on the National Register
71%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Westminster’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Westminster’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1820 and 1870, then more than doubled.Old housesHalf of Westminster’s homes were built before 1938.Famous sons and daughtersTara Correa-McMullen, Timothy Field Allen and 7 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Westminster’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewGravestone of first man killed in Revol…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Westminster, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,500180018501900195020001,974 in 1820Low: 1,238

Lost a third of its people between 1820 and 1870, then more than doubled.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

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

The story

How Westminster came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Westminster.

Read it all →

Westminster is Vermont's oldest existing town and was chartered in 1735 by the Province of Massachusetts Bay and was called New Taunton or Township Number One. The town did not have any permanent settlers in the area until 1751. New Hampshire settlers came in and the town was later incorporated in the Province of New Hampshire on November 9, 1752, becoming the third chartered town for New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River. When the British government recognized the Province of New York's claims to what is now Vermont, New York moved its Court of Common Pleas for Cumberland County to Westminster in 1772. It was the site of the Westminster Massacre in March 1775, in which two men were killed attempting to prevent New York provincial officials from exerting their authority over the area in the long-running dispute over the New Hampshire Grants. On January 15, 1777, a group of Vermont…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Westminster, 1782 to 2000

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1782Born hereWilliam Czar Bradley is born here
  3. 1792Born hereGeorge Edward Wales is born here
  4. 19th century
  5. 1837Born hereTimothy Field Allen is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900In the archiveGravestone of first man killed in Revolutionary War
  8. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1989Born hereTara Correa-McMullen is born here
  10. 21st century
  11. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 3,210
By decade

Westminster, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Gravestone of first man killed in Revolutionary War1900Gravestone of first man killed in Revolutionary War
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 album
Date unknown1 to date
Walpole-Westminster Bridge, Spanning Connecticut River between Walpole, NH & Westminster, VT, Walpole, Cheshire County,…Date?Walpole-Westminster Bridge, Spanning Connecticut Rive…
On the map

Westminster on the map, 1927 to 1998

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

Westminster on the 1927 USGS mapWestminster on the 1930 USGS mapWestminster on the 1957 USGS mapWestminster on the 1985 USGS mapWestminster on the 1998 USGS map1927Bellows Falls 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 Westminster.

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.

Gravestone of first man killed in Revolutionary War
Retake this viewGravestone of first man killed in Revolutionary War, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 75 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
75
each building in a district counts

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

Famous people

9 famous people were born in Westminster

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

See all →
T
Tara Correa-McMullenAmerican actress · b. 1989
Timothy Field AllenAmerican botanist · b. 1837
George Edward WalesAmerican politician · b. 1792
William Czar BradleyAmerican politician · b. 1782
Hiram PrattAmerican politician · b. 1800
J
Jerome AllenAmerican educator and author · b. 1830

Questions about Westminster’s history

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 the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.