Then & Now, Aug. 4, 2026
Historic photo courtesy of Vermont Historical Society; modern photo and text by Paul Carnahan In the 19th and 20th centuries, Montpelier, like most Vermont towns, operated “poor farms” to house indigent residents.…
Then and Now, July 8, 2026
In the 1870s Wrightsville, a small hamlet on the North Branch four miles north of the center of Montpelier and clustered around the mills…
Then and Now, June 3, 2026
In 1920, about the time that this photograph was taken, the area on the southwest side of Berlin Street was lightly developed but growing.…
Then and Now, May 6, 2026
This Federal-style house, seen here in an early stereoview created in the 1870s, is one of the oldest houses in Montpelier. It was constructed…
Then and Now, April 1, 2026
In the 1930s and ’40s, the stately home at 174 Elm Street was known as “The Walton Homestead.” Run as a guesthouse, it was…
Then and Now, Mar. 4, 2026
The first Union Block on State Street was built in 1875 after two major fires devastated the downtown. The building’s name celebrated the Union’s…
Then and Now, Feb. 4, 2026
Abbott & Bailey, a hardware store, was located at 81 Main Street at the foot of State Street from 1899 through 1905. Owned by…
From Sulkies to Golf Balls
Montpelier is currently discussing how to use the city’s 133-acre Country Club Road property. Over the past 150 years this property has been variously…
Then and Now, Dec. 3, 2025
The Montpelier Country Club, founded in 1902, was graced with a wood-frame club house surrounded on three sides by a 12-foot wide porch with…
Then and Now, Nov. 5, 2025
Wyman’s General Painting and Spraying was an early Montpelier auto painting company founded by Everett H. Wyman in 1927. It quickly grew to specialize…
Then and Now, Oct. 1, 2025
In the 1870s, Pioneer Mills built a dam across the Winooski River about a mile and a half upstream from the village of Montpelier,…
Then and Now, July 9, 2025
The French Second Empire style was popular in Montpelier in the 1860s through the 1890s and was used for some of the city’s fancier…
Then and Now, June 11, 2025
The Gary Residence on Main Street began in 1915 as the Montpelier Home for the Aged, created with the modest savings of Mary Ann…
Then and Now, May 7, 2025
This circa 1900 photograph of the houses at the southern end of Hubbard Street perfectly captures the topography of many of Montpelier’s residential neighborhoods.…
Then and Now, Apr. 16, 2025
March’s “Then and Now” showed a sliver of this house at 24 Liberty Street; this month we get to see the entire building! This…
Montpelier’s New City Plan Calls for Action
Fifteen years after the last city plan was written, the Montpelier Planning Commission has drafted an ambitious new plan, available for perusal on the…
Then and Now, Mar. 5, 2025
Liberty Street didn’t always stretch from Main Street to College Street. In the 1850s Liberty Street only connected Main Street with Loomis Street. The…
Then and Now, Feb. 5, 2025
Hidden within Montpelier’s older residential neighborhoods are some interesting buildings. Take, for example, the unassuming red apartment building at 37–39 St. Paul Street. This…
Early Skiing at the Junction Ski Bowl
On Dec. 27, 1938, the Montpelier Evening Argus announced, “The first ski tow to operate in Montpelier will be ready for use this afternoon,…
Then and Now, Dec. 4, 2024
The handsome Federal-style house at 2 Liberty Street is among Montpelier’s oldest residences. It was built in 1805, the year Montpelier was chosen as…
Then and Now, Nov. 6, 2024
In the middle of the 19th century, the southern bank of the Winooski River to the west of Northfield Street — then part of…