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

1900

County Total: 26,660

1910

County Total: 26,932

1920

County Total: 26,373

1930

County Total: 26,015

1940

County Total: 27,850

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

1950

County Total: 28,749

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

1960

County Total: 29,776

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

1970

County Total: 33,476

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

1980

County Total: 36,933

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

1990

County Total: 41,588

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

2000

County Total: 44,216

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:

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

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

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

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.

See also

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