Historical U.S. Census totals for Windham County, Vermont

This article shows U.S. Census totals for Windham County, Vermont, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2000.

Most areas of New England are entirely divided into incorporated municipalities, with no unincorporated territory. In the three northern New England states, however, some unincorporated territory does exist, generally in areas that are very sparsely populated. Windham County contains a small amount of unincorporated territory, one of four counties in Vermont to have such areas. The unincorporated territory in Windham County consists of a tract measuring about 28 square miles (73 km²), in a remote area of the Green Mountains on the county’s western edge. This area was once incorporated as the town of Somerset, and is still sometimes referred to as “Somerset Township”. Somerset disincorporated in 1937 due to population loss; its population has not reached double figures in any census since 1930. Except for Somerset, all of Windham County is incorporated.

There are three types of incorporated municipalities in Vermont: towns, cities and villages. As in the other New England states, towns are the basic unit of municipal government. Cities are independent of and equivalent to towns, but differ in their form of government. Villages overlay towns and assume responsibility for some municipal services within their boundaries. Incorporated villages are not found in any of the other New England states, and are less common in Vermont today than they have been in the past. A number of villages have disincorporated over the years, choosing to revert to full town control; most of those that remain are very small.

The main tables below show municipalities at the town level. The tables in the New England Historical U.S. Census Totals series differentiate between towns and cities; however, there have never been any cities in Windham County. For any census, adding up the totals for each town-level municipality, including Somerset, should yield the county total. (Note that, for censuses up through 1930, Somerset was an incorporated town. In that era, Windham County was entirely divided into incorporated municipalities, following the standard procedure in New England.) A separate section follows with population totals for villages from 1930 to 2000.

For more information on the New England municipal system, see New England town.

Corporate changes since 1900

1937 – Somerset disincorporated and reverted to unorganized territory

1900

County Total: 26,660

Brattleboro 6,640
Rockingham 5,809
Westminster 1,295
Wilmington 1,221
Whitingham 1,042
Putney 969
Londonderry 961
Newfane 905
Townshend 833
Grafton 804
Jamaica 800
Guilford 782
Dummerston 726
Halifax 662
Wardsboro 637
Vernon 578
Dover 503
Marlboro 448
Windham 356
Stratton 271
Athens 180
Brookline 171
Somerset 67

1910

County Total: 26,932

Brattleboro 7,541
Rockingham 6,207
Westminster 1,327
Wilmington 1,229
Whitingham 969
Londonderry 962
Putney 788
Newfane 820
Townshend 817
Guilford 769
Grafton 729
Jamaica 716
Dummerston 643
Halifax 635
Vernon 606
Wardsboro 559
Marlboro 442
Dover 377
Windham 345
Athens 201
Brookline 137
Stratton 86
Somerset 27

1920

County Total: 26,373

Brattleboro 8,332
Rockingham 6,231
Wilmington 1,483
Westminster 1,289
Londonderry 911
Whitingham 811
Townshend 786
Putney 761
Newfane 710
Guilford 684
Dummerston 570
Jamaica 566
Vernon 556
Halifax 504
Grafton 476
Dover 385
Wardsboro 380
Marlboro 300
Windham 261
Athens 123
Brookline 105
Stratton 90
Somerset 59

1930

County Total: 26,015

Brattleboro 9,816
Rockingham 5,302
Westminster 1,324
Wilmington 1,171
Putney 835
Londonderry 799
Whitingham 734
Guilford 663
Newfane 662
Townshend 633
Vernon 609
Dummerston 604
Jamaica 570
Grafton 453
Halifax 390
Wardsboro 355
Dover 278
Marlboro 255
Windham 254
Athens 132
Brookline 101
Stratton 55
Somerset 20

1940

County Total: 27,850

Brattleboro 10,983
Rockingham 5,737
Westminster 1,403
Wilmington 1,221
Putney 904
Londonderry 859
Whitingham 789
Townshend 694
Guilford 686
Newfane 672
Dummerston 615
Jamaica 567
Vernon 559
Wardsboro 401
Grafton 393
Halifax 353
Dover 244
Marlboro 225
Windham 183
Athens 136
Stratton 117
Brookline 104

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 5 residents.

1950

County Total: 28,749

Brattleboro 11,522
Rockingham 5,499
Westminster 1,400
Wilmington 1,169
Putney 1,019
Londonderry 953
Whitingham 816
Guilford 796
Dummerston 790
Vernon 712
Newfane 708
Jamaica 597
Townshend 584
Grafton 422
Wardsboro 377
Halifax 343
Marlboro 311
Dover 252
Windham 146
Athens 139
Brookline 132
Stratton 54

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 8 residents.

1960

County Total: 29,776

Brattleboro 11,734
Rockingham 5,704
Westminster 1,602
Wilmington 1,245
Putney 1,177
Londonderry 898
Dummerston 872
Vernon 865
Whitingham 838
Guilford 823
Newfane 714
Townshend 643
Jamaica 496
Grafton 426
Dover 370
Marlboro 347
Wardsboro 322
Halifax 268
Athens 142
Windham 135
Brookline 127
Stratton 38

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 4 residents.

1970

County Total: 33,476

Brattleboro 12,239
Rockingham 5,501
Westminster 1,875
Putney 1,727
Wilmington 1,586
Dummerston 1,295
Guilford 1,108
Londonderry 1,037
Vernon 1,024
Whitingham 1,011
Newfane 900
Townshend 668
Marlboro 592
Jamaica 590
Dover 555
Grafton 465
Wardsboro 391
Halifax 295
Brookline 180
Windham 174
Athens 159
Stratton 104

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported no residents.

