125-141 Manhattan Drive, Photo by Louis McAllister in 1938

Coordinates: 18T 0641457 UTM 4927561

This photo was taken ten moths before the last photo taken at Ward Street. This one was taken from the middle of the road, and shows the ravine in a larger context, as well as the houses along Manhattan as they curve into the distance. McAllister caught the construction workers digging, hauling, and using a pickaxe. In the background, one can barely make out a billboard. This photo features 125-127, 135, and 141 North Bend.

            125-127 North Bend is located at the intersection of three streets: Ward, Pitkin, and North Bend. The city directory first listed Joseph C. Barney living at this home in 1899.[1] When it appeared on the 1906 Sanborn, it was labeled as 81 Ward Street. It wasn’t until 1922 that the home was switched over to its current address of 125-127.[2] When the wrap around porch was added in the 1910’s, it echoed the craftsmen era with the four-sided tapered columns.

The history of 135 and 141 are linked because they are architectural twins. They were both built in 1912 for Cornelius Ashline, a local farmer.[3] He resided in both homes but at different times. Ashline was listed at 141 in 1912, but switched to 135 in 1914. He was not listed in either residence in 1915, but returned to 135 in 1916. After that, there was a steady flow of renters, with a few intermittent years where the properties were left vacant. The two story gable front homes were also unique in the building materials compared to the other houses in the area. The exterior walls were constructed with concrete blocks, smoothed with stucco, and then brick was applied under the eaves. These homes are easily identified in several of the October 1938 McAllister photos. The Burlington Annual report makes interesting remark about this project, “We were unfortunate enough to experience a sleet storm after having the crushed stone in place ready for penetration.”[4]

1. Burlington City Directory Including Winooski & South Burlington (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1899).

2. Burlington and Winooski, Vermont Directory (Springfield, Mass: H.A. Manning Co., 1922).

3. Burlington City Directory Including Winooski & South Burlington (Burlington: L.P. Waite & Co., 1913).

4. Seventy-Fourth Report of the City of Burlington, Vermont (Burlington: Free Press Printing, 1939) 169.

125-141 Manhattan Drive, Photo by Julie Weisgerber in 2005

Today the view of the ravine is obstructed from view. The billboard is gone and replaced with a house. 125-127 Manhattan Drive is now covered in siding. The wrap around porch had been enclosed on the second story, and the half wall with columns on the first story has been replaced by an open railing. Also the gable window had been removed. The twin houses stand today identical as ever. Any changes are hard to notice. The turned woodwork on the porch looks the same. The protruding brickwork on the water table has peeling white paint to suggest that someone recently painted it to match the trim.