1. COLCHESTER AVENUE AT CORNER OF EAST AVENUE

This wide-angle shot is typical of so many of Louis L. McAllister’s photographs of Burlington streets. Taken from the middle of the roadway, with the vanishing point nearly dead in the center of the image, structures are visible or partly visible along the sides of the streets. The viewpoint here is eastward along Colchester Avenue at the intersection of East Avenue. 

During the early autumn of 1929, the Burlington Street Department completed  road improvements along the length of Colchester Avenue from East Avenue to the city limits at the Winooski Bridge.  Here the road has been widened and graded, and new curbing and gutters installed.  It appears that the top coat of asphalt paving has been applied recently.

On the south side of the street, parts of the buildings at 209, 211 and 221 Colchester Avenue are visible. A bay window on the ground floor and bands of colored shingles in the extended gable are typical of the Queen Anne style of the house at number 209. The facade of number 211 is nearly completely obscured behind a large tree, but sections of the north and west elevations of number 221 can be made out.  According to David J. Blow, this building was constructed before 1834 and served as the place of worship for the First Baptist Church of Burlington from 1834 to 1842.[1]

The north elevations of the three structures at 252, 254 and 256 Colchester Avenue are visible in the distance beyond a large lawn.  In the 1929 City Directory, a grocer is listed as one of the occupants of number 252.[2]

   [1] David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, Vol. 2 (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 78.

   [2]  Burlington City Directory (1929).

1. COLCHESTER AVENUE AT CORNER OF EAST AVENUE

October 11, 2005

(18T 0644710   UTM 4927010)

Traffic signal lights have been installed at this intersection and the mailbox has been removed where a curb has been cut since the McAllister photograph was taken in 1929. Several of the large deciduous trees, already mature in the older image, still provide shade for the homes and lawns in the neighborhood.

The new sidewalk and curbs constructed in 1929 are little changed.  A row of spruce trees has been planted on the lawn of the former Trinity College for Women (founded in the 1920s), now part of the UVM campus.[1]

  [1] More research could be conducted to document 252 to 256 Colchester Avenue. The 1869 Beers map shows the property with one structure on it, listed as the dwelling of a Mrs. Shuttuck.  Reverend Alonzo A. Davis is listed as the occupant in the 1905 City Directory. A second building, likely a carriage house or barn, appears on the early Sandborn Insurance maps, and a third structure was built between the two older buildings before 1926.  Trinity College eventually acquired the property, now called the Cottages on the UVM Trinity Campus.