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Shelburne Road Looking North from Flynn Avenue UTM 18 0642523E, 4924038N |
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| On April 27, 1931 Louis McAllister stood in the middle of Shelburne Road to take this photograph. We look north towards the city, standing just to the north of the intersection of Shelburne Road with Flynn Avenue. In 1931, the urban part of Burlington had not yet spread south along US Route 7 (Shelburne Road). The scene pictured here, is one of a wide country highway, lined with large elm trees on one side, and open fields on the other.
The road in 1931 had no finished curbing and a dirt path on the left served as a sidewalk. According to the City Directory, the fields to the left were used as “Circus Grounds.” [1] To the right, power lines and a fire hydrant are clues that we are not far from the city. In the distance where the road dips is a spot that was known as “Englesby Ravine.” [2] Englesby Brook crosses the road at this spot. Just north of the Ravine on the left #281 Shelburne Road is visible. The main house has a large gambrel roof gable facing south with an enclosed first storey porch lined with windows across the south side. Several outbuildings are visible behind the house and one enormous pine tree stands out at the edge of empty fields to the south of the house. The house was built around 1916 and the first resident listed in the Burlington City Directory was Henry Bacon a contractor and builder. His home and business were both located at this address between 1917 and 1944, accounting for the outbuildings visible behind the main house. [3][1] Burlington City Directory, 1931 (Burlington: H. A. Manning Co., 1916-1986). |
Today, it is hard to imagine that this image was taken from the same spot McAllister was standing in 1931. The mighty elms on the right have vanished and on the left, the empty field is now full of buildings and pavement. The road has been widened, and new curbing, sidewalks and a traffic light where Prospect Parkway (opened in 1949) intersects Shelburne Road have been added. While no longer visible, #281 Shelburne Road still stands today. However, most of the outbuildings that once stood behind the main house, save a garage are now gone. The house remains a private residence.
What is more striking, are the things that now obscure this house from our view. A line of tall trees now stands along the south side of the property and what was Englesby Ravine has been filled and paved at the left side of the street. At #295 a Chinese Restaurant, previously a Kentucky Fried Chicken built in the mid-seventies stands next door to #281. [4] Further south stand a gas and a Subaru dealership. Across the street, the massive concrete office building of Hickock and Boardman (out of frame) also built in the mid-seventies [5] now stands. Small shrub trees now line the street in front of this office building. [4] City Directory, 1976. |
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Historic Burlington Project Depression Era Streetscapes: Old North End | Burlington 1890 | Burlington 1877 | Burlington 1869 | Burlington 1853 | Burlington 1830 Produced by University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program graduate students in HP 206 Researching Historic Structures and Sites - Prof. Thomas Visser - in collaboration with UVM Landscape Change Program Historic images courtesy of University of Vermont Library Special Collections, Louis L. McAllister Photograph Collection |
