(The Comprehensive Community Survey)

Grandview Farm, ca. 1890 photograph

Courtesy Burlington Historical Commission

Massachusetts Historical Commission

Burlington Historical Commission

Copyright © 1999 Town of Burlington. All rights reserved.

The Comprehensive Community Survey of Burlington was sponsored by the Burlington Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission and undertaken by John V. Goff of Historic Preservation & Design primarily to better document Burlington’s architectural heritage during the community’s 200th anniversary year. The project was additionally forwarded to complete Phase I of an earlier preservation survey process initiated in the 1980s.

The philosophy behind undertaking architectural surveys of this type holds that only when one best understands—at large scale—what resources exist within a community, is it possible to work intelligently to utilize them in the best possible manner. For example, only when the resources and older buildings have been studied as a group—is it possible to determine which resource likely represents the oldest or most significant in town. Only when resources have been looked at collectively, is it possible to identify the specific themes which may be uniquely important to understand the development and identity of each place. Only when resources have been looked at collectively, can one promote new heritage tourism through new linkage and tours. In similar fashion, community preservation prioritizing and budgeting also requires a comparative and broad scale approach to best determine local needs and conservation / preservation options.

The 1998-99 Burlington Comprehensive Community Survey owes its primary conception and existence to the introduction and refinement of three U.S. preservation laws and regulations passed in the 20th century. In 1935, responding to both "Colonial" and historical sentiments associated with the Colonial Revival, as well as the need to counteract demolition of significant landmarks to accommodate highways, parking lots and other "improvements," the National Historic Sites Act was passed authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to acquire national historic sites and to designate them as National Historic Landmarks. By 1966, it became recognized that a major oversight of the 1935 Act was that it failed to protect historic properties important at the Local and State levels. Consequently, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 was passed to provide for new evaluations of historic properties based upon National, State and Local significance. The 1966 Act further established the National Register of Historic Properties to list and protect the most significant historic resources in the United States. The 1966 Act further established 50 State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) chartered with allocating state funds to promote a systematic study and survey process for historic buildings and resources. . In Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) was established in Boston to serve as this state’s SHPO and chief point of coordination of preservation surveys in the Commonwealth.

Historic preservation thus "came of age" in the United States primarily in the 1960s. The new preservation movement responded both to the new National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as well as to examples of preserved communities in several New England cities which demonstrated that historic preservation could more effectively renew blighted neighborhoods and communities than Urban Renewal. After World War II, the Federal Government adopted Urban Renewal as a "clear it and they will rebuild better than before"

philosophy of urban improvement. However, Urban Renewal often caused more problems than it solved. During the 1950s, one of the nation’s best examples of "Urban Renewal Gone Wrong" was played out in Boston’s West End. The massive clearing and demolition of buildings and street patterns in Boston’s West End served not only to dislocate hundreds of Boston residents, and demolish beloved landmarks and people’s homes—but also to raise major questions about the wisdom of Urban Renewal as a renewal strategy. At the local level, residents and building owners in nearby urban centers—e.g. Providence, RI and Portsmouth, NH—began to promote renovation and restoration as alternate means to achieving urban renewal. Providence’s Benefit Street Neighborhood and Portsmouth’s "Strawberry Banke" were early preservation success stories which proved the viability of historic preservation as an alternate strategy for reversing urban blight. Historic research, building history documentation, preservation survey, preservation planning, carpentry and fresh paint proved to be more effective tools for urban renewal than the wrecking ball, bulldozer, and massive new construction.

In Burlington, the earliest preservation triumph which was celebrated locally was the 1960s-campaign to Save the West School, pushed forward by Charles Casassa. Between 1963 and 1966, Mr. Casassa successfully restored the one room school house in Havenville, and turned control of the site over to the newly formed Burlington Historical Commission.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of subsequent Executive Orders and Acts further extended and refined the process by which properties and communities were to be surveyed in the U.S. Executive Order 11593, passed in 1971 under the title "Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment" required federal agencies to develop procedures for protecting federally owned historic properties. Later, between 1974 and 1986 additional Acts were passed at the Federal level including five Acts which allowed for investment tax credits to be taken for restoring certain properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The investment tax credit (or ITC) developments in the 1980s caused many American communities to look with renewed appreciation at historic structures and resources inherited from past generations. This re-focus on historic resources in the 1970s and ‘80s paralleled, and in part responded to special historical projects associated with the celebration of the Nation’s Bicentennial.

