^1 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ^^^Hf^ ^ DUE lAAULgg fc^l- uLJK WW pmnuu GAYLORD ifemtofclT^.Hl ill! PRINTED INU.5 A. F 59B9 A921894 n,Ver8 " ¥ Ubrary Pict ffii!i!?i™!ii&i r .!iMlJR5,.,:,,. a handbook of B 3 1924 028 837 867 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028837867 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON SECOND EDITION Picturesque Burlington A HANDBOOK BURLINGTON, VERMONT LAKE CHAMPLAIN JOSEPH AULD. ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. SECOND EDITION. BURLINGTON, VT. FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION I894. He U.f; 5°! j CopyrigJfTt893, By Free Press Association Secoud Edition Copyrighted i8< y ■rv \ , Typography^ Press Work and Binding by Fret' Press Association. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1 J AGE Ausable Chasm _ ._ __ _ 16 Residence of Hemau W. Allen 64 Adams Mission House F 86 A Green Mountain Road 142 Ausable Chasm ,, 147 Residence of John J. Allen 165 H. W.Allen &Co., Interior... 173 View at Alpha Spring - , * ,,«..„.„ , 178 Algonquin Club Rooms _ _. 7S Burlington Harbor , 37 Battery Park _ _.__£ 45 Residence of F. F,. Burgess , 32 Residence of Hon. Henry Ballard j 62 Bereau Baptist Church _ i j 79 Killings Library, Interiors 72, 96, 98, and r 14 Bishop Hopkins Hall 100 Bishop Hopkins Hrill, Chapel _ 102 Bishop Hopkins Hall, Views _ _ _ 104 Billings Library, Exterior , Fronticepiece Residence of A. A. Buel _ 145 Burlington Saving's Bank. , 150 Residence of Mrs. Alfred Brookes _ _ 169 Burlington from Red Rocks _ 34 The Converse Dormitory. -f II2 Cedar Beach _ _ 8 Cloak Island • 10 College Street, looking East i*» Church Street, looking North , _ _ 43 College Green _ 4 6 City Hall ■- -- 48 College Street, from South Union _ _ 59 College Street Congregational Church 75 Residence of W. M. Curtis --- ; — 82 Converse School _ 94 Residence of Col. LeGrand B. Cannon * 103 Champlain Transportation Go's Dock -- 134 Cedar Beach. _ _ - 139 Court House - 152 Residence of H. R. Conger ,.--- 161 Vtew in Grounds of Col. LeGrand B. Cannon 163 xii. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Colchester Mills, Interior.. ...'. 166 Residence of Mrs. Carruth - - - 66 Eagle Bay.. -- - 4 Ragle Camp Beach - - - - - T0 Ethan Allen Engine House 4 4^ Residence of Hon. Geo. F, Edmunds a - 55 Residence of Prof. S. F. Emerson 122 Ethan Allen Monument -- 149 Fletcher Free library - 4 s First Church Chapel aud Parsonage 67 First Baptist Church 69 Views at Fort Ethau Allen _ _ 136 Gordon's Landing, Grand Isle .*. 10 Residence and Grounds of Rev. E- Huugerford 28 Home for Friendless Women * _ 81 Louisa Howard Mission House ,_, , „ , ,.. 85 Home for Aged Women _ 89 Mary Fletcher Hospital _ 92 High School Building _ ' 97 Bishop Hall's Residence ___ 76 High Bridge _., _ 137 Howard National Bank _ ; 148 Hay ward Block. ._ 68 Home for Destitute Children 78 Geo. A. Hall's Block 160 Indian Bay __ -,.,,, 12 Interior of J. H. Robinson's Residence 51 Inside the Breakwater 133 Slielbume Farms, Residence and Farm. Barns 140 Gen. George J. Staunard Monument _ _., 151 Residence of W. B. Jones... 54 Kellogg's Island _ _. 8 Residence of Hon. F. C. Kennedy ...., 42 Lake George, three views _ ___ 16 Residence of Elias Lyman... __ .j, 32 Lake Champlaiu Yacht Club House , 39 Residence of W. H. Lane, Jr _.... 82 Lang & Goodhue M'i'g Co., Interior.. +_ 1^4 Martin's Point __ ___, g Marble Island, Maliett's Bay J2 Main Street, East from Willard _ _ 40 Methodist Episcopal Church _ _ _ 73 Medical College „ ^ go Mount St. Mary's Academy _ gg Map of Roads in Vicinity of Burlington x ^ 2 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, xiii PAGK Old Stone Hotel, Grand Isle t I9 Residence of Hon. E). J. Phelps , 57 Providence Orphan Asylum. ^ 63 Residence of C . G. Peterson _ _ , b2 Ruins of Ticouderoga _ _ i 4. Red Rocks, from the Lake _ 6 Rock Dunder 12 Residence of D. W. Robinson * 40 Residence of J. H. Robinson 50 Resideuce of A. E. Richardsou • 52 Rectory of St. Paul's Church... 1 , 64 Interior of J. H. Robinson's Residence ^ , 101 Rock Point ._ 135 Sister Island ... 10 The Terrace, South Union Street 53 St. Paul's Church and Chapel 77 Residence of R. D. Stearns • S2 Dr. Sparhawk's Sanitarium 1 i 1S6 Twin Bridg'es.. _ ._ _ 2 Thompson's Point, Charlotte t* :.. ^ Thompson' s Point, Mallett' s Bay L 12 Residence of C. R. Turrill 177 Unitarian Church _ _ _* _ 65 University of Vermont, Maiu Building : 108 Billings Library Frouticepiece The Williams Science Building no The Converse Dormitory 112 The "Old Mill" T ti6 Farm Buildings 11S The Converse Houses .£_*_ 120 The William House ; , , r 122 President's Residence _. 124 View in Art Gallery. _ 126 Mechanical Buildings 128 College Green, the Fountain..., .__ 129 Mechanical Buildings, Interiors.^. 130 United States Custom House and Post Office __ 152 Unitarian Parsonage . 66 Views on the Shores of Lake Chaniplain 4 &0V- Van Ness Mansion 44 Residence of W. J. Vau Patten 36 Vermont Kpiscopal Institute ; . ; 106 Van Ness House _ 154 Venetian Blind Co., Interior : 155 President's Office, Vt. Life Insurance Co 157 x i v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Venetian Blind Co „.,_.,„♦-„, I 7 I Wiuooski Village aud Dam _ *4 Residence of Edward Wells 20 Residence of Hon. C. W. Woodhouse -- 22 _Winooski Falls . .. 25 .Residence of Mrs. William Wells _-. .. 26 Residence of Henry Wells 3° Wells & Richardson Co., Interior... _ 159 Residence of E. B. Whiting-... _. 167 Bookstore of Whitney & Shauley 168 Wells & Richardson Co., Omce 175 Residence of Gov. Woodbury __ 32 Winooski _. 60 The Williams Science Building no Dr. Willard's " Nervine " r .._ 1S2 Dr. Willard's "Nervine," Interior Views _ _ 176 Young Men's Christian Association _ _ , 91 THE CHAMPLAIN VALLEY. THE GEOLOGY OF THE VALLEY; ITS DISCOVERY BY CHAMPLAIN ; ITS ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS AND EARLY SETTLEMENT: FRENCH AND INDIAN NAMES : THE GREAT ISLANDS ; NAVIGATION OF THE LAKE ; HISTORIC REMAINS. Nature has written the history of the evolution of the earth with a master hand ; and centuries past counting have slowly piled up the pages of her record. Man, in his brief day, with his feeble candle of science, has groped among the rocks and delved in the drift of the ages in vain efforts to read the story. If at last he has found the key and now correctly reads the wonderful book, it tells him that the western wall of Lake Champlain is the oldest land on earth. Before the Alps or the Andes had broken the surface of the deep ; before the Himalayas had reared their heads to become supreme among the mountains, the rocky peaks of the Adirondacks had pierced the dreary waste of waters that covered the earth. Tahawas (Mount Mafcy) , with its proud and lofty head splitting the clouds in full view of Burlington, first rose above the waves at the beginning of the wonderful work which contracted the earth's crust and divided its surface into seas and continents. After the first dry land had thus appeared, there came many ages of upheaval and subsidence, with alternate increase and decrease of land and water surface, growth and decay of luxuriant vegetation. The outline of the Champlain valley was completed late in the lower Silurian period, when the Green Mountain range, with Mansfield and Camels Hump towering above their fellows, came slowly up from the depths. From Archaean time to Quater- 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. nary, millions of years passed during which those stupendous but indefinite eras known as geologic ages were slowly producing their gradually complicating life and depositing* their eternal records. Then, in comparatively recent time, with slow and relentless movement came the great ice age crushing out all forms of life beneath its awful tread. The whole region became covered with ice and remained for ages in the grasp of the frost king. The mountain peaks all about, worn, seamed and scarred by the mov- ing mass, show to this day the marks of that giant struggle and the depth of that mighty crystal sea. After hundreds of thou- sands of dreary years had passed away, with death and silence reigning everywhere, the ice began its slow retreat and the waters from the melting mass carried into the valley a new soil. Life then again timidly asserted itself where -death had so long held sway. Previous to the age of ice it is probable that no human eye had seen the valley and no human foot had trodden its shores. The Champlain period, so named from the deposits in this valley, followed the age of ice. During this period the valley saw many great changes. It slowly sank till it was five hundred feet below its present level, and its salt waters reached from the St. Lawrence gulf south to the Atlantic ocean, converting New England into an island. Then reac- tion began, the movement was reversed and the valley gradually arose again. The climate, by slow degrees, had grown milder ; vegetation, beginning with the brave little arctic plants, lovers of cold and frost, gradually increased under the slowly returning warmth, till the great trees of the forest, the beautiful wild flowers and the fruits of the temperate zone had arrived. The elephant and the mastodon roamed the valley ; the whale lashed its waters and left his bones in its sands to become a local wonder in the nineteenth century. Vegetation grew luxuriantly, decayed and PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 3 was renewed again and again ; animal life, small and great, came in abundance. The upward movement continued till the valley appeared substantially as at present. Then nature's work was perfect and she paused, leaving the beautiful valley, with its pic- turesque sheet of water and its ancient mountain walls, to remain for all time " the cradle of the world's life." Man now appeared at Champlain, but when or whence he came, or what manner of man he was, is hot known. When the European arrived the Indian had roamed the valley for centuries. He had then passed out of the savage state 'and was well advanced in the lower stage of barbarism. This degree of advancement indicated many previous ages of upward struggle and effort. He had formed family and tribal relations and *had learned the value of the organized community. He knew how to make pottery and was an agriculturist, and used rude implements in the cultivation of the soil. His tools and weapons were of stone, and metals were yet unknown in his art. In the fierce and bloody wars and the competition for supremac3 r with his kind he was taught the value of combination for mutual aggression and defense. His national organization was based on blood relationship, and the highest stage of Indian life at Lake Champlain was reached by the con- federacy of the Five Nations — the Iroquois family — who held possession of the valley when the white man came. The Iroquois was the Indian of Indians — an example of the highest elevation man can reach without emerging from his prim- itive condition of hunter. This people had the most remarkable organization of pre-historic times, pronounced by Daniel Webster the most consummate piece of statesmanship in the history of the world. It consisted of five tribes, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Ouon- dagas, Cayugas and Senecas, — later becoming the Six Nations by the addition of the Tuscaroras — each of which had its sachems and subordinate chieftains to regulate its internal affairs ; this 4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. confederacy held together in war and peace, victory and defeat, for more than a century and a half before modern history began its record of their life. The Iroquois had tremendous energy, insatiable ambition, boundless pride and terrible ferocity. They lived in long frame houses, some a hundred feet long, held se- curely together with thongs, in villages guarded by stockades. They cultivated the soil and had great fields of maize, beans and squashes and large apple orchards. They had a great council- house in the valley of Onondaga, in central New York, and here on call, the sachems from each tribe came to settle questions of peace and war ; here ambassadors were received, alliances adjusted and all national questions discussed with exemplary harmony. Their orators often stirred the council with their fiery eloquence, but in the fiercest heat of controversy the assembly maintained its grave solemnity and its iron self-control. Their war parties roamed half the country and their name was a terror from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river. All Canada shook with the desolat- ing fury of their onset, and the Canadians believed they sacrificed children in fire and drank the ashes mixed with water to make them brave. The Iroquois name became a by- word of horror throughout the colony, yet in the days of their greatest triumphs they could not muster four thousand warriors. They had a long history previous to their confederacy, but it is lost in oblivion, obscured by myths and peopled by monsters. The legends of the confederacy tell of its organization by Hiawatha, who, after he had completed his work, arose before the great council which had adopted his advice, and with dignified air thus addressed them : ' ' Friends and Brothers : — I have now fulfilled my mission in this world. I have taught you arts which you will find useful. I have furnished you seed and grains for your gardens. I have removed obstructions from your waters, and made the forest habit- able by teaching you to destroy its monsters. I have given you RUINS OF TICONSEROGA. EAGLE BAY. SCENE 0\ LAKE SHORE. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 5 fishing and hunting grounds. I have instructed you in making and using implements of war. I have taught you how to Culti- vate corn. lastly, I have taught you to form a confederacy of friendship and union. If you preserve this, and admit no foreign element of power by the admission of other nations, you will always be free, numerous and happy. If other tribes and nations are admitted to your councils, they will sow the seeds of jealousy and discord, and you will become few, feeble, and enslaved. Friends and brothers, remember these words. They are the last 3'ou will hear from the lips of Hi-a-wa-tha ! Farewell ! ' ' "As the voice of the wise man ceased, sweet sounds from the air burst on the ears of the multitude. The whole sky seemed to be filled with melody, and while all eyes were directed to catch glimpses of the sight and enjoy strains of the celestial music that filled the sky, Hi-a-wa-tha was seen seated in his snow-white canoe in mid air, rising with every choral chant that burst forth. As he arose, the sounds became more soft and faint, till he vanished in the summer clouds, and the mekxfy ceased." Thus departed Hi-a-wa-tha, Hi-a-wa-tha, the beloved, In the glory of the sunset. In the purple mists of evening ; To the regions of the Home-Wind, Of 'the North-west- Wind, Kee- way-din, To the Islands of the Blessed, To the kingdom of Po-ne-mah, To the Land of the Hereafter. The traditions of this people which tell of the organization and life of the confederacy, and their myths and legends of the earlier period, show a robustness of mind unparalleled among other tribes — a mind that evolution was gradually bringing out to the light of letters and a literature. They styled themselves " Ongwe-honwe," the men surpassing all others. But they were 6 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. not long to remain the superior men ; their pride was destined to be humbled by a greater race than they had yet seen in their con- quests of half a continent. Modern history first dipped its pen into the blue waters of Lake Champlain, on July 4, 1609, just 166 years before the birth of the Republic ; and its first act was to record a battle between two companies of barbarians. The civilized hand that held the pen took part in that barbarian battle and fired the shot that spilled the first blood in that fatal encounter. That causeless shot shaped the destiny of a continent, and wrought a greater change in the history of the globe than that other famous shot, which was heard around the world, a hundred and sixty-six years later. The expedition which Champlain with two companions joined in a spirit of adventure, at the solicitation of the Indians, left Quebec early in June, and entered the lake on that historic day in July. The fleet consisted of sixty canoes, paddled by two hun- dred Huron and Algonquin warriors. The expedition made its way slowly southward, the Indians telling Champlain that their enemies dwelt at the foot of the southernmost mountains. As they drew nearer to their enemies' abode they traveled only by night, keeping close by day, doing neither hunting nor cooking for fear of discovery, and living on a little meal thickened with water. As this company of half naked, paint T bedaubed, feather- decorated Indians, accompanied by three men of the strange white race, paddled stealthily along the shores of the beautiful lake, they presented a strangely contrasting picture— the rear guard of red men conducting the advance guard of white men through the very gateway of the Indian's country. It was the passing of the age of myth, the coming of the age of science- the approaching sun- set of barbarism and the faint dawn of civilization. During their slow progress through the lake, Champlain had ample opportunity to observe the natural -beauty of the valley— 1 I PICTURESQUE BURLI.XGTOK. y the lake dotted with picturesque islands, ''the grand snow-capped mountains, the noble forests, with many trees like those of his native France, hung with luxuriant vines. He talked with the Indians about the valley and its inhabitants. He saw "four beautiful islands ten, twelve and fifteen leagues in length, form- erly inhabited, as well as the Iroquois river, by Indians, but abandoned since they have been at war the one with the other. ' ' He saw on the east " very high 4 mountains capped with snow," and was told by the Indians that the Iroquois dwelt there, and that there were ' ' beautiful valleys and fields fertile with corn ; ' ' and, says Champlain, "other mountains were soon discovered south, upon the west side ol the lake." What a picture is suggested by the meagre description in Champlain's journal of this first voyage of the white man through the lake that preserves his name to posterity. As the long line of canoes advanced, paddled by the dexterous hands of the sav- age, the river widening as they went, great islands appeared, leagues in extent — Isle a la Motte, Long Island, Grand Isle, chan- nels where ships might float, and broad reaches of expanding water stretching between them. Cumberland Head was passed, and, from the opening of the great channel between Grand Isle and the main, he could look forth on the wilderness sea. On the left, the forest ridges of the Green Mountains banked in the east, their tops capped with snow ; on the right the peaks of the Adi- rondacks touching the clouds and each evening set on fire by the glory of the setting sun. Champlain's brief records of this trip are the first written words describing the magnificent lake which he named for himself — the only geographical feature to which, in all his journey ings and discoveries, he gave his own name. The wild natural beauty of the valley as it was seen by Champlain has been greatly changed by the hand of man. The superb forests along the shore have given place to broad cultivated g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. fields ; a thousand thrifty homesteads have replaced- the scattered Indian wigwams ; cities, villages and hamlets have risen as by magic upon the fields where the savage scratched the ground with a stone and sowed his corn ; highways and bridges, railways and steamboats have come ; bridle paths, and stepping stones, the bark canoe and the dugout, have vanished as completely as though they had never been. But the beautiful sheet of water, with its deeply serrated shores and its picturesque islands; the rugged wall of mount- ains, with verdant sides and peaks bare and torn, still remain to make the valley one of the most sublimely beautiful pictures of natural scenery on the continent. No inland sheet of water com- bines so grandly the mirror that reflects every passing cloud, every soft and quickly changing tint of the summer evening sky, with the riot and destruction of the breaking wave which drives every craft to shelter, as the lake named for Samuel de Champlain. The navigable waters of Lake Champlain extend from White- hall north to St. Johns in Canada, a distance of 120 miles. It has a breadth of from forty rods to fifteen miles, the widest unob- structed part being about ten and a half miles. It contains about ^ fifty islands of various sizes, the largest being at the north end. There are large deposits of iron ore on the west, and fertile farm- ing lands on the east side. The following rivers empty into it : On the east, the Otter, Winooski, Lamoille, Missisquoi ; on the west, Wood Creek, the Bouquet, Ausable, Saranac and Chazy. Navigation is safe and unobstructed throughout its length. Dur- ing several months in the winter the lake is frozen over, the ice forming a commodious and much used highway for business and pleasure. The broad part opposite Burlington usually remains open several weeks after the close of the north and the south ends ; the north end near the outlet is the first to open. The ice forms on the broadest part about the first of February and remains till about the middle of April. The lake covers an area of about 500 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 9 square miles and drains a section of county about 9,000 square miles in extent. It is connected with the Hudson river by the Champlain canal and flows into the St. Lawrence by the Richelieu river. The valley is about 180 miles long and from one to thirty- miles wide. Its greatest depression is between Westport, Bur- lington and Port Kent. Between Burlington and Port Kent the water reaches a depth of 282 feet ; while between Essex and Char- lotte a depth of 399 feet has been sounded. The surface of the lake is 93 feet above tide water at low water ; consequently the bottom is more than three hundred feet telow the ocean level. There is a difference of about eight feet between high water in the spring and low water in midsummer, alth'pugh in a rain}- season the water has been known to be higher late in July than in the spring. The lake contains about fifty islands, large and small ; the main channel is near the New York shore, and as the division line between Vermont and New York is along the channel, most of the water and nearly all the islands are, in Vermont. Before the white man gave his personal and commonplace nomenclature to the possessions of the Indians, Lake Champlain was known by the poetic and expressive name of Canmderi-gita- runte, meaning the Lake-that-is-the-Gate-of-the-Country. This name was not only appropriate as a physical term, but it indicated plainly the use which was made of the great valley by the abor- igines as well as by their white successors. The Iroquois on the west and south, and their hereditary eneniies, the Algonquins and Hurons, on the north and east, made frequent use of this great natural highway for their war expeditions and predator}' incur- sions upon each others' territory. But when Lake Champlain was discovered, the Iroquois had conquered the Algonquin and laid claim to the valley and a vast territory, reaching south to Virginia, west to Lake Michigan, north to the north end of Lake Huron, to and down the Ottawa river to the island of Montreal ; and on 10 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. the east ' ' each summer there came two Mohawk elders, secure in the dread that Iroquois prowess had everywhere inspired ; and up and down the Connecticut valley they seized the tribute of weap- ons and wampum, and proclaimed the last harsh edict issued from the council at Onondaga." The Iroquois once had settlements along the shores and on the large islands of the lake. In this neighborhood the remains show that they had a village in South Hero, near the Sandbar, and others in Colchester. Indications of settlements have been found about Malletts Bay, at the mouth of the Lamoille and along the Winooski river in Burlington. A minor tribe of Algonquins, the St. Francis Indians, had a settlement of about fifty huts at Swan ton, with a good deal of cleared land on which they raised corn and other vegetables. When the English came, the settle- ment had a church and a saw-mill, with a channel cut through the rocks to supply the mill with water. These equipments of civiliz- ation were no doubt the work of the French Canadians, after they arrived with their religion and their arts. Most of the settlements where remains have been found were probably only temporary ones, as the valley was disputed territory for years, the battle ground of hostile nations. Birt remains of Indian occupation, consisting of flint chips, earthenware — and, more rarely, specimens of copper and shell — and evidences of ancient hearths in charcoal and burnt stones, are found all about the valley. The most interesting of all the=aboriginal settlements was located near Swanton. It was so early as to have been un- known to the St. Francis tribe. There are indications of many . graves, twenty or thirty of which have been examined, all the re- mains and surroundings indicating great antiquity. The speci- mens of shell, copper and stone' found in and about the graves showed very fine workmanship. The origin or destiny of this people is in doubt, but Prof. Perkins, of the University of Ver- Cb to 3 pqg Oh 3 b5 3 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. H mont, is inclined to the belief that they may have been a small tribe of mound builders from the Ohio valley. However that may be, they left no other evidences of their settlements or their handi- work. On the west side of the lake remains in large quan- tities have been found, consisting of stone weapons, implements and ornaments, implements of copper and bone, and fireplaces and potters- . Pottery entirely in fragments is found in great abund- ance. The largest village site is in Plattsburgh, located on a sand ridge a mile long and from twenty to forty rods in width, lying between a sluggish creek abounding in fish, and the shore of Cum- berland Bay. The people that left these remains did not finally surrender their claim to the Champlain valley till many years after civiliza- tion had upset their wigwams and scattered the occupants. Their final attempt at enforcing their title, however, was a peaceful one. In the year 1792 the Caughnawauga (Iroquois family) and St. Regis Indians, calling themselves the Seven Nations of Canada, claimed a large section of the northern part of the valley, and sent delegations to the governments of New York and Vermont to se- cure recognition of their claims. The New York government y bought off their claims for a small sum, but Vermont declined to entertain the claim against this State, and the matter was finally dropped by the Indians. From Champlain 's discovery till its occupation by the French in 1730, no permanent settlement was made in the valley, and its history till its evacuation by the French, thirty years later, is a story of rapine and bloodshed. It was a convenient thoroughfare at all seasons. Predacious bands made it their highway and savage forays passed along its shores, over its waters and upon its ice. Massacres were frequent ; men, women and children were burned, butchered and tortured. The sorrows, sufferings and trials of both English and French colonists can hardly be imagined. They 12 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. lived in continual fear of sudden death by* the tomahawk or out- rage and slow death by torture. No faith could be placed in treaties or any peaceful arrangement, and every settler had to be on constant guard to preserve his life. Colonizing was attempted, but no settlement was possible save within the walls of forts and stockades. No peaceful arts could be followed ; the musket and the sword were the constant companions of the settlers. The first white people to exert an influence upon the fortunes of the Champlain valley, were the Dutch traders who settled at Fort Orange (now Albany), on the Hudson, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Dutch were the greatest traders and manufacturers of Europe ; their ships were constantly extend- ing their voyages to new places and carrying their commerce to the ends of the earth. In their terrible contest with Spain for their own political life and freedom, they had learned to respect human rights. Their object in America was traffic, not conquest. They soon established a trade with the Iroquois which was profit- able to them and satisfactory to the Indians. They took nothing from the Indians, not even land, without full payment, and during all the difficulties with other colonists the Indians constantly re- mained on terms of friendship with the Dutch. The Iroquois* understood and trusted them, and them alone, and never violated one of their numerous treaties. Said the Mohawk warriors : "The Dutch are our brethren. With them we keep but one council-fire. We are united by a covenant chain." To the stolid honesty of the Dutch and their respect for the rights of others, is due the possession of the Champlain valley by the English speaking race. The English traders and colonists suc- ceeded the Dutch in 1664, thus acquiring the treaties with the Iroquois and succeeding to the friendship they entertained for the Dutch. The methods of the English colonists were less pleasing to the savage. They were more aggressively bent on gain as well 05 S ? ' O i CO I 1: Si PICTURESQUE BURLIXuse. The 332 inhabitants were quite evenly distributed through e town, and the ratable property was valued at 1258 pounds. The first town officers chosen were Samuel Lane, clerk ; Job )ynton, constable ; Stephen Lawrence, Frederick Saxton and imuel Allen, selectmen. Lemuel Bradley represented the town the first general convention, before the State came into exist- ice. The first representative in the' Legislature of the new State as Samuel Lane, chosen in 1786. The first marriage recorded is as follows : "Samuel Hitchcock and Lucy Caroline (daughter of Gen. than Allen), married May 26, 1789." The first births recorded are as follows : " Loraine Allen Hitchcock, daughter of Samuel and Lucy C. itchcock, born June 5, 1790." "John Van Sicklin, Jr., son of ihn Van Sicklin and Elizabeth Van Sicklin, was born June 11, ^90." From the close of the war of Independence onward till 1850, Lirlington's growth and prosperity were continuous and rapid for .e times. With the opening of the railroads in 1850 there came radical change in the commerce of the valley and the growth of e city was temporarily retarded. But when business readjusted self to the changed conditions, the growth of the city started lew; and it has continued to grow with a nearly uniform rate of crease to the present time. From the beginning of the civilized ivigation of Lake Champlain, Burlington was the chief commer- al port of the valley. In its shipyards were built many of the Lips that sailed the lake and carried its commerce. On its docks 1 the merchandise which came from New York and Canada was nded for distribution throughout northern Vermont. From its lores were sent off the immense rafts of timber which were ex- ited to Canada and England. The great wholesale houses of Si -n PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 41 Burlington had large dealings and wide mercantile connections. The overland communication from Boston touched the lake at Bur- lington, and prior to the building of the railroads the city held supremacy in the commerce of a large section of the northern countiy. It was the distributing and shipping point for the mer- chandise going to and the produce returning from all of northern Vermont, and parts of Canada, New Hampshire and New York. Stages carrying passengers and mails made regular trips to the inland towns and to Boston. Great merchandise wagons drawn by four, six and eight horses, and the Canadian "spike teams" — three horses — came here to load with goods for the interior. They crowded the village with their great wagons and gave