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1945 College Street in Burlington, Vermont showing store fronts. From left to right is Sherwin Williams Paints (152 College), Agel-Corman Furniture (158 College), Bishop's Dry Cleaning (160 College). Extreme left is edge of Burlington Savings Bank (148-150 College). Photographer is
Louis L. McAllister.
Photo and description courtesy of CDI and Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont.
Church Street store fronts from left to right: 25-27 People's Dept store 23 Singer Sewing Machine Co. 21 used to be Cheerio Grill, a restaurant (vacant) 17 F J Preston jewelers.
Photographer is Louis L. McAllister.
Photo and description courtesy of CDI and Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont.
View of Church Street after a winter snowstorm looking north toward the Unitarian Church. Snow is being shoveled by hand and loaded onto trucks. The trolley tracks can still be seen
running down the middle of the street. On the right the sign for a hardware retail store can be seen. Possibly the 1930s or 1940s. Photographer is Louis L. McAllister.
Photo and description courtesy of CDI and Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont.
Southeasterly view of Edmunds High School (Burlington High School) at the corner of Main Street and So. Union Street. Street crews after a heavy snowfall seen with two dept. vehicles. A
chain connects a tractor with spiked wheels to a truck behind it as they clear the sidewalks. Undated (may be circa 1925) Photo also seen in UVM's Historic Burlington Project web site.
Photographer is Louis L. McAllister.
Photo and description courtesy of CDI and Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library, University of Vermont.
Postcard view of Burlington, circa 1930-1940. Image from: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
This historic image captures an early view of Church Street in downtown Burlington, circa 1860. The view looks south from Pearl Street and was most likely taken from the tower of the
Unitarian Church.
Image from: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
Photo from Burlington’s Winter Carnival in 1886. It shows a view looking east on Main Street.
Photo from: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
This image shows a view looking up College Street with the gully cutting across the image in the foreground, circa 1860.
Photo from: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
The historic photograph was taken during an 1888 fire that destroyed many of the buildings along the Burlington Bay waterfront. Image from:
http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
This postcard shows Church Street in Burlington looking North from College Street, likely circa 1910.
Image from: http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/
#1: How Burlington Developed Over Time
Background for the Educator:It is recommended that teachers read the brief history of Burlington for students ahead of time, as well as the more lengthy histories of Burlington’s neighborhoods listed in the bibliography. This lesson will use primary sources of maps and photographs, as well as a
short reading on the history of Burlington to help students develop an understanding of Burlington grew over time, through their own
analysis of primary source materials.
Learning Goals:Students should be able to identify how Burlington has changed over time and the reasons for the growth of the community.
Essential Questions: How has Burlington changed over time? How can primary sources such as maps and photographs help with understanding the past?
Connecting Standard:Vermont Standards: 6.4 Historical Connections: Students identify major historical eras and analyze periods of transition in various times in their local community, in Vermont to understand the past, the present, and the relationship between the two. This is evident when students:b. examine local history by reading historical narratives and documents, investigating artifacts, architecture and other resources that identify key periods in local history. c. identify and sequence patterns of change and compare historical data from Vermont.
Materials Needed:➔ Toolkit Maps➔ Toolkit Photographs➔ Toolkit history reading➔ Paper for
notes/observations/descriptions
➔ Computers
Lesson Outline: Part 1: Map Analysis
1. Have students do the reading in small groups, outloud together, or for homework. Have a discussion, asking students to summarize the reading.
2. Lay out the maps of Burlington by age: 1830, 1853, 1869, 1877, 1890 and the current map. You should also have students look at the maps online on: http://cdi.uvm.edu/ in “Historical Maps of Burlington.” Online, students can zoom in and and out on the maps. Students can also compare Burlington today through a Google Map search after.