In Burlington, the most noteworthy preservation accomplishment which accompanied the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial was John E. Fogelberg’s compilation and publication of Burlington: Part of A Greater Chronicle. Fogelberg’s town history covered the entire span from Settlement through the 20th Century, and remains the most thorough description of the town, lands, buildings, people, and events which characterized Burlington over the years.

As the celebratory fervor associated with the Nation’s Bicentennial receded—and as Fogelberg’s new history was read locally by more and more residents, people in Burlington began to question whether the town was doing enough to protect its beloved landmarks and historic resources. In December, 1979, Jonathan Fried penned a column for the local paper which asked, "Is the Town neglecting old buildings?" In Fried’s article, MHC preservation planner Liz Durfee was quoted as saying "A lot can be done, particularly in a town like Burlington which is subject to so much development." Durfee urged the BHC to take a more aggressive role in preservation survey and planning, even though an earlier 1974 proposal to create a local historic district stretching between the Marion Tavern and Old Town Burial Ground was

defeated, due to new intrusions. Many old buildings continued to be demolished for new development, while local preservation planning remained essentially "inactive."

Responding to these new crises and needs, between April and December 1981, James B. Ashworth and John E. Fogelberg of the Burlington Historical Commission commenced the first systematic preservation survey of historical resources in Burlington. New MHC "Form B-Building" and "Form E-Burial Grounds" survey forms were filled out by Ashworth and Fogelberg documenting the history, architectural construction, and significance of a number of local landmarks, including the circa 1666 Francis Wyman House on Francis Wyman Road, the circa 1794 West School on Bedford Street, the 18th and 19th century Marion Tavern at 59 Center Street, and the 1736-1892 Old Burying Ground on Bedford Street.

By 1988, the Burlington Historical Commission, chaired by Mrs. Pauline Keans, worked to further extend the early comprehensive survey process initiated by Ashworth and Fogelberg. The MHC and BHC allocated matching funds to finance a new Comprehensive Survey, to be compiled by one Matthew Kirkstead. However, the 1988 survey was never completed, due to a series of problems. One of the key problems of the 1988 survey may simply have been that it was too ambitious. Records have been found indicating that some 300 or more properties were to be surveyed, representing a formidable challenge in a community where historical records—especially documenting building dates and construction changes—were still somewhat scant. It appears that as a consequence of survey overambition, the 1988 survey was never completed. The Town remained without a comprehensive survey, and was handicapped by that loss for another ten years.

Beginning in the 1990s the Burlington Historical Commission became re-energized, due in large part to the contributions of Town Administrator David Owen, and the efforts of new BHC Commissioners, Norman Biggart and Antoinette (Toni) Faria. Under Biggart’s and Faria’s direction, a new effort to compile a preservation survey was begun in late 1997 and early 1998. On January 12, 1998, the Burlington Selectmen, acting upon recommendation of the BHC, approved $5,000 to assist the Commission "to obtain Preservation Services to upgrade and complete the inventory of Historical Assets." Matched by a $5,000 Planning and Survey grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC), a new $10,000 study of Burlington’s historic resources was initiated.

Following the approval of Town and State funds to finance a new phase of the Survey, a Request for Proposals for professional planning services was prepared with MHC guidance during the Spring, and distributed in July, 1998. Proposals were received in August, and potential survey Coordinators interviewed that same month. In September, Historic Preservation & Design (HPD) of Salem, Massachusetts was selected to coordinate the new Survey. HPD is a preservation planning and architectural firm located on Boston’s North Shore which was already engaged restoring the Francis Wyman House, the oldest known architectural landmark in Burlington. HPD’s primary interest in submitting a new Proposal was to learn more about Burlington’s architectural history and evolution in general, in order to inform the design of up-to-date museum exhibits and displays, as well as community walking tours originating both at the Burlington Historical Museum, and the Francis Wyman House.

(Following the 1996 fire at the Francis Wyman House, new plans were made to convert the Wyman House into a new historical museum, to be operated in concert with the existing museum located near Burlington’s Town Common.) A secondary goal was to help promote the preservation and recognition of historic Burlington landmarks coinciding with the Town’s Bicentennial in 1999.