to the streets and highways an activity and picturesqueness not seen after the railroads came. It was not unusual for a hundred teams to be seen loading at the same time. There were numerous roadside houses at intervals along every route, at which stops were always made to bait both man and beast, and the great wagons would fre- quently start away from Burlington in the evening, stopping over night at the first roadside hotel. With the advent of the railroad the methods of conducting this great business were wholly changed and these scenes of activity vanished forever. Fifteen years later town government was abandoned and a new era of prosperity opened under new methods of business and a new municipality. The city of Burlington was born February 21, 1865; the old town of Burlington was divided, the larger part of its territory being set off to form the town of South Burlington, while the remainder was incorporated as the city of Burlington, and organized on that day. The population of the territory included in the city was at that time about 8,000; the characteristics of the place, those of the average country village. The new charter had an immedi- ate effect for good on the fortunes of the city; it led the people to 42 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. take more interest in their public affairs, a greater pride in their municipality. The young city began to take on new life, and a complete system of public improvements was inaugurated. New streets were laid out,, and old ones improved. A complete sewer- age system was begun, a fire department was organized, and a city water supply was secured. The spirit of municipal pride spread among the citizens and the whole community strove to make the city worthy of its magnificent natural location. Wealthy and active men saw its attractions as a place of residence and business, located here, and helped to advance the city's interests. This spirit has largely guided the people of Burlington to this day, and they can proudly boast of a city second to none as a desirable place of residence. It is an old city and has had no all-devouring fire to help modernize its structures, yet it is as young and fresh and modern as many western cities, and by comparison much more attractive, modern and progressive than the cities of equal age along the Hudson. That Burlington is deserving of this distinction will be readily granted upon investigation. Its people have laid out and constructed a fine system of streets, erected handsome and sub- stantial residences in large number, established schools, colleges and charitable institutions, and erected fine public buildings to a degree that has justly given to Burlington the title of ' 'The Queen City of Vermont." Its residents, moreover, have an established reputation the world over for their liberality, public spirit and hos- pitality. The growth of Burlington in population and breadth has bee 11 steady and continuous. No "boom" has interrupted its healthy increase nor disturbed its conservative business methods. It has never taken kindly to Western systems of finance nor extravagant municipal expenditures. Its methods are not sensational ; it is a place for sensible, reasonable people, and it contains more possibil- ities of health, pleasure and genuine good living than many I I o § § PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 43 another place with greater pretensions. Its growth in public spirit and in the architecture of its public and private buildings, in street and other improvements, has been rapid and notable during the last decade. The business part of the city, around the square and on Church and College streets, contains many large and substantial buildings, with commodious and well equipped stores and offices ; the residential portion of the city is even more conspicuous in its handsome dwellings, both on the old streets and the new ones opened within a few years. The majority of these modern structures have been built within the past ten years, and they show a high average of beauty and a refined architectural taste not often exhibited in so small a town. CHURCH STREET, Looking North. The territory embraced in the City of Burlington is nearly seven miles long by two and three-quarterstwide. The taxable real estate (1893) is assessed at $6,862,977 ; tne personal property at $3,745,665; and the total assessment , including polls , is $ 1 1 , 2 68 , 8 42 . I PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. he rate of taxation is $10 per thousand. The finances of the city e in excellent condition. The total bonded indebtedness is 115,000 ; the sinking fund amounts to $122,515.49, leaving le net bonded debt of the city only $292,484.51. The property wned by the city, including its public buildings, parks, public :hools, property of the fire and street departments, the cemeteries rid water works, at a conservative valuation amounts to $814,000. l hus it will be seen that the net bonded indebtedness of the city mounts to only about thirty-six per cent of the value of its own roperty — surely a remarkable and encouraging outlook for the lture. The annual expenses of the city, including interest, barges and the sinking fund, amount to about $114,000. After this brief glance at the general aspects of the Queen City f Vermont, let us look at the management of its public works nd the conduct of city affairs. The city government is made up f a mayor, elected annually ; a board of aldermen of ten mem- iers, elected one member from each of five wards, yearly, for a erm of two years ; and a city council composed of the mayor and he board of Aldermen. The city clerk, who is ex-officio clerk of he city council and board of aldermen, and the city treasurer are hosen by the board. The other minor officials are chosen in he same way. The police department consists of the chief of >olice and ten men, with headquarters at the city hall. In its streets as well as in other public improvements and con- veniences, Burlington is an example of public spirit, liberality and bresight beyond the usual town of its size. Its fifty-four miles of streets are laid out in regular order, and as a rule they are kept in jood condition. A large portion (ten miles) is well macadamized, a small section covered with concrete, the remainder being well gravelled and substantially built clay roads. There is a move- ment now on foot — advocated and supported by leading citizens — :o make a systematic effort to macadamize all'the principal streets, PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 45 and thus put them in permanently good condition. Nearly all the principal streets are curbed and guttered, with broad and well made sidewalks, covered mostly with slabs of blue stone. No city of its population shows a greater proportion of good sidewalks and well curbed streets to its street mileage. The street expendi- ture in 1892 was $45,000. The streets of the city are well lighted by 131 arc electric lights — thirty of which burn all night, at *a cost of $1 1 ,000 yearly. BATTERY PARK. The Consolidated Electric Company and the Burlington Gas Company, with offices in the Y. M. C. A. block on Church street, have a large and completely equipped electric and gas plant. The 4 6 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. streets are laid with gas mains and strung with electric wires, and light and power can be procured in small or large quantities from both systems. The source of electric supply is the great power station of the Vermont Electric Co. at the "gorge" on the Winooski river, three miles away. Here is an unlimited supply of power, and opportunity for individuals and factories to secure! motive power for manufacturing purposes. Parks. The parks of the city include the City Hall ParkJ Battery Park and College Park, aggregating about twenty acres. In: a city of 15,000 people so widely spread as Burlington and so well] shaded, the necessity of public parks is not felt. Nevertheless the three parks named are highly appreciated by a large class of people who find attractive shade and pure air within their precincts. City Hall Park, in the center of the business district, contains two and a half acres. It was reserved by the original proprietors of the town for a public square, and is a pleasant spot, finely shaded with; great elms, planted by residents now living. It contains a hand-| some fountain, and a band stand on which are given the summer! evening concerts of Sherman's Military Band. The principal hotels of the city front on this park. Battery Park, in the north part of the city, on the bluff overlooking the lake, is a charming place laid out with walks and drives and affording a fine water view. Its name comes from the battery erected here during the war of 18 12, which did good service in driving the British fleet down the lake in 18 13. A group of barracks was also built about the present park which contained about four thousand soldiers during those perilous times. College Green, on Prospect street fronting the University, is a finely shaded and attractive park, con- taining a handsome fountain and a bronze statue of Lafayette by J. Q. A. Ward. 6=1 O PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 47 Water Supply. The source of Burlington's water supply is Lake Champlain, a body of water so vast and so active as to be in no danger of contamination. The source of supply is therefore of undoubted purity and potableness. The water works were con- structed in 1867. The pumping station is on the lake shore, and the water is pumped into a magnificent double reservoir on the hill, nearly 300 feet above the lake. This reservoir holds seven million gallons, and it is so far above the business part of the city as to fur- nish ample pressure for fire service without the use of an engine. The residences and buildings on the hill above receive their water from a higher service, the supply of which is furnished from the main reservoir by an ingenious motor invented by Mr. W. H. Lang, which works automatically and keeps the higher service supplied at absolutely no cost for power. The higher service tank holds a hundred and seventy thousand gallons. The water is well distributed about the city in thirty-three miles of mains. The pump- ing is done with two Worthington pumps, having a daily capacity of 1,500,000 gallons ; the daily average consumption of water in 1892 was 789,289 gallons. The fire service is supplied by 175 hydrants. The cost of the water works was $374,000 ; the annual expense is about $20,000, exclusive of interest on bonds, about $10,000 ; the receipts from water rents are about $40,000, leaving a large net profit to the city each year. Health. From the organization of the city until 1892 its sanitary affairs were in charge of a health officer, chosen, by the city council. This officer was always a physician, and had power to enforce proper sanitary regulations and to summarily abate nui- sances. He was constantly on the alert and made a large number of inspections in the course of the year. In 1892 the Legislature of the State passed a general sanitary law applying to all munici- palities in order to make the methods of 'guarding against con- 4 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. tagious diseases uniform throughout the State. This law places the appointment of the health officers in the power of the State Board of Health, and constitutes the officer thus appointed, and the Board of Aldermen of the city the local board of health. . The city has thorough and strictly enforced plumbing regu- lations and all the sanitary arrangements are as complete as possi- ble. Taking these municipal regulations with the naturally healthy i location of the city, a combination of favorable conditions appears, >: The slope on which the city is built permits thorough sewerage., and drainage, and Burlington is always dry and well drained. Stagnant water is not seen. Nearly all the streets are sewered-^ more than fifteen miles are laid — with one or more basins at the intersections of streets to collect surface water. The gutters are curbed, sagged and paved. In 1890 there were 288 deaths in the city, out of which number fifty were seventy years years of age and over, and one reached the great age of ninety-seven. In 1891 there were 255 deaths. Of these twenty-nine were over seventy years of age and nineteen over eighty years of age. In 1892 the number of deaths was 306. Of these forty were seventy years old and over, twenty-three eighty and over, two ninety and over. Burlington is one of the healthiest cities on the continent. The death rate averages less than eighteen in every 1000. The best criterion of the sanitary condition of a community is found in the prevalence and fatality of the zymotic class of diseases. The class comprises those diseases which are either epidemic, endemic , or contagious, and which are in a measure preventable by proper - sanitary regulations. With the exception of an occasional run of diphtheria to which every place is subject, the deaths occurring in this class of diseases are comparatively few. The country about Burlington — the whole Champlain valley — -is a great health resort and thousands of people are attracted hither every season. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 49 Fire Department. The Burlington Volunteer Fire Depart- ment is one of the oldest fire departments in the country. It originated in 1808 when the State pf Vermont incorporated the Burlington Fire Company. That was, of course, long before the village could afford to buy a fire engine. "The equipment of the company consisted of leathern buckets, blankets and ladders. This company did good service in its day but when the court house was burned in 1829, the people were aroused to demand something more efficient for extinguishing fires. Money was raised by subscription, an engine bought at a cost of $300, and a new company incorporated under the did name. From this beginning has resulted the present excellent department. The department now con- sists of one steam fire engine company, two hand engine companies, three hose com- panies and one hook and ladder company, namely : Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1 ; Star Hose Company , No. 2 ; Boxer Engine Co. No. 3 ; Ethan Allen Engine Company, No. 4 ; Howard Hose Company, No. 5 ; Barnes Hose Company, No. 7; A. C. Spear Engine Com- HAIN STREET— East from Willarcl. pany, No. 8. The membership of the department consists of one engineer with four assistants and two hundred and "fifty men. The engines are rarely used. Each company has a hcse cart and the pressure of water is so great that fires are quickly extinguished without the aid of the engines, which are intended principally for use on 5 o PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. the hill where the pressure is not so great, or where city water is not available. The record of the Burlington Fire Department is one of high efficiency. The city has never suffered from a large fire, notwithstanding its extensive lumber yards with their inflam- mable material. In the year covered by the last report (1892) there were twenty-one fires in all, with the small total loss of only $9, 000. The fire department has always been a credit to Burlington. Its membership contains many of our prominent citizens, 'men of the highest standing socially and intellectually. Its unrewarded service has been discharged with skill and heroism. Duty has been performed in the face of danger to life and limb. Within a ' few years, one brave fireman — Mr. E. C. Parker— was killed while fighting the flames as a member of the Ethan Allen Engine Com- pany. Alarms are given by the Gamewell electric fire alarm system with twenty-six alarm boxes, and indicators for each company — : one large bell in the Ethan Allen tower, with peculiar and easily distinguished tone, and eight small bells and fourteen miles of wire. There is a circuit breaker by which the standard time is indi- cated at 9.15 a. m. each day by three strokes of the bell. Public Buildings. The public buildings of the city are all substantial and dignified structures. In so old a city some of its architecture will of necessity not be modern. But in respect of creditable public edifices as well as in other particulars, Burling- ton keeps up with, if she does not lead, "the procession" of. cities of her size. The City Hall, facing Church street and City Hall Square, is a substantial, but not showy, brick building, well adapted to its uses. It contains a hall, with a seating capacity of 800 people, all the city offices, city court room, police office and other rooms. The Fletcher Free Library, next door, was 05 s 1 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 5 1 formerly the County Court House. While it has been made to serve a useful purpose so far, yet it is not such a structure as the city needs, and eventually will have, for housing so valuable and so useful a public library. This building also contains the office of the superintendent of education and the school commissioners. The Ethan Allen Engine Company's building next to the library, serves its purpose well, of housing the apparatus and providing social and business rooms for a prominent and socially conspicu- ous fire company. It does not present any -specially noticeable architectural features. In its tower is the fire bell, sounded by RESIDENCE OF J. H. ROBINSON— Mmic Room. electrical alarm in case of fire. Further south and on the opposite side of Church street, on the corner of Main, is the Custom House and Post-office, a brick structure with mansard roof, built by Uncle Sam in the Mullet architectural period. The United States Custom House for the Vermont District is located in the second and third stories of this building, the Post Office on the ground floor. r;, PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON, Prominent among the attractive 'structures of the city are the buildings of the University of Vermont, on the summit of the hill, notably the main building, the Billings Library and the resi- dences. The Billings Library would find a place in any truthful list of the twenty finest public buildings in this country. Its architect was Richardson. It is the most conspicuous architec- tural ornament of the city and should be seen by all who have the opportunity. The main University building, with its high Nor- man gables, compares well with many American college edifices. For the Howard Opera House, Burlington is indebted to the late John P. Howard. It was built in 1878 at a cost of $100,000. It is a large brick building on Church street at the corner of Bank. The first story contains five of the finest stores in Burlington. It may be said tp be substantial rather than showy as to its exterior. Its spacious interior rivals the handsomest. When it was built Boston possessed no more tasteful and luxurious place of public amusement. The city of Washington had not one half as fine. So beautiful a home for music and the drama, invites and secures manjr entertainments of a higher class than are commonly presented in places of the size of this. It will comfortably seat nearly 1200 persons. It has a large stage, four spacious boxes, and is exceed- • ingly well equipped with scenery and theatrical appointments. Burlington is what is known in theatrical parlance as a good "show town" and consequently has the opportunity of seeing the best entertainments ' 'on the road. ' ' There is hardly a ' 'star' ' that does not come to Burlington, if he goes away from the great cities at all. The property was presented to the Home for Destitute Children by Mr. Howard before his death. The jail is a necessity of civilized government. The only points about such an institution that differentiate one community from another are the quality of the prison and the average number of Its occupants. In both respects Burlington makes an enviable .. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. S3 record in its jail. Few people passing the neat two-story and mansard roof brick building on Main street at the corner of Winooski avenue would think it was a jail. But a closer look at the octagonal addition in the rear - with barred windows would show its purpose. The front portion of the building is the sheriff's home and office and the prison for. women, while the octa- gon extension is one of the most model of jails. Within this octagon is a rotary jail — a round steel "cage" containing ten cells for prisoners. This ' 'cage' ' is closely surrounded by a barred iron railing with only one opening. When a prisoner is to be placed in his cell the "cage" is revolved till the proper cell fronts the THE TERRA CE— South Union Street. door ; then the prisoner is put in, the cage is turned, and he is secure. The number of prisoners is small and the offences venial, largely violations of the prohibitory law. On the same square and just back of the jail are the "city market and barns. A few years ago Burlington made an attempt 54 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. at metropolitanism that sadly miscarried. The corporation built a large market building, with the intention of concentrating within its walls all the marketmen and butchers in the city. The attempt was praiseworthy and the result would have been advantageous in many ways ; but owing to the objection of the market men, it was found impossible to carry it out, and the market building remains a monument to misdirected zeal and a blot in the center of the city, having not even the negative beauty of usefulness. Residences. Burlington is a city of homes; its private residences include a goodly number of stately size, with broad grounds and ample lawns, others with attractive exteriors and artistic interiors, though less imposing and not so costly. The residential part of the city has had a remarkable growth in hand- some houses, with modern and tasteful architectural features, within the past few years; although it was already conspicuous ; for its fine old mansions and the general elegance of its dwellings i of the old style. Some of the streets which contain the. principal i residences, such as Main, South Willard, Pearl, Prospect, William, '< College, Summit and South Union, would be conspicuous in a i much larger city. The streets are broad, finely shaded and wellj cared for ;• curbed and graded, with substantial sidewalks and broad grass plats on the side of the stone or concrete walk, they! present an exceedingly attractive appearance. \ Many of the residences on these streets are notable examples! of architecture and taste, both in their exterior and interior char-' \ acteristics. The engravings in this volume show a good many of them, revealing their general character; but only a ride about the city will convey a complete idea of the attractiveness of its res- : idences. On Main street, driving up the hill, the first notable residence on the right at the corner of South Union street, is that of PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 55 ex-Senator Edmunds, surrounded by large grounds containing many shade trees. Higher up on the same side is the old Baxter mansion ; then on the right the residence of the late Gen. William Wells, corner of Willard, and on the left those of Henry Wells and D % W. Robinson. On the right, at the corner of Summit, is the fine old mansion of the late Lawrence Barnes, of which mention is made elsewhere. On South Willard street there are many handsome residences, both north and south of Main street. The most prominent on RESIDENCE OF HON. GEO. F. EDMUNDS. the south are those of Elias Lyman, ex- Minister E. J. Phelps, Henry Ballard, J. H. Robinson, C. W. Woodhouse, and his son L. E. Woodhouse. On William street are the residences of A. E. Richardson on the east, and H. G. Loomis on the west side ;^on North Prospect eg PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. street, Fern Hill, the summer residence of Joseph Brown of New York. On South Prospect street, looking across College park, are the buildings of the University of Vermont. Further south are the residences of John J. A>n, Mrs. M. M. Francis, W. A. Crombie, Horace J. Brookes, and A. A. Buell on the east; with the elegant residence and grounds of LeGrand B. Cannon on the west, at the corner of Cliff street. On Summit street are the residences of F. C. Kennedy, S. F. Fmerson and Edward Wells, the latter one of the newest and finest in the city ; on Pearl street may be seen the res- idences of ex-Lieut. -Gov. Woodbury, H. Loomis, Mrs. E. D. Brooks, and others of attractive appearance but smaller size ; on College street the residence of E. W. Peck, surrounded by its • stately trees, and others with attractive surroundings will be noticed. The observer will note a peculiarity about all these and many other less conspicuous residences — the ample and carefully tended grounds. In this respect the city is rich and attractive. It is a ; common remark of visitors who ride about the town that they ; have rarely, if ever, seen a place of its size possessing so many ; tasteful dwellings with such handsome surroundings. Few places, ; also, are so finely shaded. The elms of Burlington are fast coming to rival those of New Haven. While in the dwellings i and grounds there is much good taste and luxury of a substantial" kind, there is still no excessive fondness for display, and the same is true as regards equipages, dress and household economy. One can live in these respects about as he chooses. The social equal- ity, good feeling and freedom from the social tyranny of cliques and sets among our citizens are especially noticeable. The Barnes mansion , on Main, street, the residence of the late Lawrence Barnes, is one of the historic buildings of'the town, and PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 57 its most fampus residence. It was built by Thaddeus Tuttle, a once prominent merchant of the city, who sold it, together with the large estate, reaching from Summit street to Willard and south to Col. Cannon's grounds, to Governor Van Vess. It was subsequently owned b} Henry Leavenworth and Captain Charles B. Marvin. Marvin was succeeded in ownership by Mr. Barnes, who' added the wing to the main building and otherwise improved the property. During its ownership by Gov. Van Ness, in 1825, he entertained that distinguished friend of America, the Marquis of Lafayette, who came to Vermont by RESIDENCE OF HON. E. J. PHELPS. invitation of the Governor and citizens, reaching Burlington from Montpelier. While in the city he laid the corner stone of the University building, A grand reception was held in his honor by the Governor at this mansion, and in the evening Gen. Lafayette and suite embarked on the steamer Phoenix, for Whitehall, with all honors suitable to the occasion. 58 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. The oldest frame house in the city is the so-called Foote house on Colchester avenue, built in 1789 ; the next oldest is the main part of the residence now occupied by Edward C. Loomis, on William, corner of Pearl street. It was built in 1790. Its huge timbers were hewed out .with the broad ax, and they are still sound and well preserved. Besides its great age this house has the distinction of having once sheltered royalty. In 1793 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, passed through Burlington going from Canada to Boston. His party came by way of Chaz3' and Grand Isle in sleighs, in February,' and stopped one night at this house, which was then owned by Phineas Eoomis. Means of Communication. The public means of trans- portation about the city include a large number of hacks and public carriages and a well equipped electric railroad. The pub- lic hacks are regulated as to charges by city ordinances. The legal charges are as follows : For day services up to 11 A. M. from the depots and wharves to the hotels and as far east as the college buildings, north to North street and south to Howard street, 25 cents ; other hours and distances, 50 cents; one trunk and one valise included in each case. The electric railroad extends from the Central Vermont rail- road station to City Hall Square, and from thence radiates _to the neighboring village of Winooski on the northeast, passing the col- ' lege park and green Mount cemetery; to Lake View cemetery on the northwest and Howard Park on the south, running through several of the principal business and residential streets. The entire length of the road is eight miles, and the fare is five cents. The Burlington Post-office occupies the lower story of the United States building on the corner of Church and Main streets. It does by far the largest business of any post-office in Vermont, and its percentage of increase in 1892 was larger than that of any 5 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. post-office in the United States. The receipts of the office for the year ending March 31, 1891, were $40,610.38 ; for the year end- ing March 31, 1893, $85,830.53. The money orders paid and issued in the latter year amounted to $108,299.62. There are ten letter carriers in the free delivery, seven clerks in the office, and forty-eight letter boxes in the city. Two full and four business deliveries and collections of mail matter are made daily. Other means of communication within and without the city are the two district messenger services, with call boxes, connected with the telegraph offices. The Western Union Telegraph Company has an office in the American Hotel block on Main street ; the Postal Telegraph Co. has an office at 106 Church street. The telephone system of the city affords remarkably complete advantages for local communication, having nearly 300 instru- ments, and reaching as well many towns in Northern Vermont, - and communicating with many miles of other exchanges. Railroad and steamboat communication with the outside world is exceedingly convenient. The "Green Mountain Flyer"*is the vestibuled day express to Boston and New York over the Rutland railroad. The Central Vermont line has an equally good train for Boston and to New York by way of Springfield. Both lines have a night express to both cities, with through Wagner sleeping cars. One gets aboard these finely equipped cars at Burlington about 9 o'clock in the evening, and after a full night's rest reaches New York at 8 in the morning. The service to Montreal, Canada and the west, and the local service are equally as efficient. The Champlain Transportation Company gives the city excel- lent service by water. Its steamboats, the Vermont and the Cha- teaugay, keep up communication as long as ice will permit, usually about eight months in the year. They carry a large number of travellers and are very popular with the public and the citizens of PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 6 1 Burlington. The boats are kept in fine condition, and the dock, depot and offices are modern and attractive. In addition to favorable geographical position and intimate connections with the great transportation companies of the State, Burlington has the inherent elements of a live and busy metrop- olis. It exhibits a commercial activity and business prosperity such as are to be found in no other inland city of its size in the country. Winooski. The manufacturing village of Winooski, just across the river from Burlington, is an attractive suburb of the city. It has a population of 4,000, and is so closely connected by distance and the street railway as to be for all practical pur- poses a part of the city. The Winooski river at this point fur- nishes a large and valuable power, which is utilized in running the great mills of the Burlington Woolen Company, the cotton mills of the Burlington Cotton Company, and a number of other prosperous manufacturing establishments. The village is what is known as a factory village, but it contains several fine stores, a hotel, a savings bank, a good entertainment hall, and presents a generally attractive and thrifty appearance. On the river a short distance above Winooski is the great wate*r power of the Vermont Electric Company at the gorge. This company furnishes electric power for the electric road, and for many industries in Burlington. BURLINGTON AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. THE VIEW FROM COLLEGE HILL; THE CITY AS IT APPEARS TO STRANGERS ; THE RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS ; THE LIBRARIES: THE CEMETERIES; OUT-DOOR AMUSEMENTS; SOCIAL AFFAIRS AND THE PROFESSIONS. The hill on which Burlington is built, slopes gradually from the lake till its summit is reached at College hill, nearly a mile from the water's edge and 300 feet above it. The city is laid out regularly, with streets intersecting each other at right angles. The older of the important thoroughfares run east and west from the summit of the hill to the lake shore ; the newer ones extend north and south on the side of the hill ; nearly all are well shaded, most of them broad and well-kept. The view looking west from almost any point in the city, where it is not hidden by foliage, is a magnificent panorama of water and mountain. .The historic lake lies at one's feet, stretching ten miles to- the west, while the mountains beyond mingle their heads with the western clouds and dip their feet in the blue waters of Champlain. This outlook across the broad lake from Burlington is said by travellers to be the finest lake view in America. But the casual observer misses many of the charms of this scene which are secured to the dwellers on Burlington's sloping hill. He does not see the constant succession of changes in cloud, water and sky — the actual process of limning by nature's marvellous brush. This continual variety in the panorama gives never ending pleasure ; the eye never tires of looking, the senses never weary of the scene. The coloring, the arrangement of the picture are ever changing, never the same. Yesterday the sky was hung with heavy clouds, the water cold gray ; to-day the water is opalescent, the sky golden ; =1 Hi fe, PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 63 to-morrow the sky will be dark and lowering, the water deepest blue. Every changing season, every shifting wind, every passing cloud, every hour of the day, produces some magical picture pecu- liar to itself — never the same, always a delight. A recent magazine writer grows enthusiastic over Burlington, as follows : ' ' Travellers have often compared Burlington to Naples. ' Fair Burlington ! I bring a song to thee, Thou lovely Naples of our Midland Sea !' ' ' The unique beauty of the city consists in that grouping of the elements of beauty which makes an almost ideal city ; — its crescent bay, with headlands at either horn, opening into a water PROVIDENCE ORPHAN ASYLUM. view ten miles across and fifty miles from right to left ; its gentle slope from the harbor's edge to the college-crowned summit a mile away ; its boundary of mountains, on both sides, with their bold peaks, purple or misty, or snow-covered, according to ever-varying meteoric conditions, with the help of perspective arid atmospheric illusion, constitute a circular framework to the g 4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. picture. From the dome of the main college building a view of the rarest magnificence can be obtained. Of it, a distinguished and world-wide traveller once said that he knew- of only one scene in the world to surpass that which lay before him, as he looked east from the dome, and that was the one in view when he turned and looked west . ' ' While the western outlook is so grand and so much admired, the eastern view is scarcely less beautiful — to many, equally so. It lacks the water, the variety. But stand upon the summit now and look first eastward over the gradually increasing hills termin- ating in the Green Mountains, and then westward over the entirely unlike scene bounded by the Adirondacks, you will not find unpardonable extravagance in the remark made by the enthusi- astic lover of natural beauty alluded to by the writer just quoted: ' ' There is no view in all the world finer than this eastern one, except the western." It is here that " every prospect pleases." " From verdant base here Mansfield rises high, There White-Face, Marcy pierce the western sky ; The lake of tremulous silver lies between, And hamlets, woodlands, meadows fill the scene. Here peaceful labor cultivates the vale, Here prosperous commerce spreads the swelling sail. Here gentle manners, social life refine, Here learning keeps her consecrated shrine. * x st # * And where shall limning fancy find the power To paint the beauty of its sunset hour,. O matchless splendors ! never sung nor told, Now golden purple, now empurpled gold, O'er mount and plain the heavens their tints diffuse And tinge the waves with iridescent hues. And now, when slowly fades departing day, The moon, full orbed, walks her celestial way, And bathing all things in her silver light, Prolongs the beauty through the slumbering night." 