3. Have students study the maps one by one, writing down observations on how the city looked, what the names of streets were. See if they can find where they live or where the school is. It’s likely it won’t be there on some of the earlier maps. Good prompting questions may be: How was the city laid out and how did expand? What do you notice happening to the city over time? Does Burlington look like this today?
Part II: Photograph Analysis1. Have students pick out a historic photo they are intrigued by. More
street photos can be found on UVM website: http://cdi.uvm.edu/ under “Louis L. McAllister Photographs.”
2. Have students study the photo and write down everything they see: What do they notice about the photograph? Have them describe the photo and the buildings. Do they know where it is? Does that street and those buildings look the same today? What is happening in the photo? What season is it?
3. Students can use Google Earth and Google Maps to see if they can find the street in the photograph. What’s changed?
4. Have students share the photographs and their findings with the class. One possibility is to have a photograph exhibit with student captions.
Extension or Alternative Activity: If computers are accessible and preferred, students can search images on UVM’s Landscape Change website. Historic photographs are placed side-by-side kmith current photos of landscapes. This will allow students to compare how a particular place in Burlington has changed over time. Go to http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/ and search Burlington photos.
A History of the Development of Burlington, VermontTwo major settlements first emerged in Burlington in the late 1700s: one, along the Burlington Bay
area (where King Street is today) and another, near the Winooski Falls, which was founded by Ira Allen. Both were areas close to water. Why settle near water? In the case of Winooski Falls, water meant water power. With water wheels and the falls, power could be generated for grist mills and sawmills and other forms of industry. In the case of Burlington Bay, it also offered an opportunity to ship goods back and forth along Lake Champlain between New York, Quebec, and Vermont. Gideon King, whose house still stands on King Street, was one such shipping entrepreneur. Burlington then looked nothing like it does today. In 1785, Burlington was organized as a town. A very small, one, though, for in 1791 the first census of Burlington listed the population at a mere 336, with most people living in the area of King and Maple streets and along a single dirt main road that went to Winooski Falls. One wharf was along the waterfront, and a ravine, which was filled in the early 1900s, ran north of Pearl Street to today’s Maple Street. The University of Vermont was founded in 1791. In 1798, a plan to layout Burlington’s streets in a grid was put into place. Where the University of Vermont’s green is today, a marketplace developed. Where City Hall Park is today, a town green called “Court House Square” was designated and a courthouse was built.
Map of Burlington in 1830. Courtesy of UVM Special Collections.
Development became concentrated around the green, with taverns, hotels, and businesses popping up along Church Street. By the 1820s, Burlington had housing all along its grid of streets, as well as mills, factories, a cemetery. steamship companies, customs house, schools, and other industries, such as a glass-making company near where Battery Park is today and brick yards. The University of Vermont had college buildings constructed along its campus green, as well as a medical college.
One important part of Burlington’s early growth was the opening of the Champlain Canal in 1823, a 64-mile canal route between the Lake Champlain, Hudson River, and the Erie Canal. Now, with canal boats, the ability to ship goods along the canal to points to the west and south opened up a dominant shipping industry in Burlington along the waterfront. Along the Winooski Falls, the Burlington Mill Company took advantage of the water power and built a textile factory, which also boosted Burlington’s growth. With the growth in industry, came the need for expansion of residential areas. Wealthier people began building along the southern sections of Burlington, as well as on Willard and North Winooski streets.
Burlington, c. 1860. (From UVM’s Landscape Change).
By the 1860s, Burlington was a flourishing place; it was to continue its rapid growth in this decade with the birth of a vibrant industry along the waterfront of Lake Champlain: lumber. With the coming of the Burlington and Rutland railroad to the waterfront in 1849 and a new tariff allowing unfinished lumber to come into Burlington from Canada at a much lower rate in the 1860s, Burlington’s lumber industry took off a furious pace. Lumber mills, planing mills, wood furniture companies, box manufacturers, sawmills, and architectural feature production companies sprang up along the waterfront. The stacks of lumber were so high that they were included on an 1877 map of Burlington! Other factories also were constructed along the waterfront in the late 1800s and early 1900s, making products such as biscuits, cotton textiles, brush fibers, cereal, bobbins, and maple syrup.
