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, Apr. 3, 2024
One strategy to meet the demand for houses during the boom years following World War II was for lumber yards to sell standard building…
Then and Now, Mar. 6, 2024
In 1900, placid water behind the Bailey/Clothespin dam created attractive reflections of downtown structures including the 1898 steel truss bridge over the Winooski River,…
Then and Now, Feb. 7, 2024
On Nov. 26, 1934, Governor Stanley Wilson and Mayor Perry Merrill dedicated this flood control dam on the Winooski River next to the Main…
Then and Now, Jan. 10. 2023
It was a busy day on State Street in May of 1874 when the top photograph was taken. The portico of the county courthouse…
Then and Now, Dec. 6, 2023
This is the view across State Street from the Statehouse lawn at the end of the nineteenth century. The Central Vermont Railroad Station (rebuilt…
Then and Now, Aug. 23, 2023
The brick building at the southwest corner of State and Main (2 State Street), one of the oldest buildings in the downtown, has withstood…
Then and Now, June 7, 2023
This is what real estate development along Marvin and Bingham streets looked like in the mid-1930s. Bingham Street, seen running left to right in…
Then and Now, May 3, 2023
Dean K. Lillie, a Montpelier alderman and one-term mayor, shown here in his 1914 Stanley Steamer 606 roadster, lived with his wife and family…
Growth and Contraction on the Vermont College Campus
The Vermont College of Fine Arts’ current plans to sell most of its hillside campus is but the latest chapter in a 155-year saga…
Then and Now: Apr. 5, 2023
Three general hospitals were operated in Vermont by the Army during the Civil War to provide care to wounded Vermonters away from the battle…
Then and Now, Feb. 8, 2023
After the Newbury Seminary purchased the Sloan U.S. Army General Hospital in Montpelier in 1866, school administrators built a wooden, three-story central dormitory using…
Then and Now, Jan. 11, 2023
In 1863 Dennis Lane purchased mill buildings on the banks of the North Branch at the water falls where Jacob Davis had built the…
Then and Now, Dec. 7, 2022
This was the scene on Sept. 5, 1958, as Montpelier mayor Edward W. Knapp cut the ribbon for the opening of the “Montpelier Bypass…
Then and Now, Nov. 2, 2022
James G. French built 85 Main Street, a simple brick block at the bottom of East State Street, in 1884, after the old arch…
Then & Now 8.12.20
Present-day drivers on River Street may notice the initials “BPOE” on a chimney at the back of a building on the other side of…
Then & Now 7.15.20
American Legion Post No. 3 at 21 Main Street is housed in one of the few wood frame buildings remaining downtown. It probably dates…
Then and Now
Historic photos courtesy of Vermont Historical Society; Captions and modern photos by Paul Carnahan. George Guernsey was Mayor of Montpelier from 1897 to 1898.…
Then and Now
Historic photos courtesy of Vermont Historical Society; Captions and modern photos by Paul Carnahan. This pleasant, little house at 25 St. Paul Street has…