"College St, from City Hall Park, Burlington VT." Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Vermont.
College Street, Burlington VT view of northwest corner of City Hall Park. Taken by Samantha Ford on November 11, 2012.
B. Turk & Brothers Clothing Company
This postcard photo provides a much clearer view of the buildings on this block of College Street. The Burlington Savings Bank is located on the left end, next to it is the T. S. Peck Insurance Company. The building in between Turk's and the Merchants Bank seems to be vacant and the Burlington city directories confirm this. Today Merchants Bank has expanded their offices to include the vacant building. One of the most significant differences between the photos is the presence of the horse and carriage sitting outside Turk's and the cars lining the street in the modern image. The power lines seen running through City Hall Park in the 1907 postcard photo are also absent from the present day image.
B. Turk & Brothers was a clothing company operated by Bennett Turk and his brother Louis. An ad appearing in the 1895 Burlington City Directory describes the business as "Carrying the finest assortment of imported English, Scotch, French and German goods, and being practical tailors, our work is superior to any other in the city." They also advertise that they offer "Ready-made clothing, furnishing goods, hats, trunks and merchant tailoring."(1) Turks operated in this space until about 1938, when their listing disappears from the city directories. The building Turk's was located in burned down on January 2, 1946.(2)
Currently this space is occupied by a modern building which houses the offices for the Discover Jazz Festival and the Northfield Savings Bank.
1. City of Burlington Directory, 1895.
2. Charles E. Allen, About Burlington Vermont (Burlington, VT: Hobart J. Shanley & Company, 1905), 88-90.