HPD submitted its proposal to coordinate the Burlington Survey in part to provide programmatic support for the Wyman House Restoration, as well as to develop additional history and preservation projects for the Burlington Bicentennial. The new survey was expected to support the Wyman House Restoration—as well as other projects locally—because the Wyman House was to be adaptively re-used as a new local history museum, and the new Survey in part achieved the research and writing of a comprehensive new history of Burlington. The new Burlington Survey was also designed in part to conduct extensive new research into Burlington’s historic resources (or "Assets"), to identify new restoration and preservation projects and initiatives during and after Burlington’s Bicentennial.

To summarize the Preservation Objectives of the Burlington Survey, the new Survey was conceived and coordinated in 1998-1999 primarily to:

• Upgrade and further complete the inventory of Historical Assets and historic resources maintained by the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Burlington Historical Commission;
• Identify properties in Burlington eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places;
• Prepare a new contextual history of the evolution of Burlington and its historic resources, analyzing the period from about 1650 to 1950;
• Conduct new in-depth research of the oldest and most historically significant of Burlington’s properties—to better document changes in building and site ownership, form, style, and use;
• Provide programmatic and exhibit development support for the Francis Wyman House Restoration including new findings on the Early Settlement phases of Burlington’s history; for new museum use;
• Allow for additional preservation projects to be conducted and funded in Burlington, coinciding with, and following Burlington’s Bicentennial of 1999.

Some of the "additional projects" which could potentially be supported in 1999 and future years as a result of the Survey include:

• Increased Nominations to the National and State Registers of Historic Places, resulting in increased heritage tourism, public history education, restoration funding, tax incentives, and economic development in Burlington;
• Adoption of new Town Preservation By-Laws, Controls and Preservation Resources, including a Demolition Delay Ordinance, Preservation Easements, and new Historic Districts in Town;
• Restorations of Additional Historic Landmarks and Historic Resources in Burlington;
• New Architectural History and Preservation Publications, including new walking tours, architectural histories, slide shows, videos, etc.
• The establishment of a Preservation Survey Office which might ultimately evolve into a permanent and secure Local History Room at the Burlington Public Library.
• Improvement of facilities and interpretive resources at the Burlington History Museum and affiliated sites.

An additional and overriding objective of the new survey was to help Burlington residents and property owners better define and appreciate the town’s historical assets—to stimulate new public appreciation the fact that Burlington has a wide variety of significant historical resources spanning the full range of American history, from Prehistoric eras to the mid-20th century.

Repeatedly mentioned in the Survey / Project Objectives is the intent and purpose to inventory and preserve "historical assets" or "historic resources" in Burlington. Prior to commencing a Survey, it will therefore be essential to understand the definition of these terms.

The terms "Historical [or Historic] Assets" and "Historic Resources" both appear to derive from State and Federal guidelines and survey procedures first introduced in 1966.

To fulfill its 1966 mandate to coordinate preservation survey activities statewide, the MHC published a series of Historic Properties Survey Manuals (a/k/a the "Manual") which define both "Historic Resources" and the "Comprehensive Survey Process."

From the Historic Properties Survey Manual (July, 1992, revised and reprinted 1993 and 1995, page 3), MHC asks and answers:

As noted above, the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission propose that the most effective manner of identifying historic resources or assets is to conduct a "Comprehensive, Communitywide Survey." After discussing the subject of historic resources, MHC, in its Preservation Survey Manual, asks and answers "What is a Comprehensive Survey?" as follows:

The MHC has established separate types of survey and inventory forms for Areas, Buildings, Objects, Archaeological Resources, Burial Grounds, Structures, Streetscapes, as well as Parks and Landscapes. The term "Comprehensive" is generally favored, both to summarize the diversity of resources which are studied, and to indicate, as noted above, that properties in "all areas": and from "all time periods" are typically surveyed.

