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Capital of Vermont · Washington County · capital since 1805 · 44.3°N 72.6°W
Montpelier, Vermont
Montpelier has been the capital of Vermont since 1805 and, with 8,074 residents in 2020, is the smallest state capital in the United States. Burlington, 40 miles northwest, is the largest city in the state.
Where Montpelier is
Montpelier is the seat of Washington County, at 44.26°N, 72.58°W, in a narrow valley where the North Branch joins the Winooski River in the middle of the Green Mountains. The Winooski flows northwest from here to Lake Champlain at Burlington. Steep wooded hills close in the town on every side, and the compact center sits about 520 ft above sea level. Interstate 89 passes on the south side, and Barre, the granite-quarrying town, is about seven miles southeast. Montpelier is on Eastern Time.
How it became the capital
Vermont was an independent republic from 1777 until it joined the Union as the 14th state in 1791, and its legislature moved from town to town, meeting most often in Windsor and Rutland. In 1805 the legislature settled on Montpelier, a village chartered in 1781 and named after the French city, because it lay near the center of the state at a gap in the mountains between the Champlain Valley and the Connecticut River. The first State House was built there in 1808.
Population
Montpelier had 8,074 residents in 2020, far fewer than any other state capital; Pierre, the next-smallest, has almost twice as many. Burlington, Vermont's largest city, had 44,743, and no city in the state exceeds 50,000. Vermont as a whole had 643,077 people, the second-smallest state population after Wyoming.
The capitol
The Vermont State House on State Street is the third on the site. The first, of 1808, was replaced in 1838 by a granite Greek Revival building designed by Ammi B. Young, which burned in 1857. Thomas Silloway rebuilt it on a larger scale in 1859, keeping Young's portico and adding the present gold-leafed dome, which is topped by a statue of Ceres. The legislature still uses the original chambers, and the interior has been restored to its 19th-century appearance. Floods on the Winooski reached the State House grounds in July 2023.
Distances to other cities
| City | Direction | Road distance |
|---|---|---|
| Burlington, VT | northwest | about 40 mi |
| Boston, MA | southeast | about 180 mi |
| Montreal, QC | northwest | about 120 mi |
Concord, New Hampshire, is about 115 miles to the southeast. See the Appalachian Mountains map for the Green Mountains.
Related maps
- Vermont map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
- Vermont county map · blank Vermont map · printable Vermont map.
- All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
- Northeast region · New England division · Eastern Time Zone.