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University Green Area Heritage StudyHistoric Burlington Research Project - HP 206Historic Preservation Program - University of Vermont |
31 South Prospect StreetThe Farrand-Benedict House
The Benedict House, located at 31 South Prospect Street facing the University of Vermont Green, was home to a number of influential men in Burlington throughout the Nineteenth Century. Judge Daniel Farrand came to Burlington after a failed congressional campaign in Bellows Falls, Vermont and built the Federal style home in 1809. [1] Judge Farrand remained heavily involved in politics throughout his career in Burlington serving as a Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1798-99 and later serving a two -year term as a Vermont Supreme Court Judge in 1813. [2] His influential status can be seen in an 1817 speech given by United States President James Monroe for which Farrand personally addressed Mr. Monroe on behalf of the people of Burlington, and was chosen to formally introduce the President to the public in July of that year. The Farrand family remained at the residence until 1829 when it was sold to George Wyllys Benedict in 1829. [3]
George W. Benedict was also a very active businessman and member of the Republican Party within the city and state. After resigning from the University in 1847 after more than two decades of service, Benedict formed a business partnership with Ezra Cornell who would later found Cornell University, together they started the Vermont Boston Telegram Line. The first of its kind in the area, Vermont Boston Telegram had lines extending to Montpelier, Montreal, New York and the state of New Hampshire. [9]
“ In August 1847 Professor George W. Benedict resigned his position as Professor....... He had stood by the smoldering ashes of the first college building, He had been the most active and energetic man in complete the new. He was teacher, he was agent, he was superintendent.......He was appointed treasurer, and brought light out of darkness and order out of confusion. He planned in a comprehensive manner for the University and he spent time and money and strength, without stint, for its interests. Grateful feelings are due to him from every alumnus and from every friend of education in the state.” [11] In 1857 G.W. Benedict received a Doctorate of Law from the University and practiced law alongside his son George G. Benedict at an office on Tuttle Street in downtown Burlington. [12] George Wyllys Benedict remained a prominent figure at the university and within the City of Burlington throughout the remainder of this life. George
Greenville Benedict was born in Burlington as the second son of
31 South Prospect Street remained in the Benedict family for over a century before the University of Vermont acquired it in the 1934. [24] The house was later divided into student housing and also was the location of the History Department for a number of years, later being used for administrative offices. [25] Over the years many changes to the interior floor plan have occurred, rooms have been divided and hallways made narrower, making it much more difficult to determine what areas are characteristic of the original Federal Style structure. Today the Farrand-Benedict house is home to the University of Vermont Sociology Department, where it is used for classroom purposes as well as offices for the department's staff. Written by Lisa Crompton
[1]
J. F. Hills, University of Vermont
Buildings: 1800-1847 (J. F. Hills papers special collections at University
of Vermont Library), 94.
[2]
Prentiss C. Dodge, Encyclopedia: Vermont
Biography, Vol. 1 (Burlington: Ullerly Publishing Company, 1912), 83.
[3]
Hills, University of Vermont Buildings:
1800-1847, 94.
[4]
Robert V. Daniels, The University of
Vermont: The First Two Hundred Years (New York), 388.
[5]
David Blow, Historic Guide To Burlington
Neighborhoods (Chittenden County Historical Society: Burlington Free Press,
1991), 168.
[6]
Hills, University of Vermont Buildings:
1800-1847, 94.
[7]
Frank Smallwood, The University of Vermont Presidents: Two
Centuries of Leadership, (Burlington: University of Vermont, 1997), 16.
[8]
Daniels, The University of Vermont: The
First Two Hundred Years, 41.
[9]
Services In Remembrance of Joseph Torrey,
D.D., and George Wyllys Benedict Benedict, LL. D,: Professors in The University
of Vermont (Burlington: Burlington Free Press Steam Book,1874. Found at
Special Collections UVM Library), 38.
[10]
Daniels,The University of Vermont: The
First Two Hundred Years, 14.
[11]
Services In Remembrance of Joseph Torrey,
D.D., and George Wyllys Benedict Benedict, LL. D,: Professors in The University
of Vermont, 37-38.
[12]
Burlington City Directories 1865-66 (Burlington Free Press,1865), 45.
[13]
Richard Herndon, Men of Progress:
Biographical Sketches and Portraits of leader in Business and Professional Life
in The State of Vermont (New England Magazine, 1898), 187-88.
[14]
Hiram Carlton, Genealogical and Family
history of the State of Vermont :V.1 (New York: The Lewis Publishing Company,1903), 246.
[15]
Hiram Carlton, Genealogical and Family
history of the State of Vermont :V.1, 245-246.
[16]
Richard Herndon, Men of Progress:
Biographical Sketches and Portraits of leader in Business and Professional Life
in The State of Vermont, 187-88.
[17]
Henry Marvin Benedict, Genealogy of the
Benedict's in America: vol. 1, compiler Elwyn Ellsworth Benedict (Albany:
Joel Munsell Publications 1870, 1969), 214.
[18]
Burlington City Directory and Business
Advertiser: July 1866 to July 1867 (Burlington
Free Press, 1877), 5.
[19]
Burlington City Directory and Business
Advertiser 1873 (Burlington Free Press, 1873), X, XI.
[20]
Burlington City Directory and Business
Advertiser: July 1866 to July 1867 (Vermont:
Hiram S. Hart: 1866), 39.
[21]
L. E. Chittenden, Statue of Ethan Allen (Burlington: Burlington Free Press
Print,1874), 5-6.
[22]
George Grenville Benedict,Vermont in the
Civil War (Burlington: Burlington Free Press Association, 1888)
[23]
Dodge, Encyclopedia: Vermont Biography,
Vol. 1, 246.
[24]
Robert B. Michaud, Salute To Burlington,
Vermont (Montpelier: Capital City Press), 149-150.
[25]
Burlington City Directory 1984 (Vermont: H.A. Manning Co. Bellows Falls, 1984), 475.
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