The Burlington 1890 project was undertaken by a group of first year Historic Preservation graduate students at the University of Vermont. Every fall, first year students take HP 206: Researching Historic Structures and Sites, taught by Professor Tom Visser. In previous years, students have examined an 1830 map of Burlington, the 1869 Beers Atlas map of Burlington, and the 1877 Birds’ Eye View of Burlington. The purpose of each of these projects was to discover what structures remained in Burlington that could be seen on the respective maps.
The citation for the 1890 map is: G. M. Hopkins, C.E., Map of the City of Burlington Vermont From official Records, Private plans and Actual Surveys. Philadelphia, PA: Hopkins, 1890.
The 1890 Hopkins map was divided into city sections, or neighborhoods, and divided between sixteen first year students. This map was then compared to the 1877 Birds’ Eye map, as well as research done by previous classes, and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps from the twentieth century. Once the numbers of buildings had been decreased using this method, archival research commenced. This involved using the many volumes of Burlington City Directories located in Special Collections of the University of Vermont Bailey-Howe Library, as well as census records, historic photographs, and secondary sources.
The results are depicted on the following pages. Approximately 500 buildings were discovered through this research.
Our thanks go out to the staff of Special Collections at the Bailey-Howe Library at the University of Vermont, the template team who created the layout for the website, and Professor Visser.