4. STREET DEPARTMENT CREW IN FRONT OF 339 COLCHESTER AVENUE

October 8, 1929

The façade of 339 Colchester Avenue is visible in this photograph. This vernacular brick, Greek Revival style house is one of the oldest in the neighborhood, built around 1853 by Thaddeus Fletcher. In 1882 it was sold to the Green Mount Cemetery Association as a house for the cemetery sexton. From 1919 until 1961 it was the home and veterinary office of H. Lee Mills.[1]

This image was published in the Annual Report of the City of Burlington in 1929 with the following caption:

"Colchester Avenue at entrance to Green Mount Cemetery. Note the newly constructed concrete base in the foreground with two-inch shoulders at gutters. This picture shows asphalt gang at work laying new two-inch ‘Stone-Filled-Sheet-Asphalt’-wearing surface on concrete base."[2]

In 1929, George C. Stanley was both the City Engineer and the Superintendent of Streets. He was hired by the city as superintendent in the early 1920s and succeeded Dix as Engineer a few years later. He worked for the city until retiring in 1945.[3] He wrote extensive and detailed accounts of street department and city engineering works for the annual reports during these years. It may have been Stanley who commissioned Louis L. McAllister to photograph the road work being undertaken by the city.

(above)

A brief description from the Annual Report of the City of Burlington and a technical drawing by George C. Stanley, Superintendent of Streets and City Engineer describing the Street Department’s road construction work in 1929.

[1] David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, Vol. 2 (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 82.

[2] Annual Report of the City of Burlington, (1929), 236.

[3] Annual Reports, (1920-1945).

4. 339 COLCHESTER AVENUE

October 11, 2005

(18T 0644059   UTM 4927242)

Apart from the storm door and simple entry porch which conceals the thick granite door lintel, this building has been very well preserved. A section of porch on the one-story ell attached to the main block is visible on the right in both images and appears not to have been altered in any significant way. From 1962 until 1993, Judge Edward J. Costello and his family owned and occupied the residence, now known as the Walker/Costello House. He served as chief justice of the District Court system for many years, among other appointments. The state court building on Cherry Street was named in his honor in 1994.[1]

[1] David J. Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods, Vol. 2 (Burlington: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 82-83.