Burlington 1877

What still stands from between 1869 and 1877 in Burlington, Vermont?

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78 North Street

 

            The structure is a south facing, two-story, gable front three by four bay building that has survived many changes.  The current structure had replaced an earlier structure on the property historically shared with 82 North Street.  There have been extensive additions to the rear of the structure, as well as treatments and replaced windows on the primary facade.  The clapboard siding and slate shingle roof have survived the changes over the years.

            There seems to be some discrepancy between the National Register nomination [1] and the historic survey [2] .  The survey states that the structure is one of three bungalows on the street built in 1922 for Albert Smith.  It is clear that this is not the same structure as described in the National Register nomination, # 26, Pete's Superior Ice Cream Shop.  The facade of the structure has been altered and the building probably had an offset front entrance where the plate glass window replaced the ice cream take-out window.

            The structure was a grocery, a liquer store, a shoe shop, a beer garden, a barbershop, an ice cream shop and convenience store as it remains today [3] .  The propery owner in 1869 [4] was Hayes, but it is not clear which Hayes that appears in the city directory [5] , but it appears that the structure that stood on the north east corner of North Street and Chestnut Street, now Park Street was replaced by two structures [6] by 1877.  The city directories suggest that these structures were standing on this property were built around 1871 [7] .  The Verrans ran a grocery at this site and lived next door until after 1902 [8] .  Sometime during this period, the family name was changed to DeVerennes, and other various spellings, and Oliver DeVerennes was succeeded by his son Oliver Jr.  After the DeVerennes left the property, the shop changed as well as the residents of the apartment above the store.

            The store's current name is taken from the previous owner, Peter Colompos, who ran the ice cream shop from the 1920s past the 1950s [9] .  The shop has remained a fixture in the neighborhood and seems that it will for years to come.


[1] North Street Historic District Nomination

[2] Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey

[3] North Street Historic District Nomination #26

[4] 1869 Beers Atlas Map

[5] Burlington City Directory 1869-70

[6] 1869 Beers Atlas Map, 1877 Birds Eye View Map, 1890 Hopkins Map

[7] Burlington City Directories 1871-72, 1873-74

[8] Burlington City Directories 1871-72, 1873-74, 1875-76, 1877-78, 1879-80, 1881-83, 1884-85, 1890, 1902

[9] Burlington City Directories 1907, 1912, 1932, 1952

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 A research project of the
University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program
HP 206 researching Historic Structures and Sites - Prof. Thomas Visser
in cooperation with the UVM Bailey-Howe Library