The Burlington Historic Sites and Structures Survey notes that 190-194 College Street, originally Baxter's Block, with its large cornice and Italianate cast iron lintels, was built in 1859, for Carlos Baxter (1). However, in a February 19, 1868 article in the Burlington Free Press commenting on the amount of construction that occurred in Burlington during 1867, it is mentioned that "Baxter's new block of stores" was completed in 1867 at a cost of $12,000 (2). The arch top windows, the ornamental window hoods and cornice-line brackets of the then highly fashionable Italianate style also support the later 1867 construction date. Baxter was a Burlington attorney and a "collector of Internal Revenue in Burlington" (3). In the 1860s and 1870s, J.S. Pierce & Son ran a grocery store in the building; although during the 1870s, the son, A.G. Pierce, took and transformed it into a store more for agricultural tools, machinery, and seed. J.P. Middlebrook & Sons bought the store in 1905, and continued to operate it into the 1930s. Since that time, it has remained in commercial use, hosting a variety of businesses on the first floor, with apartments above. It currently houses the Vermont Color Photo Lab. Its exterior has survived the last century and a half quite well. The first floor facade has been changed and updated through the years, but the upper floors retain much of their original character.

198 College Street is a fine example of a brick Italianate commercial block, with decorative cornice, and recessed arches above the windows. Built by J.P. Beach to house his bakery (4), its facade has survived well into the twenty-first century. Beach's original bakery, located west of Church Street, burned on the afternoon of April 3, 1867 (5), destroying with it part of the building owned by Catlin and Gordon that they had just finished constructing for their lumber and mill business (6). The fire is believed to have started in one of the chimneys, probably an oven chimney, as the newspaper article describing the new bakery on College Street made special note of the inch thick brick walls that encased the oven chimneys(7). Less than a year after his business was lost, he opened an arguably bigger and better establishment on College Street, just east of Church Street at a cost of $6,000 (8). He used parts of an existing building, but remodeled and added to it to the extant that it was considered then to be a new building entirely (9). He later remodeled the facade in 1885, which is what can be seen today (10). The Burlington Historic Sites and Structures Survey mentioned that A. B. Fisher may have been responsible for the building's design and construction. In 1896, Beach sold the business to the N.Y. Biscuit Co., which became the National Biscuit Co. in 1898. This later became Nabisco, who operated it until the 1920s. Though they did not use it after the 1920s, Nabisco continued to own the building until 1940s (11). Since that time, it has been modified to house a variety of business on the first floor, with apartments and offices above. It currently is the home of Downtown Discs, a music store.

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(1) Burlington Historic Sites and Structures Survey, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Chittenden County, Burlington, Vermont, 1977.
(2) "Growth of Burlington, Amount of Building in 1867," Burlington Daily Free Press, February 19, 1868, page 4, column 2.
(3) Burlington City Directories.
(4) Burlington Historic Sites and Structures Survey, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Chittenden County, Burlington, Vermont, 1977.
(5) "Socrates Beach's bakery in Burlington burned April 3," Burlington Daily Free Press, April 3, 1867, page 4, column 1.
(6) Ibid.
(7) "Beach's New Bakery," Burlington Free Press, January 7, 1868, page 4, column 1.
(8) "Growth of Burlington, Amount of Building in 1867," Burlington Daily Free Press, February 19, 1868, page 4, column 2.
(9) "Beach's New Bakery," Burlington Daily Free Press, January 7, 1868, page 4, column 1.
(10) Burlington Historic Sites and Structures Survey, Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Chittenden County, Burlington, Vermont, 1977.
(11) Ibid.