5 s 1 to ■X Si to o to a PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 6$ The superb view from Burlington has been seen and admired by thousands who have not had opportunity to learn the charms of the city itself — its moral and intellectual atmosphere, its humanity, its material comforts and elegancies, its many attrac- tions as a place of residence. On a recent occasion the Rev. Kd- ward Everett Hale visited the city to deliver one of his interesting lectures. While in Burlington he em- braced the opportu- nity to drive through its streets, to visit its homes and institu- tions, to observe the people and to touch the pulse of their daily life. Shortly afterward he took occasion to put his impressions into words, and he was speaking to a college society in the city of New York when he said: "I am told that our American life, for an educated man, is all very uninterest- ing and commonplace. Commonplace, as I as a consequence of ¥ '■ X - J 'r "'" ? :"!i Z0< TTNITABIAN CHURCH. thank God, it is ; said just now, thank God, it is ; for certain events which occurred eighteen hundred and more 3^ears ago, the three eternal elements of life, — faith and hope and love, — a te no secrets now, but are open for everybody's exper- gg PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. iment, and everybody's instruction. Now, I find that the exhi- bitions which America makes of faith and hope and love, are curi- ous, are interesting, are suggestive, and, ipermit me to say, are 'distinguished, ' as the word has been used in the recent discussions of this matter. May I go into a little personal experience? When I was told, the other day, that there was nothing 'distinguished' in our cities, I asked myself what was the last city I had visited, away from my own home. As it happened, it was one of the smallest of American cities— it was the city of Burlington, in Ver- mont. I remember the moment when I arrived there, when the magnificent range of the Green Mountains, white with snow as it had been through the day, was tinged with the crimson of the setting sun; and, as I turned west to look upon the clouds of sun- set, the sun himself was sinking behind the broken range of the Adirondack Mountains. Between was the white ice of the frozen lake; and so far as Nature has anything to offer to the eye, I had cer- tainly never seen, in forty years of travel, any position chosen for a city, more likely to impress a traveller as remarkable, and to linger always in his memory. Those of you who have been in Burling- ton will know that I was in a city of palaces. I mean by that, that there are private homes there, which, while they have the comforts of a log cabin, display the elegancies of a palace. But I shall be told that this is not distinguished now, — that this may be seen everywhere in a country as rich as America. L,et it be so. Then they took me to visit a new hospital, arranged with every- thing which modern science knows for the treatment of disease, with a staff of surgeons and physicians who might stand unawed before the great leaders in their profession; and they told me that here any person in Vermont who was in need could be treated by the best science of the Nineteenth Century, and with the tenderest care that the Christian religion inspires. They told me that this institution was maintained by a fund of nearly half a million dol- PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 6 7 lars, given by one lad}', for this purpose of blessing her brothers and sisters of mankind. If this be a commonplace monument, let us thank God that we live in a commonplace land. They took me then to their public library. They showed me the Canadian emi- grants from the other side of the border, thronging the passages that each might have his French book to read, the German emi- grant pressing for his book, — they showed a perfect administration for the supply of these needs. And they showed me that they had not only provided for the rank and file in this way — providing, FIRST CHURCH, CHAPEL AND PARSONAGE. observe, thousands of books in German and thousands of books in French,— but they showed the 'last sweet thing' in the criticism of Dante, the last publications of the archaeological societies of Italy —books and prints' which had been issued— well, let us- say it among ourselves, for as dainty people as you and I are,— for the gg PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. elegant students of Browning or of mediaeval times. They had taken as good care of us in our daintiness, as they had taken of the Canadian wood-chopper, or of the German mechanic. This seemed to me rather a distinguished bit of administration. And so I might go on to tell you about other arrangements for charities, of their forelook in regard to sanitary arrangements; and when I asked them on the particular matter which I was sent for to give counsel, how many people they had in their Blackwell's Island establish- ments, in their public institutions for the poor, I found there was a momentary question whether there were three of these people at that moment, or possibly four! That is so distinguished a condi- tion of affairs, that I should not dare tell that story in any Social Science Congress in Europe. It would be set down as a Yankee exaggeration. People would say it was impossible. It is not impossible, because the men and women of Burlington have known how to give themselves to the administration of the wealth in com- mon. Among other things, I may say in passing, they have known how to suppress the open bar. I have no need to discuss the details. I onl}' attempt, in one such incident, to show to you that, as a friend said to me to-day, while we travel in Europe to see external things, like statues and cathedrals and other physical monuments, we travel in America to see what man does for man, what is the training of the human being, and we find some inter- est in the advance which, from one generation to another, man fliakes in arresting sickness, in abolishing pauperism, and, in a word, in the improvement of mankind." This is discriminating praise from" a distinguished source, and it will be echoed and re-echoed by many hundreds of visitors who * have had the good fortune to see what Mr. Hale so accurately describes. Few people come to the city who do not speak of some of these things. Indeed the traveled stranger "does not often more quickly note the surpassing natural beauty of Burlington's location PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 6 9 than the general air of refinement, prosperity and progress ; the public spirit ; the order and thrift ; the broad shaded avenues ; the substantial business blocks, and the at- tractive and well- kept residences and grounds which dif- ferentiate the Queen City from the many other cities of its size that he has seen in his journeys in the older as well as the newer parts of this country. In still another respect Burlington differs from other cities. It has no street beg- ging. The average of comfort among the people is very high; extreme pov- erty is rare, and so fully are all cases of genuine distress provided for that any attempt at beg- ging in the city is a dismal failure. Every resident knows how quickly honest poverty is relieved ; and any one who attempts to beg is known to be undeserving and FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 70 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. is at once exposed. The late John P. Howard said that Burlington was the only city he was ever in where begging was abolished. To give a comprehensive view of any human undertaking or achievement it is necessary to bring arithmetic to the task of elucidation. Burlington has so many public institutions and so much wealth devoted to public uses that only a summary of the capital thus applied will serve to give a clear view of the public spirit and the broad benefactions of this city of 15,000 people. The following figures, embracing a total of over three millions of dollars — upwards of two hundred dollars for every man, woman and child in the city — represent in round sums the money devoted to charitable, religious, educational and other public purposes in Burlington : Education : — Public Schools, $136,000 Private Schools and Academies 275,000 University of Vermont, 626,000 Fletcher Free library, 40,000 Charities : — Mary Fletcher Hospital, $468,000 Home for Destitute Children, 230,000 Providence Orphan Asylum, 50,000 Howard Mission House, 60,000 Adams Mission House, 15,000 Home for Aged Women, 15,000 Home for Friendless Women, 20,000 Burlington Cancer Relief Association, 20,000 Religious : — Churches, $550,000 Young Men's Christian Association, 105,000 Public buildings and parks, 468,000 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 71 Churches. The churches of Burlington are numerous and conspicuous. There are eleven organizations— two Baptist, two Congregational, one Episcopalian, one Hebrew, two Methodist, two Roman Catholic, one Unitarian— with ten houses of worship, seven of which are Protestant, two Roman Catholic and a Hebrew synagogue. St. Mary's Cathedral (Roman Cath- olic), is a large and handsome gothic struc- ture . St . Paul' s church and chapel, are notice- able specimens of gothic architecture, the church being a fine old stone building, with stained glass windows. The other church buildings, with few exception, are dignified and handsome structures. The stone edifice belonging to the St. Joseph's (French) Roman Catholic Society, is said to be the largest Church building in the State. Besides those mentioned the Baptists have a French mission chapel, and there is a non-sectarian mission called the Adams mission. The average attendance at the churches is remarkably ST. MARY'S (R. C.) CATHEDRAL— Interior. „ 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. good, and from midnight Saturday until Monday morning the stranger is impressed with the signs of a well-ordered and law- abiding community. "The First Society for Social and Public Worship in the Town of Burlington," was formed in 1805. In 18 10 doctrinal dissensions caused a separation in the society, and "The First Congregational society in the town of Burlington ' ' was formed^ and is now commonly known as the Unitarian Society. Their first pastor was ordained by Rev. William Emerson, father of Ralph Waldo, in 18 10. The churches are located as follows : The First Congrega- •■ tional (Unitarian) is the oldest church edifice in town ; it is built of brick and is situated on Pearl street at the head of Church. It was erected in 18 16. The First Church (Congregational) is a brick structure of classic form with hexastyle portico, and ionic columns, sur- mounted by a cupola copied from the choragic monument of Lysic- rates. Both exterior and interior details are modeled from classic structures. The Methodist church, next south of the above, is a fine stone structure in the Gothic style. The College street Congregational church is on the corner of College and South Union streets. It is built of local stone in the Gothic style. St. Paul's church (Protestant Episcopal), a fine stone Gothic structure, is situated on St. Paul and Bank streets, with its hand- some stone chapel and rectory fronting on the latter. The First Baptish church is a large wooden Gothic building on St. Paul street between College and Bank. The Berean Baptist church, an offshoot from the First Baptist, is a wooden structure on the corner of Pearl street and Winooski avenue. BILLINGS LIBllABY—Fire Place. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 75 , a physical director and a superintendent. The membership the Association is 770 and it has the distinction of being the a fgest Young Men's Christian Association in the world in a city jontaining 25,000 inhabitants or less, and of having the finest building and equipment of any Association in any city of that size in the United States — and Burlington contains only 15,000 people. The Women's Auxiliary has a membership of 150. COLLEGE STREET CONOREGATI6NAL CHURCH. Charities. The city of Burlington has become famous for its charities. In respect of its broad and well-sustained beneficence it is distinguished above all cities of its size, so far as the writer knows, in this country. Certainly no city of its population is more fortunate in its beneficent institutions. Its open-hearted charity, organ- ized and unorganized, covers all possible necessities of unfortunate humanity. The eleemosynary institutions of the city include the Mary Fletcher Hospital; the Home for pestitute Children; the Howard Relief; the Old Indies' Home; the Home for Friendless 7 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. Women; the Cancer Relief Association; the Adams Mission Home; the Providence Orphan Asylum (Roman Catholic) and the city poor department. Besides these, "each church organiza- tion has its own society for the relief of poor families belonging to the church. The Mary Fletcher Hospital is the greatest and most benefi- cent charity in Vermont. It was founded by Miss Mary M. Fletcher in 1876, by the gift to the city of $200,000 for this purpose. The main building and site cost $75,000, leaving $125,000 for a permanent endowment. The grounds contain about seventy-five acres, including, beside land devoted to meadow and pasture, a spacious garden, and orchard of 200 fruit trees, and a pine grove. During the years 1877-8 were erected the administrative building, containing also room for private patients, the men's ward, the amphitheatre for clinical lectures, and out- buildings, costing about $50,000. The Hospital was dedicated and opened January 22d, 1879, having a capacity for twenty-seven patients. On the death of Miss Fletcher, February 24th, 1885, the hospital came into the possession of the bulk of her estate, which, together with the original endowment and gifts for free beds, con- stitutes a permanent fund, for the maintenance of the institution, of about $340,000. During the year 1887 there were added to the hospital buildings a woman's ward, embodying all the latest improvements in hospital construction, an isolated ward for severe surgical cases, and a building containing an operating room and a room for the preparation of surgical dressings, — the whole cost being in the neighborhood of $20,000. The Hospital occupies an ideal location for such an institu- tion. Situated on the summit of the hill east of the University, it has a superb outlook upon the Green Mountains, the Adiron- dacks and the valley of Champlain. It is perfectly situated for t-; c 5: > as PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 77 drainage and its sanitary appointments are unsurpassed. It gets sunlight on all sides and every health-giving breeze sweeps around its walls, dissipating all noxious vapors. The buildings stand high above their surroundings and are stately and imposing in appearance. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND CHAPEL. The main building is large, roomy and cheerful. It is finished in natural woods, and is kept scrupulously clean. The first floor is used for reception, physicians, directors and patients' rooms ; yS PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. the second floor contains a dozen separate rooms for patients, six of which are endowed. The culinary department is in the base- ment. There are dining rooms in many places for convenience of patients, bath-rooms and closets, sitting rooms and dispensary. On the south side of the main building, and connected to it by a corridor, are the wards for men and women, on the east and west respectively ; the surgical operating room between — all in separate structures and lighted on three sides. The wards are bright, cheerful, sunny apartments, thoroughly ventilated, the foul air being removed from beneath each bed. The surgical operating room is as perfect in its appointments as that of any hospital — a room in which no speck of dirt finds lodgment and which can be thoroughly flushed with water from a hose. The amphitheatre where the clinics of the Medical College are held, is in a separate building, connected by a corridor.. It is complete in its arrangements for surgical demonstrations and has a seating capacity for two hundred persons. The clinics held here in the interests of medical science are of great advantage to the students in the Medical College, and, of course to humanity. The total capacity of the hospital in ordinary circumstances is fifty beds, which, in emergencies, by crowding the wards and placing cots in the halls and amphitheatre, can be increased to sixty-five beds. The demands upon it are constantly growing. It is now receiving nearly six hundred patients yearly. Of these, seventy-five per cent are surgical. Two-thirds of the total number pay nothing ; others pay small sums as their means will permit, a very small percentage pay full rates. The doors of the Mary Fletcher Hospital are opened freely to the suffering. In accordance with the founder's design, prefer- ence is given to residents in Vermont. No one is too poor or friendless to be denied, if there is room and the case is a proper and a deserving one. The regular charge is ten dollars per week. HOME FOR DESTITUTE CHff.DRF..V. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON, 79 If a patient cannot pay that amount, he pays what he can ; if he cannot pay anything he gets in free. Those who are poor, home- less, friendless, are understood to have the first claim. Such applicants, when they are fit subjects for hospital treatment, and when there are vacant beds, are never refused. But in order that the largest possible number of such cases may be received, all others are expected to pay on a scale accommodated to their means. BEBEAX BAPTIST CHURCH. The Home for Destitute Children is one of the most useful charities in the city. Tike many another beneficent movement it is an outgrowth of womanly sympathy called forth by sufferings resulting from the war. It was founded in 1865 by the efforts of Miss Tucia T. Wheeler, who was an invalid during most of her adult life. It was organized by Miss Wheeler especially for the destitute children of soldiers, and it went into operation on October 3, with seven little girls in its care, all soldiers' children. During its existence it has always given preference to the children g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. of the country's defenders, although its Bounties are not by any means confined to the offspring of soldiers. The society was incorporated by the legislature under the above title, its object, as stated in the charter, being to provide a home for destitute children, " to supply their necessities, promote their intellectual, moral and religious improvement, and fit them for situations of usefulness and self-maintenance." This charity has been under the management of the benevolent ladies of Bur- lington for nearly thirty years, and the amount of good it has done to individuals and the community is beyond estimation. Its con- trol is placed in a board composed of ladies representing each denomination of the Protestant church. On Shelburne street in the south part of the city, on elevated ground overlooking I,ake Champlain, the United States owned a brick building which was built in 1858 for a marine hospital. It had never been used for the purpose for which it was built and no doubt was as much of a government white, elephant as Fort Mont- gomery at Rouses Point. In 1866 this building was purchased for the Home and was formally dedicated in the autumn of the same year. It would then accommodate forty children. In the succeeding years it was enlarged, its capacity being more than doubled, and a good deal of money expended in perfecting the interior arrangements and adding barns, laundries and other out- buildings. On the night of Monday, May 1, 1893, the main building was totally destroyed by fire. The insurance upon the building was $25,000 — possibly half the cost. This was a severe blow, but the ladies who have charge of the interests of the Home were not cast down. None of the young children in their charge were killed or injured. The people of the city at once threw their houses open for temporary shelter ; in a few days other buildings were rented ; some of the children were returned to g 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. their parents and the remainder placed in comfort to await the building of a new Home. The thoughts of the managers were at once directed to the problem of getting another Home ready for their family as soon as possible, and after mature consideration they decided to rebuild on the old site, adopting what is known as the " cottage " plan-* i* a series of small, conveniently grouped buildings, rather than one large one. The grounds owned by the Hdme include a fine farm of sixty acres, giving ample room for a large collection of isolated buildings, besides abundant land for cultivation. The Home has cared for upward of a thousand children dur- ing its existence. At the close of the year 1892, there were sixty- two children in the Home, twenty-five were out in homes on trial. One hundred and thirty-two had been cared for during the year ; seventy-eight was the greatest number present at one time. The Home is not intended as a permanent abode for the child- ren, and invalids are not taken. Children are received from all parts of the State. But to be admissible, they must have a physi- cian's written certificate that they are sound and healthy. It is not the plan to take children that are feeble, as no homes can be found for such and the usefulness of the institution would .thus be curtailed. Many of the children taken into the Home are cared for temporarily and are finally returned to their parents. Others are surrendered to the Home legally. The managers exercisi.; ;|i; great care in selecting homes for these waifs. When they permit one to be indentured they are particular to keep an oversight of the child till he becomes of legal age. A good many of the child- ren are legally adopted by kindly people and thus secure pleasant homes. The Home does its noble work at a cost of about $10,000 a year. The Society started without money and worked its way along by temporary subscriptions and by the efforts of the women of Burlington, till it now has an assured income large Oh B5 "& PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 83 enough to permit the above expenditure. The permanent fund now amounts to about $80,000, exclusive of the Howard Opera House. This building, which was presented to the society by Mr. John P Howard, produces an income of nearly $6,000. The story of this noble charity is a story of many years of hard and cheerful labor, without material reward, in the interests of humanity. The Howard Relief Society was chartered by the Vermont legislature in 1884. It is the incorporated successor of an asso- ciation of ladies that previously had carried on its work. It would take too much space to fully tell all the objects of the soci- ety and what it has accomplished. In brief its aim is to reduce suffering and destitution, to aid poor people to keep their children in the public schools and to furnish manual instruction to the children of the thriftless. It has made begging in Burlington so unnecessary that it is not known on the streets. The society began without funds and did its work wholly by temporary gifts from charitable people. The first year after the society was char- tered its expenditures were less than four hundred dollars. Four years later more than twelve hundred dollars were expended. Persons of means came to its aid and funds increased till now about four thousand dollars is annually expended in its work. The principal benefactor was Miss Louisa Howard, who, at dif- ferent times, made gifts aggregating $55,762.25. In 1888 the society built the L,ouisa Howard Mission House, a handsome brick structure on Pearl street at the corner of Clark. This building contains lodging rooms, living rooms for the superintendent, meeting rooms for the society and a large hall for the Industrial School, which was established in 1891 . The society annually pro- vides nearly a thousand pairs of shoes and rubbers, as well as many other articles of clothing, to destitute children, on the con- 3 4 PICTURESQUE. BURLINGTON. dition that they attend school, and it offers small prizes to encourage promptness and good work. Over four hundred children received such prizes in a year. No one is helped till it is known the case is genuine and deserving. In the Industrial School the girls are taught to sew and make themselves useful ; the boys are trained by precept and example to make useful and industrious citizens. Nearly three hundred attend the school. Thus is this society doing its noble work in its department of helpful charity. It now has a permanent fund of about $30,000 ; its charity is as broad as human suffering and its funds are freely spent for the relief of genuine distress in whatever quarter. The Home for Aged Women was chartered by the Legisla- ture of Vermont in 1886, and opened for the reception of inmates in 1888. It was established to provide a permanent home for a class of worthy women over sixty years of age, who are without a home and have no means to secure one. The society started without any funds. By appeals to the charitable it was enabled to secure enough money to rent a house and provide a home for five per- sons before two years had gone by. In the meantime legacies began to come in ; and a fund of several thousand dollars being almost in sight, a new home was bought in 1892. It is a com- modious brick building, on St. Paul street, at the corner of Bank. It has large grounds and is a comfortably furnished and cheerful home. This charity is in excellent hands — its finances are man- aged by an executive committee of able business men — and it is without doubt just beginning a beneficent career second only to the charities previously mentioned. The Home for Friendless Women was incorporated by the Legislature in 1890. In the act the object of the organization is stated to be to found ' ' an institution wherein shall be provided board, rooms and all other necessary accommodations for poor and • PICTURESQUE ' BURLINGTON, 85 needy women, destitute of the means of support, and wherein such women may enjoy the comforts and advantages of a quiet, peace- ful Christian home." The corporation was organized in 189 1 by the election of directors and officers. An agent to solicit subscrip- tions was appointed and in a short time $15,000 were secured, for the purchase of a building for the purposes of the society. In 1892 a beautiful home was. purchased on Shelburne street, in the LOUISA HOWARD MISSION HOUSE. south part of the city, overlooking Lake Champlain. This prop- erty, which was formerly a fine country residence, originally cost about $30,000. There is a fine house, barn and twelve acres of land, with orchard, garden and lawn — a delightful spot. Several applications for admittance are recorded at this writing, but the 3g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. opening of the Home is delayed for a short time in order to secure a larger endowment. It will receive inmates from all parts of the State, and is likely to be the means of doing much good. The Burlington Cancer Relief Association was founded by Miss Louisa Howard, who was herself a sufferer from that terrible disease. On her decease the house in which she resided became the property of the Association, besides half the residue of her estate, amounting to about $16,000. The Association was incor- porated in 1886, and began its work of relief and comfort in 1888. Its object is to provide proper food and .medicine, comfortable rooms and beds, faithful