Because preservation survey time and funding is generally limited in the undertaking of Comprehensive Surveys, it is essential that a carefully thought out strategy and "selection criteria" be considered in advance to target and assign survey priority to document the most significant, and/or representative resources which are to be surveyed. Lacking such advance plan, strategy or criteria in advance, it is entirely possible (and occasionally encountered) that preservation surveys never get completed, and/or never develop sufficient community input and feedback, so important resources get overlooked in the survey process. In its Preservation Survey Manual, MHC addresses these concerns [on page 4] with the observation that

Prior to the commencement of the 1998-99 Comprehensive Survey in Burlington, a total of only 26 Burlington properties were surveyed on forms kept at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and all of them were "early" (i.e. mostly dating from the 1970s and not necessarily conforming with latest Survey Criteria and standards). In addition, 14 forms were partially completed in 1986, and an indeterminate number were never completed, and lost, about 1988. The Selection Criteria for the new phase of the survey was therefore conceived to place immediate and first priority emphasis upon:

• Locating earlier Burlington Survey forms produced during survey projects started in the 1970s and ‘80s;
• Evaluating the older forms, and bringing them into compliance with 1990s MHC Preservation Survey Guidelines;
• Preparing "approximately 85-90 numbered [and completed]"Preservation Survey forms for the oldest and rarest properties in town;
• Preparing base map(s) and sketch maps to locate the inventoried properties within the community, and on the completed survey forms;
• Researching and writing a new contextual history of Burlington, as well as a Survey Final Report, to support the evaluations of, and to accompany the local and State publication(s) of the new survey.

In order to achieve the Survey project objectives and goals, the following general procedures were taken:

1. Survey forms from the early 1980s period prepared by Ashworth and Fogelberg were located, and updated as required to provide new information about historical significance, and to note changed conditions for specific historic properties. (For example, new architectural and historical discoveries at the Francis Wyman House were reflected in a re-writing of that property’s survey form; new significance statements were prepared for all properties earlier surveyed by Ashworth and Fogelberg.)
1. Efforts to locate survey forms and records from the mid-1980s survey were undertaken, but were generally unsuccessful.
1. A March, 1998 Town Assessor’s print-out of "Pre-1900" properties in the Town was secured, and studied for new survey use. Cross checks on attributed building dates were made by visually categorizing the architectural styles of all houses and buildings, where they were perceived to fit easily within known styles and stylistic periods. The locations of resulting "screened and checked" batch of "pre-1900" properties was mapped upon Town Assessor’s maps dating from 1996. Field visits were then made to each "screened and checked" property to confirm architectural significance, to compile data needed for new survey forms, and to take new photograph(s) of all buildings and major features. In the field, diagrammatic maps were also sketched to locate each building’s footprint upon its property parcel.
1. Historical research of Burlington’s history in general, and architectural history specifically, was advanced on multiple fronts, by integrating available information from past Survey records, town

histories, Fogelberg articles, newspaper clippings, building permit applications, map analysis, and other material sources. Summary statements of property histories and historical significance were prepared according to State and Federal guidelines.

1. Properties were evaluated with respect to their Eligibility for Individual Listing upon the National Register of Historic Places.
1. Potential National Register historic districts were identified where historic properties were found to form natural clusters or groupings.
1. Surveyed properties were photographed, field mapped, and researched using information integrated from physical (e.g. landscape, building form, and architectural style) and historical sources. The photography was conducted using a 35 mm camera with 200 ASA speed black-and white film. The field mapping was carried out primarily by tracing building footprints, locations, and orientations as indicated on Burlington Engineering Department topographical wetlands maps produced from aerial photographs. The new survey locator maps were created at 200 foot = 1 inch scale.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission, Burlington Board of Selectmen, the Burlington Historical Commission, and Historic Preservation & Design initiated the 1998-99 survey expecting that the Comprehensive Community Survey project in Burlington would succeed in:

1. Better documenting Burlington’s oldest and most significant historic resources, to support historic preservation, restoration, and tourism activities generally;
1. Developing new insights into the age, antiquity, rarity, and value of many overlooked historic buildings, sites, and areas, in Burlington;
1. Providing a needed update on the early 1980s survey forms prepared by Jim Ashworth and Ed Fogelberg;
1. Completing, finally, the first phase of the Comprehensive Survey for the Town of Burlington which was commenced about 1985;
1. Providing the groundwork required to submit National Register of Historic Places and Historic District nominations in the future;
1. Supporting a wide range of property preservation and restoration projects in the future;
1. Helping to support facilities upgrades planned for both the Burlington Historical Museum and the Francis Wyman House to be implemented during and after the Town’s Bicentennial Year of 1999.

