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Welcome

The Rutland Historical Society was founded in 1969 to serve the original town of Rutland which includes the present towns of Proctor, Rutland Town, West Rutland and the City of Rutland.

The original Rutland was chartered in 1761 as part of the New Hampshire Grants by the Provincial Governor Benning Wentworth. The first settlers arrived in 1770 led by Colonel James Mead. Almost immediately a controversy arose with New York claiming the same land grants under the name of “Socialborough.” This controversy ultimately led to the Vermonters forming the Republic of Vermont from 1777-1791. Vermont became the fourteenth state in 1791.

Old Fort Rutland

Old Fort Rutland
During the early 1800’s the Rutland area was known for agriculture and for the sheep industry. By the mid 1800’s the development of the marble industry and the arrival of the railroads created an industrial and retail boom which brought many immigrant workers to the Rutland area. Rutland has continued to grow in industry and population to become the largest city in Southern Vermont.
Downtown Rutland, VT

From modest beginnings, the Society has progressed to be a very active organization. It has received awards of excellence from the Vermont League of Local Historical Societies for its quarterly magazine, and for its monthly television series “Historically Speaking”.  This television series airs on the local public access channel, and can be seen on demand (in streaming video), on the public access web site. The Society also publishes a newsletter about Society activities. A Rutland Historical Society column entitled “Tidbits From Then and Now” is published in “Sam’s Good News”, a local weekly newspaper. Six hundred of the back issues of “Tidbits From Then and Now” can be viewed on our web site. The Society also offers history programs for groups of all ages from kindergarten to senior citizens.  The programs are conducted both at the Society, and at other locations.

The Society collects, preserves, and shares all manner of materials.  This includes books, manuscripts, photographs, textiles, and special collections.  For example, we have an extensive collection of Rutland newspapers including the Rutland Herald, municipal court records, cemetery records and much more.

The Society has nearly 600 members from 32 states. The activities of the Society are accomplished through the work of dedicated volunteers. The Society welcomes all gifts of items, collections of historical significance, bequests, or donations, so that it may continue to preserve the past and enrich future generations. Your participation is welcomed through volunteer work, or membership.  We encourage you to visit the Society at 96 Center Street to do some research, or view the changing exhibits.  

What's New

Society Hours:

Mon. - 6:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.

Sat. -   1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Do you remember Rutland's Baseball team? The Rutland Royals were members of the Northern League from 1938-1941. View scrapbooks and clippings of the hometown team on our Historical Resources Page.

Where is it? “Rutland Tidbits” by Helen Davidson isn’t gone.  It’s been moved to our Historical Resources page.  Note our new “web enhanced” version which enables a faster download time.  You can now perform a word search of all 600 tidbits at once.  We think you’ll enjoy reading all of Helen’s informative tidbits on Rutland’s history.

The Rutland Historical Society is pleased to announce that it is now making digital copies of its Historically Speaking episodes available through its web site.  These award-winning half-hour video programs were originally produced at PEG-TV, the public access station in Rutland.  Go to Historical Moving Images and click on the maroon episode number. This link to archive.org, a free community resource, will bring up the show. Click on the arrow and enjoy viewing these entertaining and educational shows.  Viewers using Internet Explorer may experience a problem. If you use Google Chrome (Click here for a free download)  or Mozilla Firefox (Click here for a free download) as your browser, you should have no trouble viewing these programs.  Apple users will find that Safari (Click here for a free download) works fine.  VLC (Click here for a free download) will also work for Internet Explorer users. In time, we plan to upload over 120 shows for your viewing.

View our latest image gallery of Dr. George Marshall's early 20th century lantern slides.  These beautiful images were made possible by a 2011 grant from IBM. This scanner allows us to create digital images of all forms of negatives and slides, going back over a 100 years.  We hope to be publishing many more examples of these in the near future.

 

The Society is excited to announce that the Rutland Directories from 1872-1925 are now available in our Historical Resources section.  Please allow a few minutes for the PDF file to load.  The Directories contain many graphics.

The Town of West Rutland Reports (1888-1999) are now available in our Historical Resources Section.

We are delighted to be able to offer on CD (PDF searchable) the out of print book Rutland in Retrospect, originally published in 1978 by the Rutland Historical Society and Academy Books.  It is 176 pages chocked full of wonderful old Rutland images, each with descriptive text.  The cost of the book is $20 with free shipping and handling.    Please send your check to Rutland Historical Society, 96 Center St., Rutland, VT 05701.

 

 

 

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