A detail of the waterfront of Burlington in 1877. What do you notice? How does this image of Burlington compare with how Burlington looks today?
Courtesy of UVM Special Collections.
Near all these factories and business developments along the waterfront and Pine Street, companies built worker housing. The Lakeside neighborhood, near Oakledge Park today, was built in the early 1900s to house workers of the Queen City Cotton Mill. What today we know of as the North End was home to French and German families. A Jewish community grew along Hyde and Archibald streets in Burlington (where the synagogues are today). Italian and French families lived in a neighborhood along the waterfront where today the mall and Hilton Hotel are. The hill section of the South End was home to Burlington’s wealthiest citizens, who often had large homes and great amounts of land.
A postcard of Church Street, c. 1910. Do you know where this picture was taken? Are there any buildings you recognize that are still around today? (From UVM’s Landscape Change)
By the 1920s, the lumber industry had mostly died down. Many people had occupations at other factories, businesses, at schools, or civil service positions. Also, Burlington and Vermont in general became known as a tourist destination. Through World War II, land of wealthy people in the South End was divided up and partitioned for redevelopment into middle-class neighborhoods. One such example is the Hickok Estate in the lower South End. Hickok, who had been involved with the lumber industry, left the house to his family, who decided in the 1920s to sell much of the land to developers. Much of the Five Sisters neighborhood in Burlington is on this land. After World War II, Burlington developed a large section of land along North Avenue (the New North End), which had once been farmland.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Burlington officials became interested in revitalizing Burlington’s image and turning it into a modern city. As part of a period in American history when urban renewal was popular, Burlington officials decided to raze a working-class neighborhood on the waterfront (where today the mall and Hilton are) to make room for new businesses. This resulted in the razing of many homes and businesses. People were forced out of their houses and relocated. One such housing complex that was built to house people is next to the Community Health Centers of Burlington in the North End. It took time to fill in the lots and empty spaces where people’s homes once had been, but the downtown Burlington along Battery Street that we know today was the result of this. (Do you think this was a good decision by the city? Why or why not? What might have been another solution?)
Today, the layout of Burlington and its architecture are a reflection of the historical developments of the city and its people over time.
Bibliography:
Blow, David. Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods. Burlington, Vt.: Chittenden County
Historical Society, 1990.
University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program, Prof. Chester Liebs, ed. The Burlington Book:
Architecture, History, Future. Burlington, Vt.: University of Vermont Historic Preservation
Program, 1980.
Written by Karyn Norwood
1830 Plan of Burlington by Ammi B. Young
Courtesy of UVM Special Collections
1830
1853 Map of Burlington by Presdee & Edwards; Sarony & Major. Courtesy of UVM Special Collections
1853
1869 Map of Burlington by Beers Courtesy of UVM Special Collections
1869
1877 Bird’s Eye View of Burlington published by J.J. Stoner
Courtesy of UVM Special Collections
1877
1890 Map of the City of Burlington, Vermont Courtesy of UVM Special Collections
1890
#2: Reading the Built Environment (in our community, Burlington)
Background for the Educator:The built environment includes buildings and all other things constructed or shaped by human beings; generally, this built environment is where we work, play, and live. Burlington is a built environment and it's also our community. Being able to identify the buildings around us and why they are there is an important part of being able to understand our surrounding landscape. There are buildings, structures, roads, and parks in Burlington--these are all part of our built environment--and these are places where we work, live, and play. Different buildings are where they are to serve different needs of the human populace.Parts of our built environment include: roads, signs, hospitals, libraries, schools, single-family homes, apartment buildings, duplexes, condos, fire stations, parks, cemeteries, fences, street lights, business blocks, store fronts.Areas of our built environment: residential neighborhoods, downtowns, main streets, parks, factory/industrial zones, business strips.
