Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #66 of 71 in Vermont. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Lareau Farmstead. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1924 on, and the census since 1790.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Williamstown is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #66 of 71 in Vermont. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Williamstown’s 5.6 sits below most of its state (13% of Vermont towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Williamstown’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1840 and 1880, then grew 3-fold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Williamstown’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Williamstown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Williamstown.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Williamstown yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Williamstown is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,515 at the 2020 census, making it the second largest municipality in the county.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,389 to 3,515 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereCharles Paine is born here
Born hereThomas Davenport is born here
In the archiveIn the gulf, Williamstown, Vt
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Williamstown’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Williamstown’s post office has been open since 1798. Another post office, East Williamstown, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Williamstown is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #66 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.
One place: the Lareau Farmstead (listed 2016).
17% of Williamstown’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1865
2011
2011
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