attendants, and otherwise to contribute to the relief of persons suffering from cancer. The income of the Association is not yet large enough to provide a hospital, so it has adopted a system of relief to sufferers in their own homes. The society has a number of sufferers constantly in its care and is doing a vast amount of good. But its good work could be largely increased if its income would permit the expenditure. The benefits of Miss Howard's gift are to be confined to Burlington ;, but it is hoped that the Association's funds will soon increase so much as to permit the extension of its system of relief over a wider territory, and eventually to provide a hospital to relieve the awful sufferings caused by this disease. The Adams Mission Home was founded in 1886, by Mrs. Margaret E. Adams, and she carried the burden of the work almost unaided for more than a year. The work of the churches was greatly aided by the generous help of a public spirited citizen who provided the mission with a fine home on College street. This building is one of the old mansions of the town and makes a commodious and very desirable home, well PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. S? adapted to the needs of the institution. The main work of the Mission has been house to house visitation, religious meetings and Sunday-school. The new home offers opportunity for an enlarge- ment of this work, which now includes a .day nursery, a kinder- garten and the entertainment of boys and girls. It is the endeavor to reach the home life of the poorer classes whose homes are unat- tractive ; to furnish them the uplifting influences of a pure Chris- tian home, to provide good reading matter, give familiar talks, furnish entertainment and build them up mentally, morally and physicall}\ The doors of the Mission are always open and its upper rooms are used, when needed, as a temporary home for young women. Meetings are held every Sunday and on Tues- day and Friday evenings, conducted by the different churches in turn, each one month. The property is in charge of a board of incorporators, and the Mission is supported wholly by contribu- tions. It is a very worthy institution, working on the lines of many successful institutions doing philanthropic work in the larger cities. Its work is directed by a general committee of two from each of the evangelical churches. Mr. W. J. Van Patten is president and in its work his directing hand is seen, while to his generous liberality in all good works it owes its fine Mission house. The St. Joseph's Providence Orphan Asylum, located in a commodious brick building on North Avenue, belongs to the Roman Catholic church. The building cost some $50,000. It is well adapted to its purpose and admirably arranged from a sani- tary point of view. It is in charge of thirteen Sisters of Provi- dence, who are now caring for 107 orphans. These Sisters also give attention to the poor and the sick belonging to the Roman Catholic church in the city. The Libraries of the city include the Fletcher Free Library, the Billings (college) Library and the Burlington Law Library. gg PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON, The Fletcher Library was founded in 1873, by Mrs. Mary L. and Miss Mary M. Fletcher by a gift of $20,000 for books, on condi- tion that the city would provide a building and support the library. The old court house was fitted up for its use and the city maintains the institution by taxation. It contains upwards of twenty-five thousand volumes, and shows an annual circulation of forty-seven thousand volumes. It has a large reading room where all the leading periodicals and journals of the day are kept on file. The Fletcher Free Library is controlled by a self-perpetuating '; board of trustees and the mayor of the city ex-officio. It is a thoroughly well managed institution, of great value to the citi- zens and the scholars in the public schools, as well as the stranger within our gates. The official library hours are 10 to 12 A. m., 2 to 5 p. m. daily, and 7 to 8 p. m. on Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's. But under the management of the present competent, successful and attentive librarian, Miss Sarah C. Hagar, assisted by Miss Lizzie R. Moore, it may be found open and accessible at almost any business hour, with the librarian ready to wait upon the public or to assist the student or seeker after information of whatever character. Its books are free to any resident or to students at any Burlington institution, or to any stranger properly vouched for ; and the aim of the librarian is to place its contents at the service of the public with the least difficulty to the patron. The annual additions to the library number about 800 volumes. The Billings Library, with its rich collection of 45,000 volumes, is open every week day from 8 A. m. to 12.30 p. m., and from 2 to 5 p. m. Citizens are permitted to use the volumes under the customary regulations, and persons not connected with the University may draw books on permission of the president. The Burlington Law Library, located in the court house building, is for the use of the members of the bar who belong to the association. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 8 9 The Cemeteries of Burlington are live in number : Green Mount, I,ake View, Mount St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic), Elm- wood Avenue, and Calvary (French Roman Catholic). Lake View cemetery, the largest and finest, is situated on North Avenue near the shore of L,ake Champlain. It contains thirty acres of ground, slightly rolling, dotted with shade trees, laid out in plots with driveways and paths winding between. The cemetery is in w nuv. won AJ ZKO-WUmN. *^l v-t_-">^ .charge of commissioners appointed by the city. It has a large number of handsome monuments and shows much evidence of careful official supervision as well as loving watchfulness over private grounds. It is naturally a picturesque and attractive spot, no PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. and has had much labor expended upon it with constant regard to both beauty and utility. Near the entrance is a mortuary chapel, the gift of Miss Louisa Howard. There is a suitable receiving tomb. About 1700 interments have been made in this cemetery. The Green Mount cemetery is located on Colchester Avenue on the hill overlooking the Winooski valley and the Green Mount- ains. It contains ten acres and is the oldest burial ground in the city. It is a sightly spot and affords a charming outlook. The main 1 attraction to visitors is the stately monument erected in 1873, by the State of Vermont, to the memory of Ethan Allen, whose remains lie in the cemetery! The monument is a Tuscan shaft of Barre granite fortj'-two feet high, standing upon a heavy granite pedestal, and surmounted by a heroic figure of Ethan Allen in the act of demanding the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga ' ' in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." . The statue was modeled by Peter Stephenson, is eight feet four inches high, and stands upon a base bearing the word " Ticonder- oga." Each of the four sides of the monument base contains panels of white marble suitably inscribed. Outdoor Amusements. Happy is the community which has learned that ' ' all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ' ' or man ; that it does not pa}' either in dimes or health to neglect the side of human nature that demands amusement. Of late, all over this country, there has come a decided revival in out-door amusements and sports. The most practical men have learned that more work can be done, better work, by judiciously mixing fun with labor than by constant plodding without the life-giving change. Burlington has had her share of this revival and is trying hard to maintain it in letter as well as spirit. No place on the continent offers more advantages for healthful and elevating outdoor sports, than Burlington. There is not a | band which furnishes music for dancing and entertainments. 1 t) i < EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. THE OLD ACADEMY ; THE HIGH SCHOOL AND THE GEADED SYSTEM; THE CONVERSE SCHOOL ; BISHOP HOPKINS Ha£l ; VERMONT EPISCOPAL INSTITUTE; THE ROMAN CATHOLIC PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS AND THE PRIVATE SCHOOLS. Burlington is the center of culture and education of the Champlain valley and Vermont. Its attractions to the student and the lover of literature and the arts are superior to many a larger town. The University of Vermont has brought to the com- munity a magnificent library and art gallery, and a corps of learned professors ; the free library has spread its cultivating influ- ence through the town ; the colleges, the: summer school, the lit- erary aud other organizations have given a general impulse to the cultivation of the humanities, and the city gives marked evidence of the widespread results of these influences. The educational institutions of the Queen City are among the proudest possessions of its people. They have made Burlington known far and wide as a home of culture^ a city possessing the highest educational advantages. These institutions include the University of Vermont, educating both sexes ; the Medical Col- lege ; the Vermont Episcopal Institute, ;a high-class school for boys ; Bishop Hopkins Hall, a finishing school for girls ; St. Joseph's College and Mount St. Mary's Convent, Roman Catholic ; an excellent high school, the crown of a well arranged and com- prehensive graded school system, with a fine record of efficiency. This book would fail in its purpose if ( it did not show the com- manding position which these institutions hold in the daily life of the city. Another chapter is devoted to a sketch of the University of Vermont and the successful work of its various departments. 6 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. The aim of this chapter is to show how successfully the work of the public school system and the private, schools of the city is being done. The pioneers of Burlington early saw the commanding impor- tance of an organized system of education upon the fortunes of the city, the State and country, and before the State of Vermont was admitted to the Union, they completed a working system for the education of the youth of the town. In the year 1790, when the town had a population of only about 300, it was divided into two school districts, and this was the beginning of organized education in Burlington. These districts were subsequently divided and increased to eight. In 18 13 three of the town districts were con- solidated into what was called the "Village School District," which was organized the following year. This change was brought about by the inhabitants of the growing village, and its purpose, as stated by them, was to get a "school more advan- tageous and more beneficial to the public." In this statement of purpose it is probable that ' ' the public ' ' meant the inhabitants of the village. In order to carry this laudable design of improving the schools into effect, the village built an academy in 18 16. This building was about forty by seventy feet, cost about $3,600, and stood on the site of the existing High School. This was a large and costly school for so small a village, and it is to the credit of leading citizens that a part of its cost, which the voters declined to raise by taxation, was promptly secured bj r subscription. This school was opened in the autumn of 18 16, and was used as an academy for general classes till 1829. On June 15, of that year, the village district was divided into five school districts, and the academy was changed into a high school. This arrangement continued till 1849, when a "Union District" was formed, and the high school broadened its work under the name of the Burlington Union High School. It con- PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 97 tinued under this system until 1868, and during that period it' was in charge of a number of principals, whose names are familiar even now, as successful men and teachers — among them Joel T. Benedict, Homer N. Hibbard, S. H. Peabody, H. B. Buckham, Edward Conant and C. W. Thompson. In 1868 the school dis- tricts were reorganized, and by an act of the Legislature placed in control of a board of school commissipners ; the following year the high school passed under the same control. The schools of the city were then reorganized into a complete graded system, under the wise counsel of such men as President Angell, M. H. HIGH SCHOOL BUILUIX-G- Buckham, G. G. Benedict, W. G. Shaw and others, with Prof. J. E. Goodrich as superintendent of education. Shortly after this change was brought about a new high school, the present build- ing, was erected, and was occupied for the first time in the fall of 1871, under the principalship of Louis Pollins. Mr. C. S. Hal- o8 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. " sey became principal the following year, and he was succeeded in 1875 by J. D. Bartley, who retired in 188 1, and was suc- ceeded by D. Temple Torrey. In the fall, of 1882 Mr. S. W. Tandon became principal, and is now in charge. In the first decade of Mr. Landon's work the high school graduated -336 pupils, one hundred and sixty of whom entered colleges and higher institutions of learning, while the remainder secured responsible positions in business life. The public schools are carefully graded and their management is in the hands of a board of school commissioners. Five commis- sioners, one from each ward, elected biennially, constitute the board. The membership of this board has alwaj's been made up from leading citizens, and its affairs have been kept free from politics and political influences. The ideas of the commissioners are developed and made prac- tical in the work of the schools, of course, through the efforts of the superintendent, and upon their choice of this officer depends in a great measure the success of their administration. Prof. J. 15 . Goodrich was the first superintendent and did the pioneer work of the new system, with all that this means in conservative Ver- mont. Following in succession in this office were Dr. A,. J. Wil- lard, Dr. John French, Henry L. Dodge, C. J. Alger, and H. 0. Wheeler, the present incumbent. Each did in his special way good service in the work of supervision, and advanced in some degree the standard of the schools, but they were never more wisely and j udiciously managed than they are to-day. In a quiet and unostentatious way the present superintendent is doing intel- ligent and effective work, and it is safe to say that the affairs of public instruction were never in a better or more prosperous con- dition than now. The course of study provides for thirteen years of continuous school attendance, beginning with the primary — at five years of BILLINGS LIBRARY— Book-room. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 99 age — three years ; intermediate, three years : grammar, three years, and ending with the four years course at the high school, which provides for three courses of stud}- — English, Latin-English and Classical, the choice of which rests with the parents and pupil on entrance. The English course is designed to lit for business, teaching and for scientific schools. The Latin-English course differs from the English in the substitution of Latin for some English studies, while the Classical includes Greek and Latin, and is intended to furnish a thorough preparation for the correspond- MOUNT ST. MAST'S ACADEMY. ing course in the various colleges. French is optional in all the courses. The study of the English language and literature by a critical reading of the best authors, of history and the science of government, is made especially prominent in all the classes and is given a place of increasing importance in the curriculum of the school. This school serves as an excellent preparatory- school for IO o PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. those who wish to pursue college courses, and furnishes superior advantages to the greater number whose school days end with the high school. Graduates of this school are permitted to enter some of the leading colleges, without examination, and nearly fifty per cent of the graduates thus enter, the larger proportion, of course, entering the University of Vermont. The remainder seek bust ness situations, frequently securing local engagements at gradua- tion. Our schools are so valuable that many non-residents con- stantly seek their advantages. The work of the schools is systematized and in the hands of a corps of experienced and efficient teachers, graduates of some of the best training schools and colleges. Nearly all the buildings are substantial structures, well equipped with profitable helps to efficient instruction. The teaching in the Primary and Intermedi- ate grades is by that natural and rational method which, while it interests, also instructs and gives strength to the growing faculties of the child. Of this work a prominent New England educator said recently, after visiting several of the schools, that he had seen nowhere in New England better work than here. The Grammar school course builds appropriately and well upon the foundation laid by the lower grades, and is in charge of teachers especially well qualified for their work. Beside the common branches Nat- ural History, United States History, Bookkeeping and Physiology- are here carefully taught. The principal of the High School, Mr.,S. W. Uandon, brought to the position a genius, enthusiasm and tact, added to thorough - training and experience as a teacher, not often combined in one person, and his administration of the school, both as regards instruction and discipline, has been marked by high success. He is ably seconded by his experienced and thoroughly competent, assistants. In the High School, as in fact in all the grades, exten- sive and increasing use is made of the privileges afforded by the ft, o PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. IOI Fletcher Free library, and the value of this institution to the pub- lic schools is incalculable. Throughout all the departments music is thoroughly taught by an instructor who devotes his whole time to the work. From the imitative exercise of the youngest children to the reading and rendering of difficult part pieces by the higher grades, no pleas- anter and in some respects more profitable work is done in any of the schools than that in the department of music. The results are remarkable. The refining influence of music, the pleasure derived RESIDENCE OF J. H. EO BINS ON— Hatt Interior. from its cultivation, the necessity of a knowledge of the art among those who make pretentions to culture, all combine to make its study a necessary part of the modern public school course. The study of music should begin in childhood, 'before errors of ear and voice become so fixed that correct methods cannot be appreciated. The proper use of the voice in childhood and youth is among the most healthful of exercises, and singing as a means of vocal culture is an invaluable aid in reading and speaking. I02 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. Physiology is taught in all grades from the primary up, the State furnishing the text-books for this study. Drawing begins in the Primary and is continued to the High School. Manual training has been experimented with in the primary department, but it has not }^et assumed the importance which eventually will be accorded to it. The public schools in their various departments offer no " special " or sensational features, but aim to instruct thoroughly in the branches prescribed, to help the pupils cultivate habits of promptness and industry, and to inspire them with a genuine respect for good order and honest work whatever and wherever it is. While a just and impartial standard of scholarship is insisted upon, and the grading maintained, the pupil does not lose his per- sonality. Individual promotions are frequent and when health and ability will warrant every encouragement and help is offered the scholar to do advanced work, and in this way many in the different grades have been able to gain one or more years in their course. That the public schools of Burlington are unsurpassed by those of any city of its size is not too much to say. Our own cit- izens and those from abroad who desire for their children thorough practical training find in our system of instruction what they seek. The schools, free to all, attract the children of our wealthy and cultivated citizens, as well as of the poorer and less favored; and instances of families being influenced to take up their residence in Burlington by the advantages offered in the public schools are numerous. The people have dealt liberally with the schools, and well they may, for no interest lies nearer the welfare of any community, and nothing indicates more clearly the thrift and intelligence of the people of any community than their care of the matters of educa- tion. With all its beauty of situation, its business prosperity and PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 103 its higher educational advantages, Burlington may well feel no small degree of pride in her system of public schools, to which she must ever look for the development of the truest and noblest types of citizenship. The public school buildings are ten in number, and most of them are in excellent condition. Few of the buildings possess any "OVERLAKE»-BESIDENCE OF COL. LE GRAND B. CANNOX. architectural features of note, but all are conifortable and well ven- tilated buildings, with modern appointments. Several have recently been remodeled and arranged with apparatus for heating and ventilating in accordance with present day theories. I0 4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. The most modern and attractive school building in the city is the new "Converse" public school on Pine street. It is a model school building in all respects, the finest in the state, complete in equipment, convenient in arrangement, well ventilated and perfect in sanitation, as well as an architectural ornament. It is a good example of what a school building should be and is well worth the attention of strangers interested in education. It was built at a cost of $35,000. The High School, on the corner of College and Willard streets, is a capacious brick building with Mansard roof and cupola. In it are held the sessions of the High and Grammar schools. The total enrollment in the public schools is upward of .2,000, and the percentage of illiteracy in children of school age is only eleven. Attendance is compulsory, and the truant officer actively attends to his duties. The teachers in the Burlington schools number fifty, and they are all well qualified for their work. Many of them have been in the work for years, and they are retained on account of exceptional fitness. The annual cost of the schools is nearly $40,000. The Bishop Hopkins Hall is the realization of the dreams of Vermont's first Bishop and is appropriately named for that saintly man. Before his death in 1868, he had raised $5,000 towards the building, and had begun to get out the stone for its foundation. After his death all work was stopped and the money was safely invested, but the idea of finishing the work was not allowed to die out of the minds of the churchmen of Vermont. Mr. John P. Howard, to whom Burlington owes so much for its material prosperity, left by will $20,000 for a permanent endow- ment to the school, provided the trustees would raise $40,000 for a building. Through the active interest of Col. I,eGrand B. Cannon, Mr. Thomas H. Canfield and Dr. and Mrs. William PICTURESQUE' BURLINGTON. 105 Seward Webb, the necessary amount was raised and more too, so that now the diocese has a fine building costing over $62,000. The building was finished in 1888, and in September the school was opened with the Rev. Lucius M. Hardy, M. A., for its prin- cipal. The school opened with eight pupils and five teachers. In four years its reputation had spread so widely that every place in the school was filled and many were refused admission for lack of room. To-day the school is as widely and favorably known as any girl's school in this country. The standard of scholarship is high, and the discipline of the school is such as to commend it to all its patrons. Mr. Hardy has improved the property, added buildings, and purchased land to the amount of $8,500, and has furnished the building at an expense of $15,000, so that now the property is easily worth $85,000. The walks and drives through the property are greatly appre- ciated by the citizens of Burlington and the visitors to the city. The Vermont Episcopal Institute is located on Rock Point, about two miles north of the city of Burlington, on high and commanding ground, and within twenty-five rods of the beach of Lake Champlain. It commands an unrivalled view of the Green and Adiron- dack Mountains, with Lake Champlain lying between. Its loca- tion for school purposes is not surpassed in the United States. The building is a substantial structure of stone, surrounded by about seventy acres of land belonging to the school. The school was founded by the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hop- kins, D. D. LL. D., first bishop of Vermont, and incorporated by the Legislature, November 14, 1854. It was opened in i860, with the Rev. Theodore A. Hopkins as principal, and continued under his charge until 1881. The design of the school is expressed in the following words, taken from the instrument entrusting the property to the principal, viz : "The Academical department of 106 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. the Vermont Episcopal Institute is to be a first-rate English classical and mathematical preparatory institution, is to surround its pupils with the kindly influence of a Christian family and home worship, — its aim being to bring them up as well-educated Christian men." The school is carefully graded and the length of time required' to finish its course varies according to the advancement of the pupil at his entrance into the school. Boys are prepared for the best colleges or for business. The proportion of instructors to students is such that each pupil can secure personal attention and progress as rapidly as he is able, not being retarded by other less advanced pupils. Daily military drill, under a special instructor, is required of all pupils. Instruction is given in infantry tactics, artillery, signal and sabre drill. There is ample opportunity for out-door exercise and the Institute in location and curriculum is a good example of a finely situated, carefully conducted and successful modern boys' school. Mr. H. H= Ross is principal. There are several other first-class private schools, for younger pupils, in the city, including those of Mrs. .Baird, the Misses Underwood and Miss Bartlett; and the Burlington Business College is training a large number of pupils in the purely business branches of study. St. Joseph's Academy, commercial, for boys and young men, is located on Pearl street, corner of Prospect. This school belongs to the Roman Catholic church and educates young men in the grammar and high school grades and a business education-. It has 250 pupils and is in charge of the Christian Brothers, Brother Aurelian being the principal. Mount St. Mary's Convent and Boarding School, Roman Catholic, in a large brick building on Mansfield Avenue, furnishes higher education for young ladies. It is the residence and mother house of the Sisters of Mercy, and upwards of thirty sisters reside ♦ 5* PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 107 there. The number of boarding scholars is about eighty, coming from widely separated parts of the country. The other Roman Catholic schools are St. Mary's Parish pri- mary and intermediate schools, corner of Cherry and St. Paul streets, with 400 pupils in charge of the Sisters of Mercy; St. Pat- rick's Academy for Young Ladies, having about 70 pupils, in charge of the same Sisters. The St. Joseph (French) Parish schools are, Nazareth School on Allen street, primary and inter- mediate, with 400 pupils; St. Joseph Acaden^ on Prospect street, in charge of an order, Miss Elizabeth Harvey, principal, with ten assistants. The Roman Catholic denominational schools of the city are free schools ; the money for their support is supplied by the Catholic church, and no part of it is raised by taxation. In these schools there is an attendance of nearly 1,100 pupils. THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT. THE BUILDINGS AND THEIR SITE; THE COLLEGE PARK; GROWTH AND REGENT HISTORY; STATE EXPERIMENT FARM; THE WORK OF THE COLLEGE; COST OF A COLLEGE COURSE. The far-seeing founders of the State of Vermont were alive to the importance of a State system of education. The first con- stitution of the Independent State of Vermont declared that "one university in this State, ought to be established by the General Assembly," and in the first year after the admission of Vermont to the Union, the University of Vermont was chartered by the legislature on the 3d day of November, 1791. It was located at Burlington, then a hamlet of 300 inhabitants, sur- rounded by almost unbroken forests. The infant State had little but wild lands with which to endow its University. Of these it gave to it 29,000 acres, scattered through a hundred and twenty townships. Individuals furnished most of the funds for its first buildings. Its early history is a record of hard struggle for exist- ence, through arduous vicissitudes of poverty, war, and fire, but it lived and grew, and in time prospered, till it now ranks among not only the oldest but among the best and strongest of New England colleges. The list of members of the Corporation shows that the Uni- versity has commanded from the first the attention and care of the prominent men of the State. Among the number have been forty -one governors, from Thomas Chittenden to the present chief magistrate of Vermont ; jurists like Theophilus Harrington, Samuel Prentiss and Asa Owen Aldis ; statesmen of such national fame as William C. Bradley, Jacob Collamer, Justin S. Morrill, George F. Edmunds, Henry J. Raymond, and Luke P. Poland ; PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. IO o, divines such as Daniel C. Sanders, James Marsh, and Leonard Worcester ; educators like Joseph Torrey, Horace Eaton, James B, Angell, and M. H. Buckham ; diplomats as eminent as C. P. Van Ness, George P. Marsh and E. J. Phelps ; men of affairs and business such as Ira Allen, Frederick Billings, Erastusand Horace Fairbanks, John Gregory Smith, Lawrence Barnes, and John H. Converse ; and prominent citizens in all the professions and in many walks of life. The Location. It would be difficult to imagine a more appropriate site for an institution of learning than that occupied by the University of Vermont. Situated upon a gradually rising hill that fronts two noble ranges of mountains, and is bathed upon one side by the most historic and one of the fairest of American lakes, and upon the other by a river flowing alternatelv through broad intervale meadows and picturesque gorges, the buildings of this venerable seat of learning overlook a landscape at once beautiful in itself and elevating and inspiring in its influence upon the mind. How true it is that noble scenery unconsciously helps noble thinking and noble living ! Happy is the student whose Alma Mater adds to her other advantages those of a picturesque natural environment and a site commanding wide ranges of landscape. A college ought to be set upon a hill ; it ought to face sunrise and sunset, lift its spire above forests, overlook green valleys, and breast the tides of the winds. To the University of Vermont these supreme and ideal condi- tions of natural environment have fallen as a rare heritage. She is able to offer her students the inspiration of nature in some of her noblest and loveliest forms. Old Mansfield and Camel's Hump and Marcy and Whiteface are not commonjly reckoned among the instructors of Vermont youth, nor have they ever figured in the catalogue of the State University as occupants of professorial chairs, yet who can say what lessons in moral strength, in beauty, IIO PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. in power, in inspiration, in courage, patience, and