The 1998-99 Comprehensive Community Survey succeeded in meeting most, if not all of its initial expectations. Of the initial seven (7) expectations listed above, all were immediately met by the Phase I survey as completed in September, 1999, except for expectations #6 and #7. Expectations #6 and 7 were

not by the initial survey completion date because they were defined as "future" items—i.e. developments which would likely be undertaken in subsequent months and years. We still expect that the survey will prove beneficial in these areas 1) as new architectural histories and educational materials are crafted from the new research to better interpret Burlington’s history and architecture (satisfying expectation #6) and as 2) the survey materials are additionally used to create new historical museum exhibits, etc. for both the Wyman House and Burlington Historical Museum (satisfying expectation #7). A further description of local survey challenges—and how they were overcome—is printed below.

Historic architectural survey research in Burlington was complicated in 1998-99 by several factors. To begin with, Burlington has for most of the last 100 years been mostly, if not completely, deprived of a single archives or historical repository with a substantial collection of local historical materials. While various good new local holdings are now preserved in the Burlington Public Library, Burlington Town Hall, and Burlington Historical Museum, nowhere in Burlington was there found to be a far-reaching single repository of publications which trace all the way back to the beginnings of the town. Collections of historic newspapers, town reports, town directories, photograph collections, manuscript, and deeds extracts all appear top be spotty and incomplete.

Two factors most responsible for this situation likely include Burlington’s early rural status and early fires. Because Burlington was rurally located (and was neither a county seat nor a port) urban development was slow to take root, resulting in delayed collections of historical records. We also know that Burlington suffered two major fires which wiped out irreplaceable collections of accumulated manuscripts and materials before World War I. The Sewall House fire of the 1890s, and the Town Hall fire of 1902 caused materials damages which are still evident in "missing" collections of early and priceless local historical materials. The transiency of Burlington library locations prior to the 1990s further eroded the local historical record. Survey research highlighted the fact that at least one early Gilman color rendering of the Wyman House (painted about 1890) was lost by the Burlington Library after the 1930s—sometime while the library moved between a series of downtown locations. A combination of unfortunate factors resulted in the loss of primary local history research materials over the years, which, in turn, complicated new study of the town’s evolution.

To compensate for these historical losses and problems, most Burlington historians have had to use innovative new methods and approaches to identify significant pieces of the local historical puzzle. In the 1950s, Lotta Rice Cavanaugh Dunham produced such a beginning local history using excerpts from a surviving 1770s church Minister’s Diary, an 1830s Town Expense account, an 1892 Burlington Agricultural Society paper, and information obtained through oral interviews. During the 1970s and 1980s, John Edward Fogelberg also discovered "new" historical information, largely through cemetery records and family genealogy, and applying a contextual approach tracing broader patterns in regional history. To explore other channels and to get a fuller picture of the past, survey historians in 1998-99 placed equal emphasis upon both historical and architectural stylistic analysis, while also utilizing other new research resources where available. Some of the "new" records used to shed light on Burlington’s ancient past included Wyman family records kept at the Wyman Association Archives (found in

Georgetown, Maine), early Woburn records kept at the Woburn Public Library, Burlington census records available from the 1850s and 1860s, and Department of Public Safety Records kept with the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Standard survey reference materials which still appear to be largely missing for Burlington include complete runs of local newspapers going back before 1950, complete runs of town directories, and insurance maps which trace architectural evolution and house ownership histories in town. Substantial collections of local architectural blueprints and architectural drawings have also not yet been located—and so consequently have not yet been studied.

A further problem which complicated the architectural and historical surveying of Burlington in the late 1990s was the fact that the town underwent the most rapid development of any town in the State of Massachusetts during the 1950s and 1960s. Rapid changes to the local landscape after Route 128 was built resulted in the demolition, relocation, alteration, and removal of many historic buildings and streetscapes, as well as the loss and disturbance of many ancient landscape features, including streams, meadows, pine groves, cranberry bogs, orchards, and archaeological resources. Several waves of new development commencing after World War II resulted in radical changes to Burlington’s sense of place, a radical change in character, and a physical erasing of many old features and buildings which—within themselves—held further clues to the origins, identity, contributions, ages, ethnic origins, lifestyles and changing worldly tastes of earlier residents, generations and developers of the town.

