The first settler in Windsor was Captain Steele Smith who arrived with his family in August 1764. The Constitution of Vermont was written and signed in 1777 at a tavern, now called Old Constitution House. This constitution declared that Vermont was an independent republic, and no longer part of the British Empire. By 1820, Windsor was the largest town in Vermont. It had factories making guns, machinery, tinware, furniture and harness. A dam built across Mill Brook in 1836 provided water power for these factories.