sublime stead- fastness have been appropriated by generations of students from the constant presence and teaching of these ' ' everlasting hills, ' ' From lake and river too have proceeded quiet moulding influences, which have often received grateful recognition in after years ; and wood, upland and meadow have taught some lessons more deep and abiding than those of class-rooms. It has been said that the grand and rugged scenery of Vermont accounts in large measure for the greatness of her sons ; and surely her University, planted at the feet of her grandest hills, may lay claim to a discerning wisdom in thus surrounding her youth with ennobling influences at the most susceptible period of life. The University Buildings. The main building of the University of Vermont stands upon the crown of the hill over- looking Lake Champlain and the city of Burlington. North of the main college building is the Museum and Park Gallery of Art ; and adjoining this building on the north is the beautiful Billings Library, a red sandstone structure in the Romanesque style of architecture, designed by the great architect, Richardson, and universally admitted to be the finest 'college library building in America. This magnificent building is the gift to the University of her honored and beloved alumnus, Hon. Frederick Billings of Woodstock. Mr. Richardson himself said of it, a short time before his death, "It is the best thing I have yet done." The harmony and appropriateness of the design for the purpose intended at once win the enthusiastic approbation of the most critical beholder, while the chaste beauty of outline, the perfect symmetry of parts, the exquisite management of details, and the rare com- bination of massiveness and grace, richness and simplicity, give to this building a recognized pre-eminence as a type of modern scholastic architecture. Surrounded as it is by nature's most -* 1 s£5J i r ~ ; i ^ PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. nl charming framework of beauty, this triumph of human genius and human skill seems set Like perfect music unto noble words. Nothing appeals more efifectivety to one's sense of beauty than a noble building in the midst of noble scenery. But how seldom are the two associated ! Here, however, is a rare instance of the union of artistic and natural beauty — a gem of architecture, adorned by and adorning one of the loveliest landscapes in all New England. North of the Billings Library, on the corner of University Place and Pearl street, is soon to be erected the new Science Building, a handsome stone structure, the gift to the Univer- sity of a former generous benefactor, Dr. Edward Williams of Philadelphia, formerly of Woodstock, Vt. South-east of the Science Building stands the substantial brick building devoted to Mechanical Engineering ; while still farther to the south-east, and near the classic ' ' pine grove, " is to be placed the new Dormitory building, the gift of Mr. John Converse of the class of 1861, also of' Philadelphia. The same munificent friend, in connection with Dr. Williams, has adorned the vicinity df the "College Green" with three beautiful stone residences, of modern architectural style, to be occupied, at a nominal rent accruing to the Univer- sity, by members of the faculty. Two of these cottages are situated on Main street, at the south end of the College Park, and one on Colchester avenue, just east of the Science Building. ' 'Students' Commons, ' ' a neat dining-hall with a modest exterior, stands just east of the Mechanical Engineering building. West of the Park, between Main and College streets, is the fine old mansion formerly occupied by President Wheeler, now the property and residence of his son, James R. Wheeler, a pro- fessor in the University. North of College street, at No. 75 South Prospect street, is the house where formerly lived the profound j, j 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. scholar and instructor, Professor Joseph Torrey, now the resi- dence of his nephew, Professor Henry A. P. Torrey. The second house to the north was for a long time the home of the beloved Professor George W. Benedict. It is now owned and occupied by his son, Hon. G. G. Benedict. President Buckham's house stands directly opposite, on the east side of the Park. The Original College Building, a cruciform four-story structure 1 60 feet long by 45 feet in the wings and seventy-five feet in the central portion, was erected in the spring of 1 801, and finished so as to be occupied in 1804. The cost was about $35,000, of which the larger part was contributed by citizens of Burlington and vicinity. Twenty years later this edifice was swept away by an accidental fire [May 27, 1824] , which destroyed portions also of the library and apparatus. The good people of Burlington seem to have regarded this fire as a challenge to their liberality. Before com- mencement in August, they had rallied to the help of the college and subscribed $8,500 toward a new building. To guard against another wholesale destruction of the college property by fire, the new plans called for three independent, but contiguous, buildings, three stories high, the central structure being designed for admin- istrative purposes, and the other two for dormitories. The corner- stone of the North College was laid by Governor Van Ness, April 26, 1825, Charles Adams, Esq., one of the graduates of 1804, delivering the address. Two months later, June 29, General Lafayette, then on a visit to Vermont, laid the corner-stone of South College. This event is commemorated by an inscribed stone, which, since the reconstruction of the buildings, rests at the base of the south-west corner of the central projection of the main building. The three separate buildings were afterward [1846] joined by continuous walls, so as to present the appear- ance of a single edifice. The central portion was surmounted by .£.. 0imM^lr m & 'L*_il -3 :> k PICTURESQUE BURLINGTOK. 113 a dome whose glistening surface formed a notable beacon for the whole valley above which it stood. All graduates had a strong affection for this conspicuous landmark. It was The last thing seen as they turned away, And the first as again they came;— a sort of symbol and centre of all their college interests. When in remodelling the building it became necessary — so the architect said — to remove this central figure of the- landscape, in conse- quence of the increased elevation of the several stories, there was a universal protest from the alumni of the institution. The Uni- versity seemed to lose its identity, when a new tower was raised where once the sacred dome had stood. One must admit that the present gable with the short belfry which rises behind it is a not quite satisfactory substitute for the solidity and simple dignity of the ancient dome. Its removal was the more regretted, as it was a memorial of the practical constructive skill of a former revered instructor in mathematics, Professor George W. Benedict. The dome was utilized, it should be added, as an astronomical room, the only telescope the University possessed being mounted here, albeit the tower was hardly steady enough for very accurate observations. About i860 changes began to be made in the college build- ings. The chapel was refitted and refurnished. A year or two later South College was remodelled so as to furnish more convenient rooms for students, and some two years after, North College under- went a similar transformation. The growing importance of the sciences in a scheme of liberal education was marked by the sur- render in 1867 of the lower portion of North College to the uses of the chemical laborator3\ which hitherto had been accommodated in the old' Medical building, now the Experiment Station. But a complete reconstruction of the entire edifice was accom- plished in 1882-83, through the liberality of Mr. John P. Howard, II4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. a former resident of Burlington. A greater height was given to the several stories, both the ends and the centre were brought forward by projections, and most of the exterior walls rebuilt. The centre gable rises to the height of ninety-three feet from the ground, while the gilded finial above reaches a height of one hun- dred and fifty feet. The length is the same as before, two hun- dred and fifty feet. The depth at the centre is sixty-five 1 feet ; at either end of the building, forty-two feet. The chapel occupies the same position as in the old building, but is longer and higher, — sixty-five feet long by thirty-three feet wide by twenty-three feet high. Two marble tablets on the walls commemorate, one those members of the University who gave their lives for the fatherland in the years 1861-65 ! tne other, that President of the University who was the first to commend the Spiritual Philosophy to the students and thinkers of the United States. One of the chapel windows also, a tribute of grateful affection from the class of 1836, suggests President James Marsh's relation, on the one hand to Plato, and on the other to the "beloved disciple." Another window honors the memory of one who in his professorship of twenty-two years, by his sagacity, his knowledge of men and of practical affairs, and his indomitable energy, did as much as any other man to tide the institution over some serious difficulties. A niche in the front wall outside furnishes room for a bust of John P. Howard, to whose numerous benefactions the college is so much indebted. The room under the chapel serves as a Drill Room for the Military Department. The Decture Rooms occupy three stories on either side of the Chapel. There are four other lecture rooms in the building ; and besides, the rooms of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, Dadies' Waiting Room, and others appropriated to the departments of Chemistry and Physics. The Chemical Laboratory will continue to occupy the ground floor of North s o >-3 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. n 5 College until the new Science Building is ready for occupancy. With this exception, the north and south portions of the edifice are occupied as dormitories, as also is the fourth story of the entire building. The visitor to the college will be richly repaid for the labor of climbing to the bell deck of the tower. In clear weather the Champlain valley lies as in a panorama before him, with the Green Mountains standing as a verdant wall on the east, and the Adirondacks, fold on fold, in the west. Below him is the lake with its islands, its jutting points of land, its deep-indented bays, and its water-craft propelled by wind or steam, the city of Bur- lington half hidden by the elms and maples which overarch the streets, the Winooski winding through the meadows, and the villages near and remote which dot the landscape in every direc- tion. To the north in a clear day may be;discerned Mount Royal at the back of the Canadian city which is named from it, while the range to the south is almost equally extensive. The loftiest peaks of both ranges of mountains are in full view, and the whole scene offers such an engaging combination of art and nature in one cyclorama as cannot easily be matched in or out of the United States. Medical College. The Medical Department of the Univer- sity occupies a large brick building, situated at the north end of the College Park, facing southward. This building was remodelled from one of the most substantial of Burlington's fine residences, by the generosity of Mr. John P. Howard, in 1884, and is admirably suited to its purposes. It contains a spacious amphitheatre capable of seating three hundred and fifty students, besides excellent labora- tories for practical chemistry and physiology, a dissecting room and museum. The large amphitheatre of the Mary Fletcher Hospital, on Colchester avenue to the east, is also used by the Medical n6 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. Department for clinical lectures, and greatly increases the working facilities of this department of the University. College Green. Thus surrounded and enclosed by the col- lege buildings and residences of the faculty, the old "College Green" itself deserves more than passing mention. This Park incloses a part of the fifty-acre lot originally deeded by Ira Allen as a site for the University; but the first effort to clear the forest from it, and, as Ira Allen quaintly puts it, convert it into " a convenient door- yard in front of said buildings," was not made until 1799, seven 3'ears after the fixing of the college site, and five years after building operations had begun. A large part of the timber in the original college building was cut from the Park, few who see it now in its orderly beauty could imagine how the College Green looked in those early daj^s, covered with unsightly stumps and heaps of brush. Later on the land was enclosed by a fence, with arched gates in front of the college building and at the head of College street, and turnstiles at the exits of the various footpaths, — sug- gestive survivals of the times when the village cows were allowed- to roam the streets and pasture at their own sweet will. The old white fence (afterward painted brown) was long since removed, and the Park is now surrounded only by a heat stone curbing. In its centre, and directly in front of the main college building, stands one of the finest heroic statues in America, — a bronze figure of Lafayette, the work of the great sculptor, J. Q. A.Ward. This statue was dedicated with imposing ceremonies June 26, 1883, and is the gift to the University of her munificent friend, John Pi Howard. It is one of the most notable bronze statues in America, and is the admiration of all who visit it. The handsome fountain north of the Lafayette statue is also the gift of Mr. Howard, and adds much to the attractiveness of the Park. Two groves, one of pine and one of tamarack, attract PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. uj the eye of the visitor to the College Green. The pine grove, near the north end of the Park, was set by Chauncey Goodrich, about forty years ago. The grove of tamaracks, near the south end of the Park, was set by Professor Farrand W. Benedict ; the clump of cedars to the west is said to have been planted by President Wheeler. The entire Park is surrounded by magnificent elms, which constitute the chief feature of its beauty. Many trees were set out by the students, both in the Park and east of the college, during the Centennial year, 1876. With its natural and artistic adornments, its well-kept walks and handsome curb-stone margin, the College Green may now well claim to be something more than "a convenient dooryard" for the buildings before whose front it sweeps. It is one of the finest college parks in New England, and the associations which cluster about it add a subtle and poetic charm to its ever-increasing natural beauty. The First Class. The University of Vermont graduated its first class in 1804. It was the fourth college in New England to receive a charter [November 3, 1791], but -the fifth to go into oper- ation. By reason of the absence in Europe of its founder, Gen. Ira Allen, from 1795 to 1801, the plans of the Corporation took shape but slowly. A lot of fifty acres had been selected in June, 1792, and a house for the president was begun in 1794, but was not fully completed for occupancy until 1799, when a preparatory school was begun under .the Rev. Daniel C. Sanders, who was next year chosen president of the institution. Growth. The first class of graduates, as we have said, numbered four ; that of 18 10 was increased to seventeen. Soon after this, political and commercial complications arose, which well-nigh ruined northern Vermont and acted disastrously on the college. War was declared in 18 12, and in 18 14- 15 the college edifice was used as barracks for United States soldiers, and TI g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. instruction necessarily suspended. The students scattered to their homes or to other colleges. But for this, Thaddeus Stevens, the great anti-slavery leader, would have taken his degree at the University in 1814 ; and Wilbur Fisk, a name highly honored in the educational annals of Methodism, would have been enrolled in the class of 1815. The whole number of graduates in arts and sciences to 1892, is n 69 : of whom seventy-one took the degree of Civil Engineer, one of Mining Engineer, fifty-six of Bachelor of Philosophy, five of Bachelor of Science and one of Bachelor of Agricul- ture. The total number of Bachelors of Arts is 1035. Since 1875 fifty women have obtained degrees at the University. Between the years 1823 and 1833, 116 students received degrees in medicine. During the next eighteen years medical lectures were discontinued, but from their resumption in 1854 to 1892, the graduates in medicine- number 141 5, giving a total of 1531 who have obtained the medical degree by examination. The advance which the institution has made under the present administration may be concisely indicated by a few figures. There were In 1872, 72 academic and 52 medical students ; In 1882, 94 academic and 190 medical students ; In 1892, 221 academic and 190 medical students. The year 1884 saw the largest number of medical students in attendance, 230 ; as also the largest class of graduates in medi- cine, 1 01. The college staff includes the names of twenty-five instruc- tors whose whole time, is given to college work, — a gain of fifteen names since 1882. The medical faculty includes fourteen regular and eleven special professors, as against nine of each class in 1882. The whole teaching force of the University now numbers forty- nine instructors. =0 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. \ 19 The service rendered by the University to the State and the Nation may' be indicated by citing a few names of its alumni whose careers have been public : John Gregory Smith, war-governor of Vermont ; Jacob Col- lamer, M. C, senator, and postmaster-general ; John A. Kasson, M. C, and minister to Austria and Germany; William A. Wheeler, M. C, and vice-president of the United States; Judge John A. Jameson, author of the standard treatise on Constitutional Con- ventions ; Judges Asa O. Aldis, Robert S r Hale, M. C, Charles L. Benedict, E. H. Bennett, H. H. Powers, M. C, Erastus D. Culver, M. C. and U. S. minister ; Asahel Peck, governor of Vermont ; Frederick Billings, president of the Northern Pacific R. R. ; Dorman B. Eaton, prominent in Civil Service Reform; J. M. Thacher, commissioner of patents ; J. H. Baxter, surgeon- general U. S. A ; William Smith, paymaster-general U. S. A. Among theologians may be named Bishops Bissell of Ver- mont, and Howe of South Carolina ; Professor W. G. T. Shedd of Andover and Union Theological Seminaries, author of many volumes, chiefly in historical and systematic theology ; Dr. N. G. Clark of the A. B. C. F. M.; Dr. George B. Spalding; Dr. I. E. Dwinell of Pacific Theological Seminary ; Dr. J. H. Hopkins, Jr., editor, poet, and prose author. For their eminence in journalism, the University has reason to be proud of Henry J. Raymond, associate editor of the New York Tribune, and founder of the New York Times ; of James R. Spalding, on the staff of the Courier and Enquirer previously to his founding of the New York World ; of Alexander Mann, who made the Rochester American a salutary power in the politics of New York state and of the United States ; of Dr. Simeon Gilbert, who has long done yeoman's service in the cause of religion and morals as editor of the Chicago Advance. The influence of the University in the educational sphere may I20 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. be hinted by saying that eleven of her sons became presidents of colleges, and that more than eighty have been instructors in colleges and post-graduate schools. Among authors should also be named Zadock Thompson, historian of Vermont ; John Dewey of Michigan University, who has issued several philosophical treatises , of conspicuous merit ; Herbert Tuttle of Cornell University, historian of Prussia ; S. H. Peabody, rector of Illinois University ; Dr. J. H. Myers ; E. H. Bennett ; George G. Benedict, military historian of Vermont ; Rev. George F. Herrick; and C. W. Baker, not to name those who have published but one or two volumes. In close connection with the makers of books should also be named Henry O. Houghton of the Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass. , who has achieved an honorable name for his dealings with both writers and readers. The Presidents of the University have been eleven in number. Their order of succession and terms of office are as below : Rev. Daniel Clarke Sanders, D. D., 1800-14, Rev. Samuel Austin, D. D., 1815-21, Rev. Daniel Haskel, A. M., 1821-24, Rev. Willard Preston, D. D., 1825-26, Rev. James Marsh, D. D., 1826-33, Rev. John Wheeler, D. D., 1833-49, Rev. Worthington Smith, D. D., 1849-55, Rev. Calvin Pease, D. D., 1855-61, Rev. Joseph Torrey, D. D., 1862-66, James Burrill Angell, LU. D., 1866-71, Matthew Henry Buckham, D. D., 1871. Sketches of these men, with a brief outline of the main feat- ures of each administration, may be seen in the National Cyclo- 1 Si Si PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. I2I paedia of American Biography, vol. II [1892]. An outline of the history of the University is given in the History of Chittenden County, pp. 193-209 [1886]. See also Hemenway's Gazetteer of Vermont, I. 521-530. Recent History. Up to 1865, the 'University had main- tained but two departments, the time honored Academic and the Medical. By act of the General Assembly, Nov. 9, 1865, the Vermont Agricultural College, chartered the previous year, was incorporated with the University. This college, or department, is sustained by the income of the Agricultural College Fund, pro- vided by act of Congress, July 2, 1.862. This act prescribes that the "leading object " of the college shall be, " without excluding classical and other scientific studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." In accordance with this act courses were at once established in Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Chemistry, and Agriculture. A literary-Scientific course was also arranged to accommodate such as desired the advantages of the regular academic instruction, but were unable to pursue Greek. The scope of the ordinance just cited evidently includes such branches as Botany, Zoology, Geology, and Physics, all of which have close relations with agriculture and the practical arts. The direction of the University with the added departments was committed to Professor James B. Angell, l^L,. D., of Provi- dence, R. I., who was inaugurated as president, August 1, 1866. His large administrative ability, familiarity with practical affairs, and rare tact in dealing with men, soon justified the wisdom of the choice. Funds were raised, needed alterations effected, instructors chosen, students attracted to the institution, lukewarm friends awakened to an active interest, and enemies conciliated. Hope and courage took the place of apathy and neglect. Not least j 22 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. important among the changes introduced by President Angell, were the closer social relations between faculty and students on the one hand, and the churches and citizens of Burlington on the other. This social revolution — for such it Was in respect -to the college — has been of great and permanent benefit. During Mr. Angell 's presidency the college dormitories and lecture rooms were to some extent remodelled and refurnished', a new laboratory was equipped, and a house erected -for the president. The number of undergraduates increased from thirty-one in 1866 to sixty-seven in 1870. At the close of the year 1870-71, President Angell resigned to accept the presidency of Michigan University, and Professor M. H. Buckham, a graduate of the year 1851, who had occupied the chair of Greek from 1857, was called to succeed him. This same year the trustees voted to admit women to the academic and scien- tific departments of the University, — a movement heartily seconded by the alumni, who in entire ignorance of the new policy adopted by the corporation, had on the same day on which this vote was passed, adopted a resolution requesting the trustees "to consider whether they should not now offer the privileges of the Univer : sity to all persons, male and female alike."* One young woman entered the classical course in the spring and six more in the fall of 1872. At that time Vassar college was the only institution east of the Hudson which pretended to supply to women the advan- tages of a proper college training. For some years the gains were small whether in funds or students. In 1881, John P. Howard gave $50,000 to endow the chair of Natural History, to preserve and increase the various collections, and to purchase books for the library. John N. Pome- roy, LL. D., a graduate in 1809, bequeathed $20,000 toward the endowment of the chair of Chemistry. In 1883 the Hon. Fred- erick Billings, of the class of 1844, purchased and presented to RESIDENCE OF PS OF. S. F. EMERSON. ^ssfew 4jJtfL ■'£[?■'■? TEE WILLIAMS HOUSE, PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. I2 3 the University the library of the Hon. George P. Marsh, a col- lection of 12,500 volumes of rare value and interest. Then in order worthily to house these books and the exceptionally valua- ble library of the institution, he gave an additional $150,000 for the erection of a special library building, which was completed in July, 1885. Subsequently he supplied other funds for the imme- diate purchase of books and the perpetual care and maintenance of the library. Mr. Billings' gifts in all have amounted to nearly $250,000. A large and rich collection of fac-si miles of antique gems and other intaglios and relievos, numbering more than 2000 spec- imens, has recently been presented to the library by Mrs. Billings, who bought it for this purpose of Mrs. George P. Marsh. The collection was formerly owned by LoYd Vernon, of whom it was purchased by Mr. Marsh. The workmanship of the objects in the collection is exquisite, and the copies of the gems closely resemble in color, as in other respects, the originals which are in the Galleria degli Uffisiva Florence. The collection occupies an elegant oak cabinet, in which the specimens are exhibited under glass, the transparences being lighted from beneath by means of mirrors. The cabinet, as well as a rare set of Italian books, illustrating the collection, was also the gift of Mrs. Billings. A bequest of $50,000 from the Hon. Fdwin Flint of Mason City, Iowa, a graduate of the class of 1836, for the maintenance of a chair in Natural Science, has just become available. In 1873 a foundation was laid by the Hon. Trenor W. Park of Bennington, for a Gallery of Fine Art, by the gift of $5,000. This occupies at present the third story of the Museum building, and contains a small but choice collection of casts, paintings, engravings, etc., selected largely with a view to their suitability to illustrate the lectures on Fine Art which have been given annu- I24 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. ally to the senior class since 1834. This University is believed to have been the first in America to place this subject in the cur- riculum. The Library, through a bequest of the late Rev. L,. G. Ware, possesses a fine collection of photographs and prints, about one thousand in number, illustrating architectural works and sculptures and various schools in painting. President Buckham's twenty-two years of service at the helln have been marked by many and permanent gains. No other ad- ministration has seen so many important changes in method, so large additions to the funds, such increase in the number of undergraduates, or such multiplication of the courses and facilities offered. It has been distinctively a "building era." All the col- lege buildings have been either constructed, reconstructed, or remodelled since Mr. Buckham's accession. When the two structures, the plans for which are now in the hands of the archi- tect, shall be completed, the constituency of the "U. V. M." will have added reason to rejoice in the solid progress which has char- acterized the last two decades. President Buckham has gained an enviable reputation through- out New England as thinker and speaker on religious and social topics. His views on education are broad, liberal, well-balanced. Without surrendering, as a main object of college discipline, the old idea of general culture, he aims also to meet, so far as the University may, the demand of the present for practical training. Under his leadership the scholastic or classical training has become increasingly practical, while the young man who seeks simply the mastery of a handicraft, is yet required to give a part of his atten- tion to studies adapted to develop, strengthen and refine. The scholar is to know how to put his scholarship to use; the man of practical science or affairs is expected to get some tincture of schol- arship. The introduction of Elective Studies in the academic course Si P PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 12 $ dates from 1889-90, when, from the second term of sophomore year, students were allowed a limited number of options. These might be selected from the more advanced courses in the Greek, Latin, French, and German languages and literatures, the higher Mathematics, History, the Physical, Political and Social Sciences, English Literature, Metaphysics, and the History of Philosophy. At present, elective courses are offered from the end of freshman year, but ten or eleven hours of required work are called for in the second year, ten in the third, and six in the fourth. The minimum- amount of work accepted in the several classes is : for freshmen, fifteen hours of lectures and recitations ; for sopho- mores and juniors, fourteen ; for seniors, -twelve. Extra courses ma} T be taken if the student is able to carry them. The departments of Chemistry, Civil, Mechanical, and Elec- trical Engineering offer less opportunity for selection to suit the needs or the tastes of students, but special students are admitted, upon evidence of proper preparation, to any course or department, and may receive certificates of proficiency for satisfactory work done. Instruction in Military Science and Tactics is given by an officer of the United States army to all *the male students (the medical excepted) for two hours each week. This includes both infantry drill and artillery practice to the end of junior year. A uniform is worn during drill. A Responsive Religious service is held in the chapel every week-day -morning at 8.15, attendance on which is required of academic students. Attendance at church on Sunday has been a voluntary matter for more than thirty years. There is a 'flourish- ing branch of the Young Men's Christian Association in the college which holds weekly meetings and works in close sympathy and friendly co-operation with the similar organization in the city. Many of the students are connected with the various Sunday I2 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. Schools of the city as teachers or scholars. The president also conducts a voluntary Bible Class every Sunday afternoon in the college building. Drill in light and heavy Gymnastics was first required in 1869, and apparatus and instruction furnished, but hitherto the college has had no Gymnasium building. This lack it is hoped will be supplied during the coming year (1893-4) . In consequence of an annual contribution on the part of the University toward the salary of the gymnasium instructor of the city Y. M. C. A., students have all the privileges of the city gymnasium,, reading room, lectures, etc., on payment of a nominal fee. And the Free Library of the city (26,000 volumes) is open to them as to other residents. The Cost of a College Course depends largely on the tastes and habits of the student, but the necessary annual expenses may be estimated as follows : Tuition, $60.00 ; library, reading room, catalogues, etc., $11.00 ; room rent with care of rooms, $11.50 to $30.00 ; repairs, services, and other contingent expenses, $9.00 ; board, $2.50 to $3.50 per week, 37 weeks, $92.50 to $129.50; fuel, lights and washing, $20.00 to $30.00. This makes a total of $204.00 to $272.50, to which may be added expenses for clothing, books, society and class taxes, etc. Board with room in private families is furnished for $3.50 to $5.00 per week. A large number of students obtain board at cost at the College Commojis in the rear of the Library. Some students obtain board in good families in exchange for light services, and others find remunerative employ- ment during portions of each day or week. The University has Scholarship Funds which enable it to offer free tuition to forty students. These are awarded term by term, and are conditioned on scholarship and character. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 1 27 There are also thirty State Scholarships at the disposal of the several State senators, which cover tuitiotnand incidental expenses. There is besides a fund at the disposal of the University, from which loans are made on proper security, to be repaid within a specified time after graduation. The Prizes offered for excellence in various departments are likewise a very convenient addition to the finances of those who are fortunate enough to win them. The Museum is exceptionally rich in objects illustrating the natural history of Vermont. Nowhere else are shown so com- plete collections of the minerals, rocks, fossils, birds, mammals and stone implements found in this State. Noticeable among the minerals are a superb series of sulphurs, etc., collected by the Hon. George P. Marsh in Sicily ; lavas of Vesuvius with several hundred other European specimens presented by Professor Edward Hungerford ; a considerable collection of North American birds with eggs, skulls, etc. ;' a nearly complete mounted set of the fishes of Lake Champlain, besides a larger one of North American fishes and reptiles in alcohol. The groups of sponges, corals, crinoids, star fishes and the like, are supplemented by a series of the beautiful Blaska models of the more delicate and perishable objects. The Stone Age is well represented by series of objects from Europe and North America. Especially rich and fine are the objects of stone, bone, copper, and earthenware from Vermont. There is a large and rare collection [made by Ogden B. Reed, Qapt. U. S. A.] of Indian dresses, weapons, ornaments, etc., besides similar objects from various quarters of the world. There is also a fine exhibition of shells, and another of coins, besides botanical specimens and models in great variety. A large proportion of the objects, though designed and used for instruc- I2 3 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. tion, are open to view, and will well repay a prolonged visit. Entrance may be had at any time, if the museum is not open, upon application at the Library. To the east of the Billings Library stands the group of Engineering Buildings. These contain lecture and drawing rooms, testing laboratories, workshops, etc., with the diversified appliances for practical instruction in Civil, Mechanical, and Elec- trical Engineering. Power is supplied by a Harris-Corliss engine of twenty-five- horse power, with a fifty-horse power tubular boiler to generate heat for the shops and building. The apparatus is of the most approved modern type and has been selected with direct regard to the increasing demands of the times, and the most recent developments of the sciences. Every course in this department includes, besides the necessary technical training, such instruction in methods and "in the related sciences, with English and at least one other modern language, as to broaden the range of investigation and equip the graduate for a proper professional position. In the pursuit of the specialty it is not forgotten that the man should have an outlook wider than his occupation, that education should aim at something higher than the skill of a craftsman. Many of the graduates from this depart- ment have attained immediate and enviable success. To the south-east of the main college edifice, on the crest of the hill beside the Williston turnpike, are the buildings of the State Experiment Farm, including farm house, barn, cream- er}', green-house, apiary, etc. The farm lies on the eastern limit of the city, and contains 104 acres. It affords an excellent variety of soils, and is mostly in a high state of cultivation. The Dairy School held here in the winter has been unexpectedly successful. The investigations recently prosecuted at the Station on the PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. 129 fungous diseases of plants, have resulted already in great benefit to the agriculture of Vermont. The office, library, and labora- tories of the Station are located in the old Medical building on Main street, which also contains lecture and dissecting rooms, with dormitories for agricultural students. The cost of the farm, with the new buildings for its use, and for the Engineering department, has been defrayed from the resources of the University proper, the Land Grant funds being applicable only to instruction and equipment. THE FOUNTAIN— College Green. The Reports and Bulletins of the Station, presenting the results of continued and accurate investigation in a form at once scientific and intelligible to the practical farmer, have been of much service to the State, and hold an honorable rank in the litera- ture of the dairy, the field and the garden. The careful analyses 1 30 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. made in the chemical laboratory have contributed to protect the farmers of Vermont against fraud, as also to secure an increas- ingly high standard in certain of their own products. 3 DRIVES AND B0ATR1DES. A FEW DELIGHTFUL DRIVES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE QUEEN CITY; STEAMBOAT BIDES ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN ; HISTORIC AND PIC- TURESQUE LOCALITIES IN EAST REACH OF BURLINGTON. The Champlain valley is destined to be one of the great eastern summer resorts of the future. It is becoming known to a greater number of people year by year; its possibilities in the way of out-door pleasure; its many charms to the seeker after rest and recreation during the hot months, are coming to be appreciated by an increasing number of weary pilgrims. Here they can find peace and quiet, magnificent scenery; boating and yachting; hunting and fishing; camp or hotel life, and with all a freedom that can hardly be found elsewhere. There are miles and miles of lake shore and hardly a rod that is not available for summer outing. It is strange that this beautiful lake has not yet attracted a tithe of the people its merits deserve. From June till September every train and every boat is crammed with the restless thousands that are trying to escape the heat and glare, the smoke and dust of the city. Many of these people ride by or pass over Lake Cham- plain, or stop within the marrow confines of Lake George without a thought of the rest, comfort and strength to be got overlooking the broad health-giving waters of Champlain. When Lake Champlain becomes the great inland resbrt, Burlington will be the center of interest for all tourists and travelers. From its streets by carriage; from its railroad stations by rail; from its docks by steamboat and yacht, the whole Champlain valley can be reached with ease, comfort and despatch. There is no beauti- ful scenery; no charming drive or boatride; no historic spot that is not within easy proximity of Burlington. j, 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. No place in New England can furnish more delightful drives or boatrides" than the suburbs of the "Queen City." Taking Burlington as his starting point the tourist can spend weeks in exploring this historic valley. The excursions by land and water, by rail, steamboat, bicycle or wagon are numerous and attractive. The whole valley can be reached if desired, by excursions occupy- ing a day each, or they may be extended to twice or thrice that length without exhausting the pleasure or slackening the interest of the trip. The scenery, by either method of travel, is fine. The roads are as good as the average country road, clay on the south, dry and sandy on the north. They pass through pleasant valleys, over majestic hills, through verdant forests, along winding rivers, often affording pretty glimpses and sometimes broad and superb views of the lake. The railroads which run through the Cham- plain valley, the valley of the Winooski, the Lamoille valley and along the eastern and western shores of the lake furnish a splendid variety of scenery , with charming views of land and water. The s.teamboat rides are delightful; nothing in the way of an outdoor trip can afford more pleasure than a steamboat, canoe or yachting trip on Lake Champlain. Here are expanse of water; beautiful shores indented with lovely bays; alternations of rock, meadow and forest reaching to the water's edge; magnificent mountain scenery on all sides, affording breadth of outlook, variety of scenery and grand perspective, the ideal lake and mountain view. The best point from which to get a panoramic and compre- hensive view of the finest scenery of the valley is Burlington. The lake is here at its widest part and the view across to the Adirondacks is pronounced to be the finest lake view in America. It can be seen from any of the streets on the hill in the south part of the city, but at its best from the College dome or the top of the Mary Fletcher Hospital. Turning the eye southward you see the narrow silvery outline of Shelburne Bay with Shelburne Point Map of Road in the vicinity Burlington. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. I3 3 jutting needle like into the lake, with Red Rocks point, rugged and picturesque, on the opposite side of the bay. Directly in front is Burlington Bay with its breakwater, its shipping and its immense lumber yards at the water's edge; further west the broad lake stretches ten miles to the foot of the Adirondacks, with Rock Dunder in the foreground to the left, thrusting its head above the waters like a stern sentinel ; Juniper island with its steep sides and its lighthouse; and the Four Brothers, the Isle de Quatre Mfrida. Nautilus. INSIDE THE BBEAKWATEB. Vents of the French, grouped further west. Above and beyond all as far as the eye can see, blending in the distance with the horizon, are the Adirondack mountains, a sea of peaks, looking like giant silhouettes of the stern, rugged features of the warriors and statesmen of the Five Nations, lying with their faces upturned to sun and rain and snow. Turning the eyes now to the north- east, Rock Point with its conspicuous school buildings and its bold rocky shore, thrusts itself out to protect Burlington bay ;' north of I34 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. this point is Appletree bay, formed by Rock Point and the wooded Appletree point, where the first settler of Burlington built his cabin. Further north for miles and miles the eye can follow the outline of Lake Champlain and its islands, finally resting in Canada more than sixty miles away. Now drop the eye from this wonderful panorama and you see just below and in front of you, the city ,of Burlington, with its regular and well-kept streets embowered in a forest of beautiful shade trees. Turning now to the east you get a grand view of the Green mountains, with their prominent peaks; Mansfield, with its peculiar upturned face silhouetted against the northeast sky ; Camels Hump on the southeast, and many minor peaks of con- siderable height and prominence ; in the foreground the Winooski valley with glimpses of the river, farms and orchards, hamlets and villages — the whole making a most picturesque scene. There are charming drives in all directions ; north along the lake shore, crossing the Winooski valley, to Malletts Bay, or farther north across the Lamoille river and the Sand Bar bridge to Grand Isle — east for many miles, to many attractive points along the Winooski valley — south along the shores of Lake Champlain, or further east on the ridge overlooking the Green Mountains, as far south as Shelburne Farms, Charlotte, with its summer resorts on the lake shore, and even as far south as Vergennes. For a short drive there are few more attractive trips than to Red Rocks, just south of the city, three miles from City Hall. Go south by South Union and Shelburne streets to the Queen City Park road where you turn west and keep straight toward the lake. This place, now owned by Mr. E. P. Hatch, has recently been beautified and made accessible by a series of winding, picturesque roads. The visitor should drive around through the roads, leave his carriage and see the lake front and PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. 135 the fine views over the water, as well as the great natural wall of rock along the side of one of the drives. To reach Queen City Park, which is on the shore a short distance south of Red Rocks, return to the park entrance, which leads south from the road -on which you came, a short distance east of Red Rocks. This well- known camping ground is now owned by an association of spiritual- ists, and here they hold an annual encampment during the summer months. It has a hotel, *a railroad station and rsteamboat dock and a ftumber of summer cot- tages. It is a pictur- esque and inviting place on a rocky bluff, with * finely shaded walks and groves. Rock Point, in the -.north part of the city, ,two and one-half miles from City Hall, is 3 always an interesting jpoint for a short drive. turning to the west just SOCK POINT. Go by way of North Avenue, beyond the cemetery. Here will be seen the new stone seminary for joung'ladies, Bishop Hopkins Hall, and the fine old gothic stone building of the Vermont Episcopal Institute, a well-known I3 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. boy's school. The drive here is by way of Battery Park and Lake View Cemetery, giving a broad outlook upon the lake. The drives about the point are attractive and many glimpses of the water can be seen through the trees, including a fine view of Burlington from the grounds in front of the Institute building. Returning to the main road, a short distance further north you can reach the lake shore by turning to the west at the Starr Farm signboard. This is the only near point where a carriage can be driven directly to the shore of the lake. It is a resort ■which is frequented by many Burlington people for a short outing. •A little further north you come to Appletree Point, by turning to the west just north of the school house and driving in through a winding, shaded road. Get out of the carriage and walk out to the point to get the lake view. •Here you seem to be on an island. This point is a popular resort for pic-nic and tea-parties. Returning to the main road and con- ■ tinuing still further north, keeping to the left, you reach the Derway farm at the mouth of the Winooski River. This is a pleasant rural spot, much fre- quented by pic-nic and fishing parties. There is a small hotel •where a good meal (fish dinners especially) and a comfortable bed can be procured. It is a fine fishing ground for pike and bass, ;and in the season a great many fish are caught here. On the road to this point the tourist will notice some attractive -scenery — views of the lake on the left and broad outlooks across the valley to the Green Mountains, and a pretty river view near the end. On the right, north of the Rock Point road, passing through a gateway, is a historic spot — the farm which Kthan Allen owned and upon which he died in 1787. It fronts on the Winooski river at or about the point where the famous battle with the smugglers on the Black Snake occurred in 1808, in which two PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 137 government officers were killed. The farm is rich intervale land, pleasantly located in view of the Green Mountains, and now owned by Horace J. Brooks of Burlington. There is no existing reminder of its original owner, Ethan Allen, except five great elm trees planted by his own hand in front of where his house stood. The Village of Winooski, across the river from Burlington, with its picturesque falls and its large factories, is an interesting suburb. Go by way of Colchester Avenue, past Green Mount cemetery , down the hill and across the new iron bridge. This trip may be prolonged through the village, turning east on Allen street, to the Vermont Electric Company s power sta- tion in the "Gorge ;" the Twin Bridges (rail- road) spanning the gorge at the same point ; the new United States Military Station Post Ethan Allen, an objective point of con- siderable interest — about three miles. A short distance this Jside of the military post the narrow, deep, rocky gorge of the Winooski river is spanned by BIOS BRIDGE. j 3 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. High Bridge, a picturesque, old-fashioned, covered bridge in a much admired locality. Cross the bridge and return on the south side of the river, or reverse the trip at pleasure, going from Burlington by way of Chase and Grove streets, the Patchen road and a wood road on the left, to the turnpike, crossing the river at high bridge, thence returning by waj- of Winooski Park, the Electric Power Station and Winooski village — about eight miles. From Winooski Park near High Bridge, there is a grand outlook, embracing a fine view of Mansfield, with the Winooski valley at your feet. Essex Junction. Go by way of Colchester Avenue, past the Medical College, the Hospital and Green Mount Cemetery to Chase street ; then by way of Grove, Patchen road, avoiding the sand of the Patchen road by taking a wood road to the left. On reaching the junction of the .wood road with the turnpike, turn to the right, then take the next turn to the left, leading first through cultivated fields and then through pine woods on the table land, to the rolling slope of the Winooski valley ; thence up the valley and the hills beyond to an elevation of some 600 • feet above the village of Essex Junction, which is reached by crossing the river at Hubbell's Falls. The return may be by way of Ethan Allen Military Post, Winooski Park, the high bridge and the wood road used going out, or from the park by way of Winooski village. A short drive to a commanding prospect is that to Brigham's Hill, by way of Winooski village, turning north beyond the United States Military Post, reaching the hill near the junction of the towns of Colchester, Milton, Westfield and Essex. This hill is high enough to afford a magnificent view of the lake and the surrounding country — an outlook that is very attractive to those who have seen it. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 139 Mallett's Bay, a beautiful sheet of water and a charming resort, can be reached by way of North Avenue and Heineburg bridge, or by way of Winooski— a five mile ride. Going by way of the Heineburg bridge a good way to return is by the same road nearly to the Winooski river, then turning east keep along the north side of the river to Winooski. At Mallett's Bay there is a pleasant drive of two miles around the shores to Thompson's Point. To the lover of level, hard roads for driving or bicycling there is no more attractive place in Vermont than the Island Towns — Grand Isle, South and North Hero, two islands originally called la Grande Isle by the French and later the Two Heroes, in honor of Ethan and Ira Allen. They are reached by way of Winooski, "Colchester flats," so-called, ' 'Sunderland Hol- low," turning to the west at the guide board of Iodine cedae beach. Springs House, across the Lamoille river by the new iron bridge, through the south- west corner of Milton and across ' ' Sandbar ' ' bridge — a drive of fifteen miles. Crossing the Sandbar bridge — which is not a bridge, but a substantial road built from the mainland to the island upon a prominent sandbar which in • the low water season made the lake at that point fordable and was the only means of reaching the mainland — you come to the hard and level roads of the island. On these roads days can be spent in pleasant driving with near views of rich farms, attractive villages, verdant forests, and, just beyond on every side, the waters of the lake, while the 140 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. mountains touch the horizon in the distance on all sides. The weary business man can find peace, freedom from newspapers, telegraph or telephone, plenty of fishing and delightful drives all about the South Island, and over the new bridge across the " Gut " to North Island, on the east side of which is " the city," the county seat of the island county. There is a hotel at the village of South Hero and many farm houses and boarding houses on both islands where good meals or lodging may be secured. To get a continuous, varied and attractive view of the lake and surrounding mountains, take a drive on Spear street at the summit of the hill. Go south by way of Dorset street to the second cross street, turn west and return by Spear street to get the lake view coming north, making a drive. of about ten miles. If desired, the drive may be prolonged indefinitely south through Shelburne and Charlotte. A pleasant all-days' drive is to Cedar Beach, a summer resort of Burlingtonians on the lake shore in the town of Charlotte and about 14 miles distant from the city. A favorite way .of making the trip is by the lake shore road, returning by the old stage road through Charlotte and Shelburne. Starting from Burlington, you follow the main road tc Shelburne for four miles; then, turning to the right, the road skirts the head of Shelburne Bay, runs in sight of Dr. W. S. Webb's immense farm barn and soon reaches the lake shore, the blue water with the double range of Adirondacks for a 'background be- ing only momentarily lost sight of again. A detour of four mile; will carry us through Dr. Webb's property and "Dover's Dane.' 1 The return trip from Cedar Beach may be made by the old stag* road. Coming up a short, winding hill, with an extended view the lake in the background, and past the old Alexander Hotel, < magnificent panorama of the Green Mountains and the interven P1CTUHESQUE BURLIN&TON. I4I ing valley presents itself. A little farther on is a spot where views of three widely-separated portions of the lake can be had. Behind is Split Rock light-house on the New York side; at the left the "Four Brothers" lift their heads from the water; while directly in front is a fine view of Burlington Bay. The road then runs by an easy down grade to Shelburne village and on to Burlington. Shelburne Farms. One of the most interesting drives in the neighborhood of Burlington is to Shelburne Farms, the mag- nificent country seat of Dr. William Seward Webb. There is no finer farming territory in the world than the Champlain valley be- tween the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain; and in all this district the farms of Shelburne are particularly noted for their high quality. A few 5'earsago Dr. Webb purchased a number of these farms lying along the lake shore and secured an estate of almost royal extent, embracing nearly 4,000 acres. At once a comprehen- sive system of improvements was inaugurated. The whole terri- tory was combined into one great farm; immense barns for horses, cattle, sheep and other stock, for produce and storage were built; a system of drainage was established; a complete waterworks plant, with a great reservoir on the highest point-and pipes radiating over the estate, was built; a telephone exchange was organized ; a fine electric lighting plant was put in operation; substantial Macadam roads were built all over the farm. Greeiihouses were erected and an aviary and arboretum were started. A fine residence was built by the side of the lake. In a well-sheltered bay is a substantial dock, and here are pleasure yachts propelled by sail and by steam, the Elfrida being an iron screw schooner, luxuriantly fitted, the largest and finest yacht on Dake Champlain. Shelburne Farms is devoted largely to the breeding of fine blooded stock — in horses, the hackney strain, in cattle, the Jersey, and in sheep, the Southdown — and many fine animals n^ be seen j 42 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. among the stock, including a number of famous horses. Visitors are always welcome at Shelburne Farms and are accorded every privilege consistent with the rules necessary to govern such an estate. A drive over the excellent farm roads will disclose not only fine specimens of stock, great farm buildings and appliances, but many delightful views. The land is gently rolling, with many groves and stately trees, and the visitor has a constant succession . of pleasant surprises in picturesque views about the farm and off upon Lake Champlain. Lovers' Lane is a charming shaded drive; the lake shore drive is attractive with its views over land and water, and the drive from the breeding barns to the farm barns gives a fine prospect looking northward. Shelburne Farms is famed not only as a farm and estate, but as a fine country home, where a regal hospitality is dispensed by Dr. and Mrs. Webb to their friends. Many have here learned the delights of country life on the shores of Lake Champlain, and found out how attractive is a residence in the Champlain valley. The farm is in charge of Mr. Archibald Taylor, of Burlington, a Scotchman of large experience and good executive ability, who is always ready to put visitors in the way of seeing how a great farm is conducted on scientific principles. This drive will require a long half-day; indeed, a full day might be pleasantly spent. Go by way of Union and Shelburne streets. Mount Mansfield, to many people, is the most attractive and interesting objective point for an outing trip in the vicinity of Burlington. It is the highest and most famous mountain in the State, the "chin " having an elevation of 4,389 feet, and in some respects is the most interesting mountain peak in the East. Unlike Mount Washington, it is not surrounded by a sea of high mountains, but it dominates the landscape and affords a view scarcely equalled in variety, picturesqueness and breadth. In as 2 ft! PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. I43 another respect Mansfield is absolutely unique. It is a ridge along which the visitor can walk a mile and a half on a path over four thousand feet above the level. To the mountain climber this is an exceedingly attractive feature. The visitor reaches the mount- ain at the base of the ' ' nose ' ' and can quickly get to the highest point of that feature by a well-worn path in the rocks. From that point the " chin " is easily reached by a path along the sum- mit. To get to Mansfield you can go by rail to Waterbury, stage to the picturesque village of Stowe, and by private conveyance to the Summit House at the base of the nose. The way preferred by many, however, is to drive to Underbill Center — by way of Essex Junction, Essex Centre, Jericho 'Corners and Underhill village — and to the Half-wa5 r House, walking from that point to the summit, a mile and a half. Since the landslide a good route from the Half-way House is by a wood road to the route of the landslide, then following its course to the summit about half-way between the nose and the chin. The landslide in 1892 made con- siderable disturbance in both routes, but repairs have been made and the ascent is made with little less comfort than prior to the catastrophe. The walk should not be attempted by any but strong persons and good pedestrians. The trip by way of Underhill may also be made by rail. The Central Vermont railroad sells round trip tickets to the Half-way House and return. There are hotels at Underhill and Stowe, and the Summit House furnishes good accommodations at reasonable prices. The Underhill route is less expensive than that by way of Stowe- Camels Hump is twenty miles south-east of Burlington. It may be reached by train to North Duxbury station, carriage of E. Iv- White & Co. to drive a mile and a half to the last house, then a four and a half mile walk. A guide is needed and the way is steep and should be attempted only by robust people. Another I44 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. route is to drive to Camp Willard boarding house, kept by D, Stevens, from whence a three mile walk takes one to the summit. This is the most direct and best route and ladies can go. The height of this mountain is 4,083 feet, and there is a fine outlook from its summit. North, south, east there is a sea of hills, the most extended view being to the north-west, across the Canadian border sixty miles away. But the most striking view is to the west over the Champlain valley, Lake Champlain and the Adi- rondack mountains. Although this mountain is not so high as Mansfield, yet in some respects it affords a better view. The observer stands on a round peak and the view from every side is unobstructed and can be seen by merely turning around. Hinesburgh. An attractive mountain drive for an all day's trip, over good roads, amid fine scenery, is to Hinesburgh. Goby way of Fourth street or Dorset street and the stage road to Hines- burgh village, south and east to Lewis Creek, continuing north and east to Huntington village, following the Huntington river ; thence north to Richmond, northwest through Williston to Bur- lington — about thirty miles. On the wa)' there are fine views of the lake and the Green Mountains ; at Hinesburgh you are liter- ally in the midst of the Green Mountains and there is a good view of Camels Hump. The drive thence to Huntington is a mount- ain ride over a good road, with many glimpses of rugged mount- ain scenery. North to Richmond the way lies through a rolling farming country ; then you follow the stage road to Williston and thence home ; or along the Winooski river to Essex Junction and back by either route. It will be most satisfactory to carry a lunch for mid-day. A good meal can be procured at Richmond on arrival there if desired. Verge nnes. The southern drives may be continued to Vergennes on Otter Creek, the oldest cit3' in Vermont and one of to E? s ta I4 5 PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. the oldest in New England. Vergennes:was settled by Donald Mcintosh, who fought in the battle of Culloden for Prince Charlie. It was chartered in 1788, and is interesting, not only as being one of the oldest cities in New England, but the smallest. The falls of the Otter near the city are seven miles from the mouth and at the head of navigation. The falls are thirty-seven feet high and two islands divide the stream into three parts. Here is located the Vermont Reform School, a model reformatory institu- tion where young criminals are confined and their reformation attempted. There are three hotels of which the Stevens House is best known. The most popular excursion by water from Burlington is to Ausable Chasm on the west side of the lake nearly oppo- site this city. Leaving Burlington by the Champlain Transporta- tion Company's steamboat Chateaugay in the morning, a pleasant sail of an hour brings the tourist to Port Kent, thence by rail three miles to the Chasm. The trip through the Chasm is one of intense interest, and certainly a half-day should be given to it, but it can be made in two or three hours. This wonderful cut varies in width from thirty to one hundred and fifty feet. The boat-ride over the last half-mile is one of the great features of this passage through a land of surprises, and the novels sensation of shooting the rapids and floating over unknown depths, although accom- plished in perfectly safe boats and under ithe guidance of trust- worthy boatmen, is something long to be remembered. After passing through the Chasm you go back to Burlington on the same steamer, on her return trip, arriving at Burlington about 4.30 p. m. Port Kent is an interesting old village with a past. It has seen better days but the railway killed its lake commerce and left it a mere side station on the lake shore. Rounding Point'' Trembleau, "The Castle," the first of Port Kent's old mansions PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. H7 comes into view. Here lived Elkanah Watson, a man of consider- able note in the early history of the country. "The Castle " is an artistic old stone mansion, copied from -a French chateau. It was a famous house in its time and saw many grand scenes- including a meeting of President Van Buren and Henry