| As a continuation of the streets improvement projects of the 1930s, Home Avenue was lined with sewers in 1934. The two-story house with the prominent front porch located on the north side of the street (right) is #162/164 Home Avenue. At the time of this photo this duplex was home to Paul A. Moody, a professor at UVM and John Flambert, a teacher at JHS.(1) The character of the Ferguson & Scarff Addition was born out of residents just like Flambert and Moody, making it a middle-class “everyman’s” neighborhood.
The area on the south side (left) can barely be seen through the trees and telephone poles already by 1934, signaling that urban planning and development has begun spreading from the cores of the city outwards.
This sewer project was just one of many meant to improve the Addition which in turn would continue aiding its rapid growth, as city reports often make note that this was the fastest growing area at this time. (2)
(1) Manning's Burlington & Winooski Directory for years 1934 (Springfield H.A. Manning Co).
(2) 73rd Report of the City of Burlington, Vermont 1938 (Burlington: Free Press Printing Co.), p169.
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Today, #164/162 Home Avenue is just as prominent on the streetscape as it was almost 70 years ago. However, many other things have changed. Houses now fill the once wide-open fields on the south (left) side of the street and on a large plot of land almost directly behind these homes lies the Shelburne Road Plaza, which contains several retail stores and a Price Chopper grocery store.
Home Avenue is a very busy street and traffic is constant primarily because it serves as a connector between this plaza, Shelburne Road where it is situated, and the very busy Pine Street. The streetscape has changed dramatically with the addition of the houses on the south (left) side of the street, mainly in the 1930s to late 1940s.(1) The wide-open farmlands are now packed with single-family homes, a sure sign of the suburban growth of the time period. However, the growth of the trees on both sides of the street does give the streetscape quite a welcoming feel.
(3) 1930-1950 Manning's Burlington & Winooski Directory for years 1930-1950 (Springfield H.A. Manning Co). |
