Manchester’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 4 old photos of Manchester. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The town was one of several chartered in 1761 by Benning Wentworth, colonial governor of New Hampshire. It was his custom to name new towns after prominent English aristocrats of the day, hoping they might adopt a patronly interest in their namesakes. Wentworth named Manchester for Robert Montagu, 3rd Duke of Manchester. First settled in 1764, the town was laid out in 1784. The land was better suited for grazing than tillage, so by 1839 about 6,000 sheep roamed the pastures and hillsides.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Manchester’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manchester’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewManchester Depot (VT) postcard, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Manchester
See all 14 →
Manchester, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Manchester is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Manchester has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Manchester Village Historic District in Manchester, 0.7 miles away.
Manchester and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as A View of Manchester, Vermont (1870) (1870) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.