Clay. A picture of historic inter- test is the portrait of Watson painted by Copley. When King George recognized the independence of the United States, Elkanah 'Watson stood on the steps of the throne. He went at once to Copley and had his portrait painted with the design .of the American flag in •his hand, and this was ,the first time the stars and stripes were trans- ferred to canvass. The Islands. The trip among the islands ausable chasm. j n the north part of the lake is an extremely enjoyable one. leaving Burlington in the morning on the steamboat Chateaugay, touching at Port Kent, Bluff Point and Plattsburgh, the boat then goes to Grand Isle, stopping first at Gordon's about midday, then at Adams' and through "The Gut," a narrow passage between the two islands, I4 8 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. to North Hero, landing at "North Island City." Return the same way. Dinner is served on the boat in the attractive upper deck dining room — a good meal at a reasonable price. This trip may be extended in this way: Eeave Burlington on Tuesday; stop off at Gordon's and from there go to Maquam Bay on the Steamer "Maquam. ' ' Wednesday morning return by the Maquam through the Alburgh Passage and the islands further north, to Plattsburgh, and return to Burlington by the Chateaugay. Fort Ticonderoga. Of the comparatively few military ruins in this young country, none exceed in historic interest the ruins of Fort Ticonderoga. Situated in the south part of the lake, they can be reached daily on the steamer Vermont, leaving Burlington each morning. The picturesque ruins of the fort crown the high and rocky peninsula north of the pier. The peninsula is about 500 acres in extent, surrounded on three sides by water, and bounded on the west by a swamp. The sally-port where the Green Mountain Boys under Ethan Allen entered, the old well, the crumbling walls of the barracks surrounding the parade, and the well-defined dry ditches beyond the ramparts, may easily be recognized. In one of the east bastions is a deep and cavernous vault, supposed to have been the garrison bakery. On the high point to the southeast are the well-preserved remains of the Gren- adiers' Battery, and another small battery, surrounded by a wet ditch, is on the plain to the north. The forests back of the fort grounds are furrowed with intrenchments and redoubts. Crown Point. Here are the ruins of the famous Ft. St. Frederic, built by the French, and the Fortress of Crown Point, built by the English, which occupy the promontory between,Lake Champlain and Bulwagga Bay. The ramparts of Crown Point are half a mile round, twenty -five feet high and twenty-five feet PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 149 thick, faced with stone. The ditches of the fort, its broad parade and ruined barracks are worthy of inspection. Beautiful lake and mountain views are gained from the northern bastions. The fort was erected by Lord Amherst, by Pitt's orders, in 1760, at a cost, it is said, of $8,000,000. Two hundred yards northeast of the great British fort, and on the steep bank of the lake, are the ruins of the older French work, Fort St. Fred- eric, a pentagonal star fort with bastioned angles. In 1730 the French occupied Point a la Chevelure (opposite this place) , where they built a small stone fort, with five cannon, and established a farming community. In 1 731 they began Fort St. Frederic, which, when finally com- pleted, consisted of a wall of limestone, high and thick, enclosing stone barracks, -a church, and a tall bomb-proof tower, the armament con- sisting of sixty-two small cannon. In its original mag- nitude and cost; in the grand- eur of its existing remains, Crown Point is the most interesting ruin on Lake Champlain. It can be visited by the steamer Vermont, going from Burlington at about 9 o'clock each morning during the season, returning in the afternoon. ETHAN ALLEN MONUMENT. IS PICTURESQUE BURLIN0TON. The Adirondack Mountains can be reached comfortably and easily from Burlington by steamboat to Plattsburgh, Port Kent or Westport; thence by Chateaugay railway from Plattsburgh to Saranac Lake ; by stage from Port Kent through the heart of the northern mountains ; but the most popular route is to enter the mountains at Westport, visiting Elizabethtown and Keene valley, then either returning to Westport, going thence to Lake Placid by the Chateaugay railroad, or driving direct from Keene valley to Lake Placid by the Edmonds Pond Pass, returning by rail to Plattsburgh from Saranac Lake. Tally-ho stages meet trains at Westport to convey passengers to Elizabethtown, an enjoyable ride of eight miles through Raven Pass, whence stage lines run daily to Keene valley. Lake Placid is by general consent the central point of interest and when it is reached all points can be visited from it and the return can be made to Burlington by way of Plattsburgh. Many people who visit Burlington and have never crossed the line into the great dominion on the north, take the opportunity of going from here to Montreal and Quebec. The city of Montreal is about three hours ride by rail from Burlington. It has a population of about 200,000, is situated on an island in the St. Lawrence which is reached by the great Victoria tubular bridge 9,184 feet long. Montreal is an interesting old city situated at the foot of Mount Royal. It has seventy-nine churches, among them Notre Dame, the largest church on the continent, accommodating 10,000 people. Quebec can be reached by rail or by steamboat from Mon- treal. This ancient and quaint old city was founded in 1608 and its present appearance carries one back almost to that time. No city on the continent so impresses the traveler by the startling peculiarities of its site and its general medieval aspect. Both these 5 25 PICTURESQUE BURLINQTON. 151 cities are so foreign in appearance that it is. difficult to realize they are so near the modern appearing cities of the United States. They are both well worth a visit. The White Mountains are in direct communication with Burlington by vestibuled ex- press train through a most interesting country. Lake George, the Thousand Islands, the St. Lawrence are within a few hours ride and easy of access. During the season the reg- ular line steamers and the excur- sion steamboats offer many attractive trips on the water — excursions for a day on the lake to one or more interesting points at low rates of fare. These excursions give residents of Burlington daily opportunity for a few hours or a day's vaca- tion on the water, in the enjoy- ment of cool breezes, amid delightful scenery, on comfort- able boats, away from the crowds and cares and dust of the city, and they are patronized by an increasing number of people each year. THE STANNARD MONUMBS'l Cedar Beach— Thompson's Point. These are summer resorts on the lake shore in the town of Charlotte, Vermont. Both are situated upon high rocky points, jutting out into the lake and 152 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. catching the cool breezes that almost constantly come from the water during the summer. These resorts are occupied largely by Burlington people, although many people from other points pass their summers here, some coming from as far away as New Jersey and New York and Brooklyn. There is no hotel at either place, the residents all occupying their own cottages, many of which are commodious and attractive structures. The shore in the neigh- borhood of these resorts also contains many cottages, and alto- gether a large and constantly increasing number of people spend their summers here in a comfortable, enjoyable and sensible way, far removed from the dictates of fashion and with a freedom hard to find at summer resorts. The steamboat Chateaugay makes a daily call morning and evening at these places during the season, leaving Burlington about 5 o'clock in the evening and returning the following morning. g g to to s o Si Kl o S to fci BUSINESS INTERESTS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUSINESS OF BURLINGTON ; ITS CONSERVA- TISM AND ENTERPRISE; MANUFACTURES ; LUMBER INTERESTS; A FEW OF THE LEADING INDUSTRIES: BANK'S AND BANKING; ELEC- TRIC POWER. There is little of sentiment or romance connected with the business development of the average city. It is usually a slow and toilsome unfolding from small beginnings, the slower and more toilsome, as a rule, the more conservative and substantial. The history of the growth of the business of Burlington is no won- derful Aladdin's tale; it is a story of slow and conservative develop- ment to a substantial success; and without this substantial success of the business men of the Queen City, this book with its story and illustrations of fine architecture, broad charities and a rich city would not have been possible. It is therefore meet that I should give the reader a look into the business growth of the city and a glance at some of its leading commercial and manufacturing institutions. The distinguishing characteristic of the business interests of Burlington has always been conservatism. A good deal of wealth was accumulated in the early days in lumber and shipbuilding, lake commerce and trading. That wealth and the accompanying commercial conservatism of the pioneers were transmitted and have remained as permanent acquisitions to the material prosperity and sound business methods of the city. The conservative man- agement and steady prosperity of the business interests of the city are well shown by the fact that the percentage of failures has always been exceedingly low, and no one can remember anything approaching a panic or serious local depression. The general mer- cantile interests of the city depend largely upon the agricultural I54 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. class, which is little affected by commercial inactivity ; and the manufacturing interests are so diversified that temporary dulness in one interest produces little effect upon the city as a whole. Tabor troubles are unknown. The natural result of such a con- dition of things is a prosperous city, remarkably free from business failures or commercial panics. Notwithstanding the conserva- tive spirit there is an aggressiveness and push among the business men that have kept the city in the forefront of modern enterprise and made it the commercial metropolis of Vermont. The large number of products that are exclusively manufactured here have carried the fame of the city around the world. The manufactures of the country in the early days were not conducted as at the present time. Most of the manufacturing was done by individuals and firms in a small way. Although there was a fair amount of manufacturing in Burlington in its early his- tory, there was no large factory in town until the establishment of the glass works in 1827. The most extensive manufacturing in- terests hereabout in the early days were probably the "large mills, forges and iron foundries" of Ira Allen on the north side of the Falls. The manufactures in Burlington for the year 181 1 are given by Walton's Register as follows: 6,000 yards of linen, 3,800 yards of woollen, 450 yards of cotton, six tons of nails, 2,000 hides and calfskins tanned, 10,000 pounds of wool carded, and, surprising to this generation of temperance people, 1,000 gallons of liquors distilled. There were 29 looms in town and all the manufactures were made by small concerns and individuals, and were of the coarsest kind. The first large manufacturing enterprise in Burlington was the Champlain Glass Company. It occupied extensive buildings on Battery street and during a part of its career did a large and successful business. It ceased opera- tions in 1850. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 15S In 1852 the Pioneer Mechanic's Shop-Company was incorpor- ated. Its object was to encourage manufacturing and thus to restore the city to its former condition of prosperity and to build up a manufacturing business to take the place of the mercantile business of the days before the railrpads. This pioneer enterprise VENETIAN BLIND COMPANY'S SHOP. had the desired effect. Large shops were built ; manufacturing enterprises were started, prosperity ensued and Burlington not only became a manufacturing city but its tnercantile prestige was restored. It is now the most important commercial city in Ver- I S 6 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. mont and does a very much larger business than ever before in its history. One of the characteristics of the people of Burlington which has very largely contributed to the success of the city as a whole and which widely distinguishes the residents and business men of Burlington from those of a majority of the towns and cities of the country, is their loyalty to each other and to their city. Men who transact business with the mercantile and manufacturing houses i of Burlington, strangers who come to the city for pleasure, quickly notice the absence of jealousy among the business men, as well as the spirit of loyalty and fairness displayed toward each other and their common city. This fairness to competitors does not lessen the spirit of business rivalry or aggressiveness within honorable lines ; and the fidelity to, and admiration of their own city and its institutions, does not make the citizens any less critical of municipal defects, or submissive to governmental wrongs. This spirit of the people of Burlington, of loyalty to their home, and pride in the general success, has done much toward making it the success- ful and attractive city that it is. A few years ago the Board of Trade made a careful canvass of Burlington's business interests and found the following state of facts, in round figures : Amount of capital employed, nearly $6,000,000 ; annual sales, upwards of $13,000,000 ; number of employes, nearly 4,000 ; annual wages, $1,500,000. The Lumber Business. Burlington's position as the chief port on the lake established its precedence as the commercial center of a large section of country. So long as the lake was the great highway of commerce for the north, Burlington remained the great distributing depot. But the opening of the two railroads, the Central Vermont and the Rutland, brought about an entire change in the mercantile business of the north. This change was not PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. I 57 favorable to Burlington, and during the decade between 1850 and i860, the town remained nearly stationary in population. The establishment of the lumber trade, and the introduction of man- ufacturing industries on a large scale, during this same period, PRESIDENT'S OFFICE VERMONT LTF'E INSURANCE CO. however, gave a new impetus to the business ot the town, and in the next decade the town resumed its growth and its business soon surpassed all previous records. The lumber trade of the earlier years had changed its course. The opening of the Champlain Canal had reversed the shipments I. 5 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. from Canada to the South. When the product in Vermont was exhausted a number of large corporations were formed in Burling- ton and began importing lumber from Canada. So vigorously did they prosecute the business that Burlington in a few years became the third in importance of the lumber markets of the country. With the growth of the West and the changing methods of busi-* ness Burlington has not held its relative position but still controls a large trade. Lumber is shipped to this city in large quantities in rough form. It is then "dressed" and re-shipped, or manufactured into house finish, furniture and other useful household articles. Among these may be noted the manufacture of sash and doors, house finishing, lasts, bobbins, toboggans, Venetian blinds, refrig- erators, creameries, shipping boxes and many others. Burling- ton's other manufactures include woolen and cotton goods, boots and shoes, cabinet hardware, carriages, pressed brick, soap, crack- ers, signs, maple sugar and apparatus, brush fibre, flour, shirts, awnings, granite and marble, screen corners and screens, over- gaiters and leggins, patent ovens, chairs, shade rollers, stoneware, phosphate, proprietary medicines and foods, cigars, confectionery, matches, canned fruits and vegetables and water pumping plants — a list of industries so varied and so successful as to establish Burlington's position as an important manufacturing city. Many of these industries have established more than local fame, among the best known of which are the Burlington Woolen Mills, whose product is known far and wide as the best of its class in the world; the products of Wells & Richardson Co., the Venetian Blind Co., and the Baldwin Refrigerator Co. The cotton mills of the Bur- lington Cotton Company are conspicuous among the city's pros- perous industries. On these manufactures and her carefully con- ducted business interests, Burlington^ future stands secure. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. !S9 Manufacturing. Situated at the most important point where the railroad system of the State touches L,ake Champlain ; — the ter- minus of railroads running to the seaboard and the commercial centres of New York, Boston, Portland, Montreal and the West ; — connected by lake navigation with the entire Champlain valley and eastern New York ; — the outlet, with ample railroad connections, of the rich valleys of the Winooski and L,amoille rivers and the 16,740 GALLONS PAINE'S CELERY COMPOUND. most fertile counties ot western Vermont ; with ample water power within its limits, with coal dumped on its docks, direct from the coal fields, as cheaply as on the Hudson, and water- works supplying water under a powerful head, with a great water power at the gorge delivered in the city by electric wires, Burling- l6o PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. ton affords unsurpassed facilities for mercantile and manufacturing business. These rich opportunities have already been largely utilized as will readily be seen upon investigation. It is not the province of this book to give a description of all the industries of Burlington, as that would require more space than could be spared in such a work. But in order to show the importance of the city as a manu- facturing center, and the character of its business, this chapter will include brief accounts of a few establishments, mercantile and manufacturing, that have already achieved more than local fame and fairly represent the general high average of the whole. The work of the world is fast being reduced to a scientific basis. The medicinal preparations of our grandmothers, com- pounded in a haphazard, guess-work way, which in their day served to keep the body in health, have almost wholly given place to the scientific preparations of the modern chemist. Indeed the physician himself is coming to be of less and less consequence, except as a specialist, as the many carefully compounded prepara- tions, put up in attractive form, easy and safe to administer by anybody, are placed within everybody's reach. There is a prov- erb uttered by some very wise man of the past that, " At forty a man is either his own physician or a fool. ' ' Of course that was said many decades ago. In this age the knowledge of drugs and their action on the human system is so accurate that the skilled chemist compounds preparations in great quantities, which never vary in form or effect, and produce the sstme result upon nine out of every ten human beings. It is therefore no longer necessary to go to the physician for every illness, but everybody can be his own physician and get at his drug store an advertised specific for his trouble. Everybody knows that there are now in the world a wonderful collection of proprietary medicines. But few who have not had occasion to study the matter have any idea how much c ,1 2 5 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 161 they have become a part of our modern daily life. They are almost universally used; many are prescribed by leading physi- cians, as the most scientific and valuable specifics they can give their patients. Indeed if both physicians and proprietary prepara- tions were discontinued it is probable that more people would miss the latter than the former. Another thing closely allied to medicines which receives a great deal of deserved attention now is prepared food, particularly that class of foods intended to nour- ish infants and invalids. RESIDENCES OF GEO. D. WEIGHT AND H. E. CONGEE. These manufactures and others requiring chemical tormulas are becoming of exceeding great importance in this country ; they serve to employ a great many excellent business men, writers, chemists, stenographers, advertising agents, workmen and work- women, and they put in motion a train of business operations which is felt in not only the greatest cities but the meanest ham- lets in the world. They do more. The manufacturers conduct 11 l6 2 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. their business with such ability, energy and accuracy ; they expend so much money in diffusing a knowledge of their manu- factures, that they have had a distinct and very important effect upon the business methods, and the intelligence of the community — in fact they have done very much toward making the newspaper press of this country what it is to-day. One of the leading manufac- turing industries in Burlington and one of the most famous houses in this industry, in the medical and hygienic value of its product, in the commercial standing of the company and the business ability of its members, is the Wells & Richardson Company of this city. Their excellent manufactures, Diamond Dyes, Paine's Celery Compound, L,actated Food and Improved Butter Color, have no superior in their specific uses in the world. They are known, used and appreciated everywhere. The splendid office and factory building of this company on College street, are among the most interesting sights in town. Here a great business is conducted on scientific principles. It is divided into ten depart- ments, each in charge of a competent director. There is a com- plete printing office containing twenty-five presses ; an advertising office ; a mailing and shipping department, and a folding box factory. There is a complete chemical laboratory, in charge of a chemist of ability, where every drug and extract that comes in and every preparation that goes out is carefully tested. This ■company receives 2,000 letters a day ; sends out 30,000,000 pieces of printed matter yearly ; pays $60,000 in postage, $500,000 in advertising, and does an annual business of $2,000,000. It is difficult to comprehend such figures as these ; the most that the reader can say of them is that they are large and probably mean success. Both conclusions would be true. Successful the com- pany is, and successful it deserves to be, and in all of Burlington there is none that does not highly esteem its owners and is not gratified at their success. PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 163 A representative wood- working establishment of Burlington, is the Venetian Blind Company, of which IJlias L,yman is presi- dent and George D. Wright, manager. It was incorporated April 2, 1884, and has had a remarkably successful career. It manu- factures slat window blinds, the " Venetian, " and the newer style sliding blinds. Wooden slat blinds for the inside of windows have retained their popularity for many years, and this company manufacture a surprisingly large number of both kinds for private houses and public buildings — the output averaging about 2 , 200 blinds a month. So energetic has been the management of the STUDIO AND TEA HOUSE ON GROUNDS OF COL. LE ORAKD B. QANNON. company and so careful the manufacture of the goods, that the Venetian Blind Company, from a small organization a few years ago, has outgrown and surpassed all its competitors and is now the largest company in this business in the United States. The growth and progress of this company is a fair illustration of the prosperity of Burlington institutions and well shows the possibili- ties of manufacturing in this town. This company, like so many !6 4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. other Burlington institutions, is a leader, and the common phras of competitors is that they will ' ' agree to furnish as good good as the Venetian Blind Company of Burlington, Vermont." Sue] a statement of course recognizes the Burlington company as pre ducing the standard goods in that line. The factory of this com pany is large and equipped with new and modern machinery, am to anybody with a mechanical turn it is decidedly worth a visit. Among the best known of Burlington's manufacturing estab Hshments is that of the L,ang & Goodhue Manufacturing Co. hydraulic engineers, whose great factory stands south of the city near Howard Park. Their plant comprises a complete equipmen for the manufacture of light and heavy iron work, including thei specialty, water works plants. They build their own pumps am engines, which are known as " L,ang's Patent," and these embod; the latest approved principles with many features peculiarly thei own, which add greatly to their efficiency. This firm has man] water works plants in daily and successful operatiou in cities am towns in many states. They also manufacture fire engines pulp machinery, horse nail machinery and many other machine that require a high grade of mechanical and engineering skill The pumping engines, hydraulic and other machinery of thi company are used in all parts of this country. The head of this company, Mr. W. H. Lang, is an enginee and inventor of ability who has carried out successfully man; difficult engineering enterprises. He has installed many wate works plants and has overcome difficulties that were considers insurmountable. He was the engineer of the great water powe station of the Vermont Electric Company on the Winooski rivei and the success of this work is a high tribute to his engineerin: skill. The most notable effort of his genius in the way of inver tion, though the device was never patented, is a motor and pum mmii ,<--: ' J"'\£ i i «-; s g fei s 5; § fei PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 165 which he applied to the Burlington water works. This pump sup- plies the ' ' higher service ' ' that cannot be supplied from the main reservoir, and the remarkable thing about it is that it does its work automatically without any cost for power, simply by the flow of the water from the reservoir to the down town service. This device has received a great deal of attention from hydraulic engin- eers all over the country. One of the oldest and the largest of Burlington's manufactur- ing corporations is the Burlington Woolen Company, with its immense factories and other interests on the Winooski river at the BESWP.XCE! OF JOHN J. ALLE.V- Falls. The first mill of this company — which still stands as the centre of the woolen mill, was built in 1835, on a historic site — the old shipyard where Ira Allen built the Liberty, the first schooner built in these parts, and near the site of Ira Allen's mills. The corporation which built this mill was composed of 166 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. some of the well-known business men of Burlington at that time, namely : Harry Bradley, John H. Peck, Sidney Barlow, Carlos Baxter, Elias Lyman, George Moore and others. This mill was 150 feet long and contained fifteen sets of woolen machinery. It was built before the days of railroads and the machinery was brought through the l,ake. The manufactured goods, which con- sisted of first-class broad-cloths and cassimeres, were sent by team to Boston. After various reverses there was a change in owner- ship and new stockholders took the mill in 1837. About 1840 a Boston house bought the property and operated the mill till 1848 ; but without protection the industry did not flourish, and in that year the mill was closed. In 1850 it was sold out by the United States Marshal to Harding Bros, of Oxford, Mass. , for $49,000, and when they had it ready to operate it had cost them $87,000. They manufactured black doeskins until 1857, with indifferent success. In that year Geo. Harding discovered a way of removing vegetable matter from the wool, which enabled them to clear $75,000 that year. In 1861 a second mill was built, add- ing nine sets, and the property was bought by the present corpora- tion, the Burlington Woolen Co. They began the manufacture of beaver cloth, and were the first to produce Moscow beavers, after the French style, in this country. They ran a whole mill on that cloth alone, and are still making it in the better grade. In 1872 100 feet was added to the main mill; in 1890 it was entirely remodeled and put in modern style throughout, making a great factory 330 feet long and six stories high., containing 25 sets of cards and machinery. In 1 88 1 the Company built the Colchester Mills to manufacture merino and cotton hosiery yarns. But they were not sus- tained by the trade in producing merino yarns and the product is now all cotton in a variety of colors. This mill has a capacity of 16,500 spindles. The stockholders of the Burlington Woolen § 4 ^ H Si S PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 167 Co. also own the Burlington Flouring Co., a corporation with $100,000 capital stock, which does a wholesale and retail flouring and feed business on the Burlington side of the river ; and the Winooski Acqueduct Company, a corporation with $60,000 capital. This company has a reservoir ion the hill, supplied by springs, holding 4,000,000 gallons of water, with a fall of 140 feet to the mills of the Burlington Woolen Co. It supplies water for public and private use in the village of Winooski. RESIDENCE OF E. B. WHITING. The Burlington Woolen Co., with its mills and other allied interests, has been under the management of Mr. F. C. Ken- nedy of Burlington, as agent and resident manager, for thirty- three years. Its other active officers are Joseph Sawyer, president ; and Thomas F. Patterson, treasurer, both of Boston. It occupies !68 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 1 3*4 acres of ground, with a floor space in the Woolen Mill and storehouses of 227,700, and in the Colchester Mills of 87,400, square feet, and giving employment, when both mills are running full, to more than 850 people. The specialties of these mills are known throughout the country as goods of the highest class, and include fabrics for fine uniform cloths, which are extensively used by municipalities, palace car lines, railroad corporations, etc. The company also manufacture fine kerseys, cassimeres, ladies' dress goods, cloakings and fine billiard cloths ; while in the Colchester Mills, which are devoted to the manufacture of yarns for under- wear and hosiery, the finest cotton yarns "are produced. Mercantile Interests. The city of Burlington is no less prosperous and conspicuous in its mercantile than in its manfactur- ing interests. Its wholesale merchandise business is extraordinarily large and successful. More than a hundred and fifty commercial travelers make the city their headquarters, nearly all of whom travel for local firms. In retail stores, especially in the staples of dry goods and groceries, Burlington is particularly rich. In the enterprise shown, in the taste displayed, in the completeness and variety of stock the dry goods stores are especially conspicuous, comparing favorably with stores of the same class in much larger cities. A representative establishment of this kind is the dry goods house of H. W. Allen & Co., the oldest and largest in the city. It was founded by Elias Lyman, who, in 1848, admitted the late Edward Lyman to partnership. In 185 1 Edward Lyman suc- ceeded to the business, and in 1868 Heman W. Allen was admit- ted. In 1885 Mr. F. D. Abernethy became a partner, the firm remaining Lyman & Allen till the death of Mr. Lyman in 1890, when it was changed to Heman W. Allen & Co. The store, on the corner of Church and Bank streets is the largest in the city, 6q s I PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. l6g attractive and metropolitan in appearance, with a large retail trade and a wholesale business extending throughout the State and far beyond its borders. It is one of the establishments which has helped to make Burlington prominent as a mercantile center. The intellectual life of a community can be gauged from many points of view. One of the easiest and at the same time most accurate estimates can be made from the standpoint of its book stores. Estimated from this view Burlington would be placed very high in that regard. The store of Whitney & Shan- ■■■:"> rMmi- ~W£ - :*$3*- f 4|H Yv f •. ^Ik^sJP ■'. '?. &e -"?,. / k L» M.