As Burlington farms and rural roads changed from growing produce and supporting cattle to growing house lots and new suburban "sprawl," developer profits were realized at the expense of preserving Burlington’s cherished landmarks, and physical resources which communicated its past. While the long term impacts of this real estate trend have rarely (if ever) been studied, it seems logical to infer that this further loss of informational resource will in the future undermine Burlington residents’ appreciation for the antiquity and special nature of their town. Why? Very simply, if we come to believe that Burlington is not very old and not very important (because we see perhaps mostly a preponderance of 1950s or modern period tract houses and strip development on the streets) we will be less inclined to look for historic clues to earlier generations—and less likely to consider issues of compatibility, scale and historic site appropriateness when future architectural subdivisions and developments take place.

Despite these multiple handicaps, the Burlington Survey in 1998-1999 revealed that Burlington possesses a rare and unique community history, that dates back hundreds and thousands of years. Its "middle ground" location between Boston and Lowell gave it a trade importance for many years, and value as a transportation center. Its high ground and hilly topography further made and makes it a watershed contributor to three different Massachusetts rivers (Ipswich, Shawsheen and Mystic). The geography, topography, and "well watered" nature of the place kept the area from being intensely developed for many years—while a farmer’s and settler’s paradise as well. Small wonder we see that Burlington was almost uniquely and solely valued as a farming community from its original settlement by English colonists in the 1640s—through the World War II years of the 1940s. Burlington’s special evolution from the 1640s through the 1940s is more thoroughly chronicled in the "Narrative History" report.

The "Narrative History" produced in 1998-1999 succeeded not only in tracing the major threads and trends in Burlington’s settlement and history from the 1640s through the 1940s—but also in identifying particular local architectural building types and styles which are most usually associated with each period. On occasion, such study resulted in more accurate—and later—"probable build dates" being assigned to beloved local landmarks. Two of the most noteworthy examples centered around the Francis Wyman House at 56 Francis Wyman Road, and a collection of "I" houses (or 2-1/2 story tall, pitched roof, side gabled houses which were 1 story deep in plan, and 5 bays long). The survey research suggested that the Francis Wyman House was of Early Georgian (i.e. ca. 1730s) origin—rather than 1666 and First Period Colonial as previously believed. The new study further suggested that many of Burlington’s very conservative, and archaically proportioned "I" houses were the product of one or more conservative local housewright (s) of the 19th century—perhaps William Lawrence—and not all built in the 1700s after all. A thorough repair, disassembly, and structural inspection of the Francis Wyman House carried out in 1998-1999 by the Francis Wyman Association confirmed the newly revised "survey" construction date of the Francis Wyman House. It will be up to future scholars and students to continue the effort to better document the origins and precise chronology of the "I" houses and other buildings in town.

The contextual and comparative architectural study further served to highlight several categories of buildings—highly important to Burlington—which were all but entirely omitted from earlier studies. Three architectural categories noteworthy in this class included Burlington’s early barns and farm outbuildings; Burlington’s bungalows, and Burlington’s early 20th century mail order houses. Prior to the undertaking of the 1998-99 survey, very little had been written about any of these subjects. However, it is now recognized that the barns (once common and numbering over 100 about the year 1900) are now very rare, and remain an endangered historic building type. While the Walker Barn and Grandview Farm Barns commanded local headlines as endangered landmarks while the survey was ongoing, the barn preservation problem in Burlington is more widespread. It appears that Burlington now only possess about a dozen of its pre-1900 barns and most that now survive have been physically neglected for many years. Most have been allowed to deteriorate progressively to the extent that emergency action will be required to keep the barns intact to benefit future generations. Serious attention will need to be directed to solve this problem.

While it may be human nature to believe that everything "old" was good, and everything "new" is inferior, new survey research suggests that some of Burlington’s last—and equally significant—farm outbuildings were built in the early 20th century, to support commercial poultry production. In Burlington, some of the commercial farm poultry houses were built as well—or better—than new houses often are, and were designed with passive solar energy in mind, to reduce operating costs, and to keep livestock alive with minimal power. At least three of the early 20th century balloon-framed poultry houses in town (on Sears Street, Bedford Street, and Lexington Street) should likely be looked at for long term preservation—both to preserve the last farm structures before they disappear—both to preserve intact local farm landscapes critical to Burlington’s traditional sense of place. If a proactive conservation/preservation stance is not taken with these properties, it appears highly likely that future urban development will wipe them all out

very soon. Should any significant historic building type be wiped out entirely during Burlington’s transition from farming town to new suburban community, the loss will be irreplaceable, and especially tragic.