Learning Goals:Students will understand patterns of local areas of Burlington. Students will know what different types of buildings make up the built environment.
Essential Questions: How is Burlington laid out? Why are different building types located where they are? What patterns of local areas are clear?
Connecting Standard: Vermont Standards:6.7 Geographical Knowledge: Students use geographical knowledge and images of various places to understand the present, communicate historical interpretations, develop solutions for the problems, and plan for the future. This is evident when students:a. identify location and patterns of local areas. b. develop a mental map and make a representational map of your community. c. use map and atlas resources to compare and contrast patterns of spatial variation.
Materials Needed:➔ Paper Burlington map or
online Google Maps➔ Graph paper, white paper➔ Pencils/markers/colored
pencils➔ Clipboard
Lesson Outline:1. Explain to students what the built environment is and give
some examples of what parts of the built environment might be.
2. Take a walk around your neighborhood, armed with pencils, a piece of paper, and clipboards. Ask students to look closely around them and write down what they see. What do they see? What is it and why is it there? What purpose does it serve? For example, why is the school in a residential or downtown area? Why are businesses in a downtown area or main road? How are store fronts different from homes? Why is there convenience store in a neighborhood? In general buildings, structures, etc., are located where they are to best serve the needs of their audience.
3. When you return, have a class brainstorm and list all the different building types you saw on your walk or that students know are part of the community’s built environment.
4. Students can also spend some time studying maps of Burlington. Why are different neighborhoods the way they are? (North End, South End, Downtown, Waterfront, New North End) Are there problems with how Burlington is laid out? What would make Burlington better for the people who live, work, and play in the city?
Burlington Google Map address: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4770704,-73.2277945,13z
#3: Map your Community and its Building Types
Background for the Educator:
Now that students have learned about how Burlington developed over time and what some of various parts of a community are, a fun activity is to make a map of the community and the resources of the built environment. This lesson can vary a bit in size and detail--the important thing is to get students thinking about all the different things that have been built to serve various human needs in Burlington: younger students could make a loose drawing of the parts of the community or their neighborhood, while older students might try making a more accurate map of Burlington or a Burlington neighborhood (North End, South End, New North End, Downtown). Students should have some experience with how to read and make maps before this activity.
Learning Goals:Students will understand pattern of local areas of Burlington. Student should be able to make representational map of the community. Students will know what different types of buildings make up the built environment.
Essential Questions: How is Burlington laid out? Why are different building types located where they are? What should be included in a map of the neighborhood/city?
Connecting Standard: Vermont Standards: 6.7 Geographical Knowledge: Students use geographical knowledge and images of various places to understand the present, communicate historical interpretations, develop solutions for the problems, and plan for the future. This is evident when students:a. identify location and patterns of local areas. b. develop a mental map and make a representational map of your community. c. use map and atlas resources to compare and contrast patterns of spatial variation.
Materials Needed:➔ Paper Burlington maps or online
Google Map➔ Pencils/markers/colored pencils➔ Paper/graph paper➔ Clipboards➔ Ruler
Lesson Outline:This activity could take 2-3 days, depending on the level of
detail in regard to making the maps.
1. Have students first write down all the different buildings, structures, and areas they wish to include on their map. Depending on the level, it could vary from labeling a "library" to for the detailed Burlington map: "Fletcher Free Library."2. Have students use grid paper to sketch out drafts of their representational maps. Students should use a Google Map, paper map of Burlington, or an atlas as a reference tool. Different types of buildings (library, school, fire station, general stores, hospital) and areas (neighborhood, parks) should be labeled. Make sure they include a compass and possibly a scale, depending on the level of students.3. Final versions of maps can be on white paper or graph paper. Students could have a presentation day or post them up in a hallway or wall.
Burlington Google Map address: https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4770704,-73.2277945,13z