&' 1 r 1 92H iflH KfJ b# • ., f EpM " : .. .. w. .. ■ : RESIDENCE OF MRS. ALFRED BROOKES. ley, the leading booksellers of the city, is a model one — a model not only for Burlington, but for a place of far greater size. It is in the first place a handsome store, finished in quartered oak, con- veniently arranged and fitted up in a modern way. Its exterior — the Huntington building, erected by S. Huntington, the pioneer in the book business, and the predecessor of Whitney & Shanley — { y Q PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. is of brown stone and brick, rich and substantial. It was built in connection with the Y. M. C. A. building, and to the general observer seems to be a part of that block. The store is completely stocked with books, showing a greater collection than can be seen in many book stores in larger places — in fact it is a better book- store than can be found elsewhere between the cities of Troy and Montreal. Here are books for all tastes, all the standard novel- ists, poetry, history, science, belles lettres, the novels of the day — a collection selected with rare judgment to meet the wants of such a community as Burlington. A full stock of stationery and all the usual articles kept by stationers are also in abundance here. Insurance. Our country has, perhaps, no more encouraging or distinctive characteristic than the comparative absence of poverty. Many causes, of course, contribute to produce this desirable condi- tion. It is, in part, due to the character of the population, to the more general distribution of wealth, and to the wide extent of our territory, which offers to every man who will work for it, a home, and a chance to surround himself with the necessities and comforts of life. All these factors are recognized as contributing to and establishing the self-supporting character of our population, but there is one factor whose potency in this direction is too often for- gotten, that of the institution known as life insurance. Before a nation can become thoroughly prosperous its members must be trained in habits of self-control and frugality, and a means must be found to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves, and whose inability comes from weakness and not misconduct. Both these ends are accomplished by life insurance. The man whose life is insured, knows that the annual payments must be met, and his regard for his loved ones is a sufficient incentive to cause him to meet them promptly in order to prevent lapse. This may necessitate self-denial; it may oblige him to watch his small I 172 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. expenditures closely, but he gladly makes* the sacrifice, and at the same time acquires habits of prudence and economy that are of the greatest advantage in aiding his success in life. In view of these facts it is gratifying to know that the advantages of life insurance are becoming every year more thoroughly appreciated; that nearly all the life insurance companies show an increased business as each year is ended, and that life insurance, emphasizing, as it does, the better side of a man's life, unites on a common basis the principles of business with benevolence. Burlington has only one life insurance company. In 1868 the legislature granted a charter to Torrey E. Wales, Samuel Huntington, Russell S. Taft, Jo D. Hatch, George F. Ed- munds, F. C. Kennedy and others as a body corporate by the name of The Vermont Life Insurance Company, having its head office in Burlington, Vermont. Ever since its incorporation the growth of the company has been steady, and at no time in its his- tory has it been unable to pay its claims in full. Within the past two years, new life and energy being infused into its management, the business shows marked improvement. At the close of 1892 the total insurance in force was about $2, 500, 000; assets $415,000, with a surplus of $94,000. During 1893 the company is doing business at the rate of a million and a half of insurance per year. John H. Robinson, President, Clayton R. Turrill, Secretary and Actuary, are the present executive officers. Directors are as fol- lows : Torrey E. Wales, Samuel Huntington, Russell S. Taft, Jo D. Hatch, F. C. Kennedy, John H. Rpbinson, Joel H. Gates, CM. Spaulding, D. W. Robinson. Banks and Banking. Few cities of its size have better banking facilities than Burlington. It has two large and success- ful national banks, a trust company that does a general banking business and the largest and most successful savings bank in Ver- I74 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. mbnt — the faithful custodian of large sums of money. The deposits in these institutions aggregate nearly seven millions of dollars, with total assets of nearly nine millions of dollars. The Burlington Sav- ings Bank was chartered on November 6, 1847; the Merchants National Bank on April 25, 1865, succeeding a State bank of the same name chartered in 1849. The Howard National Bank was chartered on June 7, 1870, and the Burlington Trust Company on November 8, 1882 — the aggregate capital stock being $850,000. The banks of Burlington have always been conducted in the inter- ests of the local community and have served to build up a pros- perous business city. They are managed by our ablest and most conservative business men, have never suffered serious losses, nor have they ever been subjected to any suspicion regarding their soundness even in times of distrust. These institutions have a record of success and conservatism equalled by the banks of few : placesin this country. <«Srrhe Burlington Savings Bank contains a greater amount of d'eposits than any other savings institution in Vermont. It was chartered in 1847 and has always been successful, but its latter day business has far surpassed anything in its earlier history. The intention of the present management is to make it as near as possible all that a savings institution ought to be — a place for the laboring classes, and those not in a situation to loan their savings to the best advantage, to deposit their earnings where they will be safe as well as earn the largest possible percentage of interest. It is not the intention to take large sums from people who are in a position to make their own loans, nor to take sums likely to be called for in business, but to receive and invest the savings of people who have only that way to invest their money. The trus- tees are careful, conservative men, as well as active business men — the rare combination, in savings banks, of progress and conserv- atism — men active in business yet conservative and successful and to s =0 ft, O 175 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. progressive in their private affairs. The last report of the corpora- tion on June 30, 1893, showed the following condition of affairs: Resources: United States bonds, at par, $110,100; city, county and school bonds, at par, $1,011,740.46; bank stock, $17,560; loans, $2,814,976.86; real estate, $9,672.59; cash on hand and in banks, $169,700.52; total, $4,133,750.43. Liabilities: due 10,270 depositors, $3,910,925.82 ; surplus, $222,524.61; total, $4,133,- 750.43. The trustees are: C. F. Ward, Willard Crane, C. P. Smith, Henry Greene, Henry Wells, J. E. Barstow, Albert G. Peirce. Mr. C. P. Smith is president and the active manager, and Mr. C. F. Ward is treasurer, an office which he has filled with credit since 1865. The Burlington Trust Company has a capital stock of $50,000, a surplus of $30,000, undivided profits $8,204.09; and deposits of $1,097,951.80. Its officers are: Edward Wells, president; B. B. Smalley, vice-president; H. E. Ward, treasurer; and its banking house is on College street opposite the park. The Howard National Bank has a capital stock of $300,000, a surplus of $60,000, undivided profits of $40,000, a circulation of $135,000, deposits of $625,000, and resources of $1,159,838.75. Its officers are: F. M. Van Sicklen, president; Joel H. Gates, vice- president; F. E. Burgess, cashier. The Merchants National Bank has a capital stock of $500,000, surplus of $250,000, undivided profits $76,000, a circulation of $450,000, deposits of $858,000, and resources of $2,133,957.73. Its officers are: C. W. Woodhouse, president; Torrey E. Wales, viee-president; E. E. Woodhouse, cashier. Electric and Water Power. The Winooski river is a most important source of power for the manufactures of Burlington and Winooski. In the early history of these parts it had a much larger volume of water than now and was navigable to the Falls PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 177 for vessels of considerable size. Only a small part of the great water power which was pouring over the Falls was then used. These conditions have been greatly, changed. The cutting away of the forests has reduced the stream and the growth of popula- tion has increased the demand for power. There are two dams - near the Falls which supply an aggregate of over 3000 horse power — that of the Burlington Woollen Co. , with a fall of about 30 feet RESIDENCE OF C- B. TVRMLL. and yielding 2242 horse power, with the present wheels, leaving a large amount of power at this dam still unutilized, and the upper dam with a fall of about fifteen feet and giving a total of about 1000 horse power. These dams drive sufficient machinery to require almost the total force of the river duringthe low water season — the power being utilized for driving the Woollen and Cotton mills, the I7 g PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. wood working shops, the dynamos and other machinery at Winooski and at the river's side in Burlington. About a mile further up the river is a great gorge cut through the rocks, by the ceaseless friction of the water in past ages, to the depth of nearly a hundred feet. As the river flows along at this gorge it sweeps around a bend where it has formed a great basin, and then divides for a brief space, leaving a high, rocky island in the center. At a former time, before the days of transmission of power by electricity, somebody saw this wonder- ful natural location and here built a dam and a saw-mill. But the place was not easy of access and the power could not be trans- mitted and both dam and mill long ago went to decay. About four years ago one of Burlington's enterprising business men, Dr. W. S. Vincent, saw the advantage of this location for a great station where power could be manufactured and transmitted to Burlington by electricity. He secured title to the ground, and 'after years of effort in arranging for capital to erect a plant he has at last seen his dream realized. The Vermont Electric Company, with a capital of $500,000 was incorporated to develop this power. The plan adopted was to dam the river at the island, the western branch dam to be a building containing the power station. In October, 1892, work was begun and in about thirteen months the plant was ready to run. The power station is a substantial stone and brick building one hundred by sixty-five feet, running lengthwise across the river, the wall which forms the dam being ten feet in thickness, strengthened by transverse walls. The building contains four great turbine water wheels, which, with the head of water at that point, — 30 feet — will generate 1,800 horse-power, with the possibility of increasing the head to 45 feet, thus adding fifty per cent to the power when needed. These wheels are belted to the main shaft in the top story, which turns the great alternating dynamos. These dynamos change the PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 779 power into electricity, which is transmitted to Burlington by high tension current, where it is transformed into a current of low volt- age for power and lighting purposes. The first users of this power were the municipalties of Burlington and Winooski for lighting and the Electric road for power. The station is arranged for additional water wheels and the owners calculate upon a max- imum of 2,500 horse power, at low water, with the present head. The work of building the station and dam included the blasting out of more than 7000 tons of rock, the use of 2200 barrels of cement, nearly 1,000,000 feet of timber and 150 tons of iron. The total cost of the plant and the wires was nearly $150,000.00. In these days of general discussion of transmission of power by electricity, it is needless to allude to the advantage of such a station to the city of Burlington. There is sufficient power at the gorge to drive a great many factories in the city ; and it is now possible for persons of small or large means to secure power in any part of the city most convenient for their purpose. Spring Water. The demand for pure spring water for drinking, as a regular beverage, and for use in the sick room, has heretofore been largely supplied by imported waters, but the past year has seen the introduction of the "Alpha," a natural spring in South Burlington, situated on an elevation in a retired locality, thoroughly isolated from any source of impurity and producing a crystal pure drinking water, as it comes from the spring in its natural state. When charged with carbonic acid gas as the foreign waters, and when used in the manufacture of Vichy, Lithia and other mineral waters, it is invaluable on account of its purity. Hotels. The traveling public has always found in Burling- ton ample provision for its entertainment. In the early times the city had some famous landlords and attractive hotels for those davs. These hotels were located on Water, Pearl and College 1 8 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. streets, as the center of population and business shifted. At the present time there are eight hotels, large and small, in the city. The greatest of these is the Van Ness House, a hotel of the first class, and without a bar-room, fronting on City Hall Park. This famous hostelry has been the leading hotel of the city for a num- ber of years and has entertained during that time many distin- guished guests. The latest addition to the hotels is the Hotel Burlington, on the west side of the City Park. It is a spacious brick structure, and a well appointed hotel, and enjoys a large patronage. Queen City Cotton Company. A corporation formed dur- ing the year is the Queen City Cotton Company. The promot- ors were the firm of George Draper & Sons of Hopedale, Mass., manufacturers of cotton mill machinery, and J. H. Hines, a Mass- achusetts Cotton Mill agent of much experience. The Drapers have invented an improved automatic loom in which they have such faith that they subscribed liberally to the stock of the new corporation in order to have a place in which to show what can be done with it. Mr. Hines selected Burlington as a desira- ble location for the mill on account of cheap freight and the com- parative leniency of the corporation laws of Vermont. A company \vas formed with a capital stock of $400,000, Burlington business men taking $50,000. The new mill will be in operation by March 1 . It is located off Pine Street, about midway between the south end of the lumber yard and Howard Park. The plant includes a three-story brick structure, 302 feet four inches long b}' 118 feet six inches wide, an engine and boiler house, cotton shed, 190 by 60 feet in size, and an office building measuring 3 1 by 24 feet. The mill will have a capacity for 30,000 spindles and 800 looms and will give employment to about 250 persons. Print cloths will be manufactured. It is expected that this mill is but the fore- PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 181 runner of others at the same place and it has been built and ar- ranged accordingly. The directors of the company are U. A. Woodbury, W. J. Van Patten and Elias Lyman of Burlington, W. J. Kent of New Bedford, Mass., W. F. Draper, Jr., of Hope- dale, Mass., A. A. Jenckes of Pawtucket, R. I., and J. H. Hines. Mr. Woodbury is the president of the company, Mr. Hines is the agent, and R. A. Cooke is the treasurer. The Willard Nervine Home. When, in December of 1886, 'Dr. A. J. Willard, on retiring from the superintendency of The Mary Fletcher Hospital, proceeded at once to found a home for those nervous invalids who must needs leave their own homes, temporarily, in order to regain their health, he decided, after ma- ture deliberation, upon Burlington, as, on the whole, the most suitable place for such an institution. Dr. Willard was deter- mined that Vermont, his adopted State, should receive the bene- fits of his establishment and that he would do his best to make it be to Vermont what the Adams Nervine Asylum was to Massa- chusetts. The wisdom of his choice of location, as well as the public recognition of the skill of his methods of treatment, have been attested by a steady growth of the enterprise from its very incipiency. In 1888, the Home was established in its new, attract- ive and well-equipped building on North Prospect street. Here, upon College Hill, commanding an uninterrupted view of lake and mountains, and retired from the centers of traffic and the numerous sources of disturbance incident to city life, has been found an eminently fitting spot for the abode of those seeking for quiet and rest and healing for their shattered nerves. The aim of the founder of the Willard Nervine Home was two-fold. First, so to limit the number of patients as to insure to each of them a physician's daily personal attention. Second, to furnish to these few a course of treatment on the line of the latest 182 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. researches and discoveries in Hygiene as well as medicine. From the very beginning, the people have called it "The Rest Cure," chiefly because the now justly celebrated Rest-Treatment of Weir Mitchell has been much used there. This method of dealing with some forms of nervous disease is sanctioned by medical science and has enjoyed an extraordinary success. Dr. Willard's stand- DR. WILLARD'S NERTIKE HOME. ard has been very high, and that he has faithfully adhered to it, both the exalted character which his Home sustains in the com- munity where it is located and elsewhere, together with the pub- lished statement of "Results Obtained," bear abundant and une- quivocal evidence. INTERIOR VIEWS OF " THE NERVINE: PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 183 The building devoted to the cure of the nervous sufferer is a structure pleasing to the eye, of moderate dimensions and modern architecture, not in the least suggestive of the ordinary private hospital. Strangers take it for a private dwelling, which is a pretty good indication that everything savoring of the "institu- tion" or "hospital" is, so far as possible, carefully excluded. Indeed, this fact, which is a pleasant feature to the inmates, is in «xact keeping with the whole trend of the treatment employed here, — which is an endeavor to bring to bear upon patients coming within its walls the best influence of home life, together with careful nursing and skilled medical attendance. To please the eye and gratify a cultivated taste, the large rooms are tastefully and harmoniously furnished and decorated, while outside, as one looks from window and^veranda, are those grand lake and moun- tain views for which Burlington is so justly celebrated. To rest the mind and nerve, there is immunity frqm labor, care, needless noise and disturbance of every kind, while monotony is avoided by the cultivated society of physician and + mirse and the conscious- ness of the existence of a smoothly -running household. To heal the nerves there is added to the foregoing the skilled medical care which results from a special aptitude for the work, combined with long experience and patient study, and.^what is of particular importance, — personal attention to details. Thus, with fresh air and a generous diet, is here fought so successfully the battle for health. A novel feature has been connected with the Home, Nervine Camp- This is a rustic cottage among the pines and white birches on a high , sandy bluff on the shore of Lake Champlain, about three miles from the home. To this retired spot go the convalescent patients in the summer, to revel in out-door life among the piney woods, — to lie all day long in tent, hammock I $4 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. or on cot under the trees, and to look out over the beautiful expanse of the lake. If it could be in any way a good thing to be sick, certainly nothing could be pleasanter than to be taken care of in such a place as the Willard Nervine Home, and to convalesce in so charming a spot as "The White Birches." Burlington Cotton Mills. In 1845 a firm under the title of the Winooski Mill Company was granted a charter by the Legis- lature for the purpose of carrying on the manufacture of cotton cloth at Burlington. During that year the company was organ- ized, with a capital stock of $25,000, and Joseph D. Allen elected president. Thus it remained until 1853, when the capital was increased to $75,000. Manufacturing was first commenced in a wooden building on the site of the present flouring mill at the Burlington end of the Winooski bridge. In 1852 the entire works were destroyed by fire. A building was next erected a few feet further up the river, and here the manufacture of cloth was con- tinued, under several changes of ownership, until 1880, when the property was purchased by Joel H. Gates and Robert G. Seversou. They converted their furniture factory on Pine street into a weav- ing room and trebled the size of the mill on the river. In 1889 a stock company was formed and called the Burlington Cotton Mills. February 24, 1891, the mill on the river was totally destnryed by fire. The work of rebuilding was begun as soon as was practi- cable, and in April of the following year both mills were in opera- tion again. The building on the river is of brick, iioo by 275 feet in size, three stories in height at the west end and two stories at the east end, with a "picker house" attached to the east end. The processes of picking, carding and spinning are carried on here, the total producing capacity of the mill being 30,496 spin- dles. Upon Pine and St. Paul streets, in the southwestern part of PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 185 the city, is located the weaving mill — a large frame and stone structure, two stories in height, with a basement. The two main floors are each 50 by 360 feet, containing 801 looms, while the basement contains the machinery for measuring, folding and bal- ing the finished cloth. The machinery here is driven by steam, while at the mill on the river water power is used. The capital stock of the company is $300,000. Mr. J. H. Gates is the presi- dent and general manager, and Mr. R. G. Severson the secretary and treasurer. The class of goods manufactured is what is called "print cloth." The maximum output is 40,000 yards per day, or 120,000,000 yards per year. The two mills give employment to about 350 persons, and the pay-roll amounts to nearly $90,000 annually. Thus the establishment is one of the largest concerns in the State. The Sanitarium. The Sanitarium erected by G. E. E. Spar- hawk, M. D., was opened in June, 1887, with a capacity for fifteen patients. It was designed for the treatment of both medical and surgical diseases, and is the only institution of its kind in the State under horncepathic management. Constructed according to modern methods of sanitation, furnished with all the comforts of home life and provided with a suitable cuisine and competent nurses, it contributes everything to the care and well being of its patrons. Realizing the importance of baths in, the treatment of dis- eases, and as a necessary adjunct to an institution of this kind, the doctor opened a bath establishment in 1888. Here are given Turkish, Russian, Roman and Electro-vapor baths, with or with- out massage, and such has been the success of these from a thera- peutic stand-point, that now rheumatism and diseases of the liver are prominent among the list of diseases successfully treated. j86 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. Owing to the increase in patronage, an extensive addition was made to the Sanitarium in 1893, so that now accommodations are furnished for thirty-five patients, all of whom are under the per- sonal care of Dr. Sparhawk daily. The Sanitarium, at 150 Bank street, is in a quiet locality, yet convenient to the center of the city, and but a moment's walk from the electric cars. 1 1 M _D#. SPARHAWK'S SANITARIUM. The Burlington Free Press. One-of the chief factors in the growth and prosperity of Burlington, has, beyond question, been its leading newspaper. It made its first bow to the public on the 15th of June, 1827, when Burlington, though then as now the largest town in Vermont, had a population of but 3,400, and a grand list of $27,000. It was founded by the late 1/uman Foote, T5sq. In his prospectus he announce* that the paper wovdd be "strictly Republican" in politics, and its first leader advocated the PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 187 encouragement of American industries by a protective tariff— a faith from which it has never departed. .From 1833 to 1846 its editor and proprietor was Henry B. Stacy, who erected the brick building on College street, which was the nucleus of the present Free Press establishment, and though much changed has been for nearly seventy years the home of the paper. In 1846, Gen. Dewitt Clinton Clarke purchased the Free Press, and in April, 1848, started a daily edition , in a small sheet of four pages, it being the first daily journal established in Vermont. In April, 1853, the paper passed to the ownership and editorial control of G. W. and G. G. Benedict, who put in the first steam power press run in Vermont, and greatly .enlarged and improved both the Daily and Weekly editions. In October, 1866, Prof. G. W. Benedict retired, in failing health, and G. G. and B. L,. Benedict became the proprietors and editors. On the 1st of June, 1868, the Free Press Association 1;ook possession, and the morning edition was established. Within that year the Burlington Daily and Weekly Times, the only for- midable rival of the Free Press, passed into the ownership of the Association, and was merged in the Free Press, G. G. Benedict remaining as editor-in-chief, a position still held by him. The history of the Free Press has been one of almost unin- terrupted growth and progress. In size .and amount of printed contents each edition has increased over twelve fold. Its sub- scribers number more thousands than they once did hundreds. Once a single floor, in the old building, sufficed for the printing and publishing office. Added stories and doubled depth have more than doubled the capacity of this building, and to it has been added a four story building of larger size, in the rear. Once and till 1853, a single hand-press was found sufficient for its needs. Now its editions are printed on a fast perfecting press which throws off eight thousand: folded sheets an hour, and half a dozen or more steam presses are kept busy in its book and job depart- r 88 PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. ment. An ample and well equipped bindery has been added to its facilities, and some of the largest and most widely circulated books printed in Vermont have issued from its publishing department. The Burlington Free Press has a national reputation. It had the honor to be included in the famous list of the one hundred best newspapers in the United States, prepared by Charles A. Dana, the veteran journalist and critic, and printed in the New York Sun, and it continues to deserve that high position. Growth of Burlington. At no previous period has Burling- ton experienced a larger or healthier growth than during the past year. The wide depression in business, felt almost everywhere else, has not been felt here. Several business blocks, many hand- some residences and many more comfortable but less costly dwell- ing houses have been erected within the year. All indications show a notable increase of permanent population. There is now within a radius of a mile and a half from the City Hall, including the manufacturing village of Winooski, a population estimated at from 18,000 to 19,000 souls. The city is providing for greater growth in the near future. The intake of the water- works has been extended three miles into the lake in 'order to give a source of supply not only pure but, like Caesar's wife, "above suspicion." A special appropriation of $100,000, to be used within five years for the improvement of the roadways of the streets and avenues, is in process of expenditure, under a system of scientific construction, recommended and superintended by able experts. Two of the most important additions to the college group of buildings, and to the facilities of the University, have been made during the past year through the munificence of two generous friends of the institution. The New Science Building is the gift of Dr. Edward H. Williams of Philadelphia. It stands between the main University PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON. 189 building and the Billings Library, fronting the College Park. The building has a front of '175 feet, and a depth of 50 feet, with a wing 53 by 49 feet extending to the east, and is the most massive and thoroughly built absolutely fire-proof structure of large dimensions in the State. The basement story is of Barre granite, rock face, laid in large blocks with squared and cut joints, and chiselled water-sheds and openings. Above the granite the walls ar-e of brick, with terra cotta trimmings. The girders, cross beams, frame of the roof, and, in fact, the entire framework of the building, are of steel, and the completed structure contains not much short of a million pounds of rolled and hammered steel. The front, with its high norman gables and arched recesses, cor- responds in general style with the main ; building, though more richly ornamented. The floors are of cement, the stairways of iron and steel, and there is no combustible material in the structure between the foundation and roof, except the window and door casings. The building contains lecture rooms (one of which seats two hundred students) , and laboratories for the departments of chemistry, physics and biology, which will be equipped with the latest and best fixtures and apparatus. The Converse Dormitory. A spacious new dormitory has also been erected by Mr. John H. Converse of Philadelphia. It stands to the east of the main building on the eastern line of the college quadrangle of the future, the northern line of which is marked by the College Commons, Mechanical building, Museum, and President's house, and the western by ,the buildings facing the College Green. The new dormitory consists of three connected buildings, each of four stories, enclosing on three sides a court open to the west. The material is blue Rutland marble, rock faced, with squared and cut joints. The interior is devoted to suites of college rooms, 40 in number, eaph comprising a stud}' I go PICTURESQUE BURLINGTON room and two bed rooms, which accommodate 80 students, and are as pleasant and attractive college rooms as can be found any- where. Bath rooms of the most improved construction, and a "Common Room," or spacious drawing-room, in which the stu- dents can meet and receive their friends, are among the attractive features of the new dormitory. The new buildings are heated by steam and lighted by elec- tricity. They have cost fully $250,000, will be ready for occu- pancy by the beginning of the next collegiate year, and are splen- did monuments of the public spirit and love of their native State and interest in liberal education of their generous donors. A new park and pleasure ground, with bathing houses, etc., has been laidout on the lake front, by private enterprise ; and these are but earnests of improvements and means of health, comfort and pleasure, which will add still more to the attractive- ness of Burlington in the soon coming years.