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Around 2:00 a.m. on October 27,
1832, a fire, which began in an adjoining barn, completely destroyed
Chauncey Goodrich's brick home at this location (1). Goodrich,
a local publisher and author of The Northern Fruit Culturalist,
or the Farmers' Guide to the Orchard and Fruit Garden, had
the house and its long rear wing, only the western side of which
is made of brick, rebuilt by the Morse brothers, local masons,
who also built the homes at 275, 289, and 301 College Street (2).
A Burlington Free Press notice indicated Goodrich's plan
to use more bricks than he intended to purchase suggesting bricks
from the burned structure may have been used in the construction
of the new residence, which was completed in 1834 (3).
Following the death of his wife, Arabelle Marsh Goodrich, Chauncey
Goodrich sold the house in 1835 (4). The new owner, Rev. Silas
Crane, operated an academy for young girls in the home, with the
rear wing used as a dormitory, until 1839, when Dr. Robert Moody
purchased the property (5). After Moody's death on October 17,
1841, the first of four generations of the Hagar family occupied
the house (6).
Luther M. Hagar, founder of Hagar Hardware Co. at 174 College
Street, purchased the home and moved his family to Burlington
from Shelburne in 1842 (7). After he died in 1896, his three
daughters, Sarah C., a librarian at the Fletcher Free Library,
Katherine A., and Maria E. spent the remainder of their lives
here (8). Following the 1923 death of Maria E. Hagar, the last
surviving daughter, the house was vacant for two years until Mary
Lyon Hagar, daughter of Luther's son, George I. Hagar, moved in;
at this time part of the structure was converted into apartments
(9). In 1940 Alice Hagar Schoffstall, Mary Lyon Hagar's niece,
moved into one of the apartments, and following Mary Lyon Hagar's
death in 1953, she retained control of the property (10). She
lived there until 1987, despite selling the property in 1972 to
W. Wyman and Grace N. Smith for $65,000 (11). In 1994 the Smith's
sold the home to James H. Wick & Donald B. Maddocks, the current
owners, for $225,000 (12).
(1) Burlington
Free Press, 2 Nov 1832, 2:2.
(2) David Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods
Vol. II (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society,
1991), 9.
(3) "To Builders: Chauncey Goodrich wishes to contract for
laying from 100 to 200 perches of Stone, to be done next summer
for cash when the work is completed. Also, for laying from 100
to 150M Brick and for purchasing 50M brick for cash when delivered
on his lot where his late dwelling house stood. Also, for building
a House and furnishing all the timber, according to a plan he
has of one. The house is to be framed and covered next summer,
and finished in June 1834" (Burlington Free Press,
15 Feb 1833, 3:6).
(4) Burlington Free Press, 5 Dec 1834, 3:3.
(5) Burlington Free Press, 17 April 1835, 3:4.
(6) Burlington Free Press, 14 Oct 1842, 3:5
(7) David Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods
Vol. II (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society,
1991), 10.
(8) Burlington Free Press, 14 Nov 1896, 5:5; Burlington
Free Press, 16 Nov 1896, 5:2; Burlington Free Press,
25 June 1908, 7:4.
(9) Burlington and Winooski Directory (Springfield, MA:
H. A. Manning Co., 1925), 150.
(10) Burlington, Winooski, and Essex Junction Directory
(Springfield, MA: H. A. Manning Co., 1940), 165; Land Records
of the Town of Burlington, Vermont, August 7, 1953, vol. 140,
p. 433.
(11) Land Records of the Town of Burlington, Vermont, December
4, 1972, vol. 215, p. 85.
(12) Land Records of the Town of Burlington, Vermont, May 11,
1994, vol. 507, p. 291.