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Split of Shelburne Street and South Willard Street Looking North UTM 18 0642568E, 4924840N |
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| Louis McAllister took this photograph in 1937. We face north on Shelburne Road and view its intersection with South Willard Street and Ledge Road to the right and Locust Street to the left. McAllister took this photograph to show the completion of work on the Rotary Traffic Circle at the intersection in 1937. Burlington’s Annual Report from that year states the circle was needed to “slow traffic at this intersection and keep traffic in line.” [1] Contrasting with earlier views, the silent policeman is gone and a traffic circle has been added with arrows directing cars right. Painted lines in the road along with the arrows helped to direct vehicles.
In the center of the picture at #44 Shelburne Street is the South End Service Station, a Texaco gas station built in 1936 and run by Gardner G. Shufeldt. [2] Across South Willard Street to the right is #616 South Willard Street. Its porch crowds the street, no doubt due to road-widening projects, which encroached upon the lot. Built before 1900 it served between 1923 and 1927 as the Bittersweet Tea Room, owned and operated by Margaret L. H. Smith (Mrs. Wadsworth Ramsay Smith). [3] She and her husband bought the property when they first moved to Burlington. A well-known Burlington resident, she was also an author and real estate broker. In 1927 she moved the Tea House to 151 South Prospect Street where she remained until 1979 when she died at the age of 94. [4] In 1937 when this picture was taken however, #616 was vacant. [5] At the far right of the frame, is the Tydol sign of #82 Shelburne Road. The gas station replaced an older house on the site visible on the Sanborn Insurance Map of 1919. [6] It is likely that the gas station was constructed around 1930 when the ownership changed hands. In 1937 J. P. Smith owned the gas station. [7][1] Burlington City Annual Report, 1937. p. 187. |
In 2006, this intersection has a much different atmosphere. Instead of elms, large streetlight poles tower over the streets a buildings, a poor replacement for the rich canopy of leaves provided by the elms. Though barely visible, the Texaco gas station at #44 Shelburne Road no longer stands. Instead we see the modern rotary circle with its raised curb. A large metal sign with “Burlington Welcome to Downtown Waterfront” directs drivers north towards the downtown/waterfront area of Burlington. Shrubby trees have replaced the elms and they obscure our view of the present building, a Century 21 Real Estate Office opened in 1980. [8]
Apparently a popular site for gas stations, the house at #616 South Willard Street has also disappeared to make room for a gas station. The house was demolished in the late thirties and a Shell gas station erected at the site in 1940. The small lawn in front of the house was also replaced by pavement. The Shell gas station went through several owners and names before becoming the Rotary Mobile in 1988. [9] The curbing along the right side of Shelburne Road in front of #82 remains as it was in 1937. However, while it has remained a gas station, it has changed names and hands several times since McAllister took his photograph, and it is currently the Rotary Gulf Station.[8] City Directory, 1980. |
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Historic Burlington Project Depression Era Streetscapes: Old North End | Burlington 1890 | Burlington 1877 | Burlington 1869 | Burlington 1853 | Burlington 1830 Produced by University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program graduate students in HP 206 Researching Historic Structures and Sites - Prof. Thomas Visser - in collaboration with UVM Landscape Change Program Historic images courtesy of University of Vermont Library Special Collections, Louis L. McAllister Photograph Collection |
