History of the Town of Marlboro

The town of Marlboro in Windham County is located near Brattleboro, in Southern Vermont. Marlboro is a small town that has become a four season resort. Skiing, hiking, canoeing, and biking are popular activities. The town also has several antique shops, lodging, and restaurants.

Marlboro, also known as “New Marlborough” prior to 1800, was named after John Churchill, the First Duke of Marlborough. The town was first granted a charter from the Crown of England in 1751. Since no settlement took place, that charter was forfeited and a second charter was granted in 1761.

Based on the charter of 1761, the township was surveyed in 1762 for the creation of 64 equal rights excepting 4 lots in the center of town. A copy of this original plan may be seen at the Town Clerk’s office.

Marlboro’s first settlers came in the spring of 1763. By 1799 there were 313 students, ages 4-18, attending school in 7 different districts. The town’s population peaked in 1820 to almost 1300, but declined in the following decades as a result of the economy and the westward migration and manifest destiny. Recently the population has been steadily increasing. The 2000 census records show a population of 978 people.

The first Congregational church was built in 1778 on what we call Town Hill. It was then referred to as Meetinghouse Hill. In 1820 a second church was built near the first, which by then was dilapidated. In 1822 the community voted to build a Town House at the southwest corner of the new Meetinghouse Common. Using wood and other materials from the first building, the Town House was created.

These two buildings, the Meetinghouse and the Town House, were moved down the hill, between 1836 and 1844. The Meetinghouse burned in 1931 and was rebuilt. The Meetinghouse was a near replica of the 1820 church and remains a Congregationalist Meetinghouse with regular services during the summer months and occasional services during the remainder of the year, an outstanding annual event being the Christmas Candlelight Carol Service. On weekdays during the winter and spring it now houses the Meetinghouse School for preschool children. The Town House was placed at the east side of the village center, remaining there until 1966 when it was moved across the road to its present location.

The Marlboro Common finally took the shape chosen by the townspeople in numerous studies and discussions, culminating in the building of the Town Office in 1969, and enlarged in 1999. The new structure provides the space for the Town Clerk’s office and the Post Office.

Over the years, many industries and activities have been based in the center of Marlboro village. The following list is in-complete, but at various times in history Marlboro contained two inns, a brick schoolhouse, high school classes in the Meeting House, a carpenter shop, stores, an ashery, shoemakers, blacksmiths, a wheelwright shop, a wagon maker, a post office, a doctors office, a chair factory, a town pound and a museum.

Recent years have seen development of a few businesses and cultural enterprises beyond the center of town. Marlboro College was founded in 1947. The Marlboro Music Festival, organized in 1951, has its headquarters on the grounds of Marlboro College. In 1954 one room school houses were finally abandoned with the construction of the Marlboro Elementary School on Route 9. There are no heavy industries and Marlboro today still retains the rural character it had in its founding in 1763.