1980

County Total: 36,933

Brattleboro 11,886
Rockingham 5,538
Westminster 2,493
Putney 1,850
Wilmington 1,808
Dummerston 1,574
Guilford 1,532
Londonderry 1,510
Vernon 1,175
Newfane 1,129
Whitingham 1,043
Townshend 849
Marlboro 695
Jamaica 681
Dover 666
Grafton 604
Wardsboro 505
Halifax 488
Brookline 310
Athens 250
Windham 223
Stratton 122

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 2 residents.

1990

County Total: 41,588

Brattleboro 12,241
Rockingham 5,484
Westminster 3,026
Putney 2,352
Wilmington 1,968
Guilford 1,941
Dummerston 1,863
Vernon 1,850
Londonderry 1,506
Newfane 1,555
Whitingham 1,177
Townshend 1,019
Dover 994
Marlboro 924
Jamaica 754
Wardsboro 654
Grafton 602
Halifax 588
Brookline 403
Athens 313
Windham 251
Stratton 121

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 2 residents.

2000

County Total: 44,216

Brattleboro 12,005
Rockingham 5,309
Westminster 3,210
Putney 2,634
Wilmington 2,225
Vernon 2,141
Guilford 2,046
Dummerston 1,915
Londonderry 1,709
Newfane 1,680
Dover 1,410
Whitingham 1,298
Townshend 1,149
Marlboro 978
Jamaica 946
Wardsboro 854
Halifax 782
Grafton 649
Brookline 467
Athens 340
Windham 328
Stratton 136

Unorganized territory (the former town of Somerset) reported 5 residents.

Villages

This section lists census totals for incorporated villages for 1930 through 2000.

As of 1930, Windham County contained eight incorporated villages:

The village of Bellows Falls (inc. 1834), within the town of Rockingham
The village of Jacksonville (inc. 1905), within the town of Whitingham
The village of Newfane (inc. 1907), within the town of the same name
The village of North Westminster (inc. 1925), within the town of Westminster
The village of Saxtons River (inc. 1905), within the town of Rockingham
The village of Townshend (inc. 1916), within the town of the same name
The village of Westminster (inc. 1907), within the town of the same name
The village of Wilmington, within the town of the same name

Two of the villages have since disincorporated or otherwise become inactive:

The village of Wilmington disincorporated in 1965.
The village of Townshend was apparently removed from the rolls of Census-recognized incorporated villages sometime between 1970 and 1980. According to information on the Vermont state archives web site, village residents had voted to abandon the village government in 1961, but no action was taken at the state level to formally dissolve the village, so it technically remained in existence, at least on paper (it still holds this status today). One other village which had similarly been abandoned (Groton, in Caledonia County) was also dropped from the Census between 1970 and 1980. It appears that Census officials elected to stop recognizing these inactive villages for Census purposes. The non-coextensive city of Winsted, Connecticut seems to have been dropped by the Census at the same time for similar reasons.

Note: complete data for 1900, 1910 and 1920 are not available, but the population of the village of Brattleboro was in 5,297 in 1900, 6,517 in 1910, and 7,324 in 1920 (by the time of the 1930 Census, the village of Brattleboro had disincorporated).

1930

Bellows Falls 3,930
Saxtons River 670
Wilmington 611
North Westminster 335
Westminster 320
Jacksonville 220
Townshend 196
Newfane 160

1940

Bellows Falls 4,236
Saxtons River 740
Wilmington 597
North Westminster 400
Westminster 270
Jacksonville 240
Townshend 210
Newfane 160

1950

Bellows Falls 3,881
Saxtons River 715
Wilmington 571
North Westminster 404
Westminster 298
Jacksonville 220
Townshend 178
Newfane 156

1960

Bellows Falls 3,831
Saxtons River 725
Wilmington 591
North Westminster 368
Westminster 333
Jacksonville 240
Townshend 170
Newfane 146

1970

Bellows Falls 3,505
Saxtons River 581
Wilmington 544
Westminster 446
North Westminster 348
Jacksonville 251
Newfane 183
Townshend 159

1980

Bellows Falls 3,456
Saxtons River 593
Westminster 319
North Westminster 310
Jacksonville 252
Newfane 119

1990

Bellows Falls 3,313
Saxtons River 541
Westminster 399
North Westminster 268
Jacksonville 244
Newfane 164

2000

Bellows Falls 3,165
Saxtons River 519
Westminster 276
North Westminster 271
Jacksonville 137
Newfane 116

Notes

1930 and 1940 Census

The Census Bureau continued to tabluate population for the former village of Brattleboro in the 1930 and 1940 Censuses, even though the reports for those censuses acknowledge that it had disincorporated in 1927. The population totals were 8,709 in 1930 and 9,622 in 1940.

1960 Census

The Census Bureau made a number of revisions to 1960 census totals subsequent to their initial release. When it did so, however, it appears to have updated municipal totals only, not overall county totals or state totals, even though in most cases changing municipal totals should have caused county and state totals to change. The 1960 total for Windham County was originally reported as 29,776; and for the town of Stratton, 24. The total for Stratton was later revised to that shown in the list above (38). This should have caused the county total to change as well (to 29,790), but subsequent census publications have continued to list the county total as it was originally reported (29,776). As a result, in the list above, the municipal totals for 1960 do not add to the county total. The 1960 state total for Vermont that appears in various Census materials (389,881) likewise reflects the original 1960 total for Windham County, and does not take into account the revision made to the population of Stratton.

1970 Census

The 1970 Census reported a population of 544 for the village of Wilmington. This was in error, however, as the village had disincorporated in 1965.