Burlington’s bungalows and mail order houses—like the poultry houses—evoke from some a smile and immediate dismissal (as in "you’re not serious—those are important?"). Perhaps we are fooled by the small and modest scale of these buildings, suspecting that "bigger" may be "better." Yet the new survey research showed that Burlington has a good collection of modestly scaled, and well detailed early 20th century bungalows, camps and domestic "cottages" which are worthy of additional study. These buildings are worthy of additional study, because bungalows are generally thought to have been a West Coast innovation (so there appears to be no study yet of bungalows in early 20th century Massachusetts); also many reflect important architectural styles of the pre-World War II period, most importantly the Colonial Revival, Bungalow and Arts & Crafts (or Craftsman) Styles. Locally, they are also significant, because they reflect the modest means of many who settled Burlington during the Great Depression years and in the period before Route 128 was built.

In addition to the bungalows and cottages, we believe that we have located two good examples of early 20th century "mail order" houses in Burlington—including a house on Bedford Street we think was manufactured by Sears, Roebuck & Company, and a house on Lexington Street attributed to the Aladdin Homes Company. The peculiar characteristic of the early "mail order" houses in the United States was that they were supplied—rough carpentry, finish carpentry, and architectural blueprints as well-by large companies that specialized in off-site prefabrication and manufacture—and literally sent all pieces—through the U.S. mails. Thus, although these modest houses look "simple" and "ordinary" at first glance, they were among the earliest pre-fabricated (or "pre-fab") houses ever built. The study of mail-order houses is yet in its infancy. We suspect that additional surveys of early 20th century development areas in Burlington (such as Winn Street south of Route 128—and "Winnmere") will result in the identification of additional houses significant as Early 20th century mail order houses. These houses too, are locally significant, as they indicate the degree to which Burlington did not have extensive supplies of construction lumber—and sawmills—in the early 20th century. In other parts of Massachusetts and the U.S. where building materials were more readily available, it usually did not prove to be cost-competitive to order great numbers of mail-order homes.

The early industry of Burlington is often overlooked—both because Burlington was primarily an agricultural town (so didn’t have much industry to begin with) and because Vine Brook was redeveloped extensively when the Burlington Mall was built. Given the rarity and scarcity of industries in general, it is worth noting that the 1998-1999 Burlington survey identified three structures which are considered to be significant from an industrial history point of view. The Cummings-Marion Leather-Working Shop (now at 99 Winn Street) may well be the earliest industrial structure surviving in the town. It is significant both because leather-working and production was among the earliest of Burlington’s farm industries—and also because the Cummings family continued to exert a regional influence in leather producing and tannery operations in nearby Woburn into the early 20th century. Two other historic resources identified in the survey to have important early industrial associations included the Reed Ham Works Barn on Cambridge

Street (now an electric supply company) and the Clapp’s Mill Ruins situated at the north end of Sawmill Road. While altered, the Reed Ham Works Barn remains a rare surviving landmark associated with Burlington’s best known 19th century industry (smoked hams for sale) while the Clapp’s Mill Ruins appear to provide good insights into a late 18th century water-powered saw mill operation which possibly operated about 100 years. The Clapp’s Mill complex (which appears to be mostly now a forested area with stone walls at first glance) reveals itself to be a rare and good complex of mill pond remains, mill dam, spillway channels, sluices, foundation walls, waterwheel pits, and early road surfaces—when studied in its entirety. We recommend that the Clapp’s Mill property be acquired for conservation as soon as possible, as it appears to be the last remaining intact early water power site in town—and acutely endangered with vandalism and development.

To reduce property owner confusion about the benefits of National Register listing prior to initiating possible new nominations along these lines, it is further recommended that the Burlington Historical Commission, with MHC assistance, sponsor a series of new community workshops and meetings to collectively share information, and to answer any NR nomination process questions which might arise. We recommend that the first of these new community workshops and Forums take place with Massachusetts Historical Commission assistance in either the Town’s Bicentennial (1999) or Millennial Years (2000). As development pressures may be expected to continue to severely impact Burlington in the years and decades ahead, conservation and preservation practices now might be able to ensure that as Burlington steps into centuries and generations into the future, that it never loses solid connections with its identity—and its past. Some advance coordination with MHC will be required prior to the year 2000 to ensure that Year 2000 community workshops are undertaken most effectively in the Millennial Year.

Burlington’s topography is most unusual. Due primarily to ancient upheavals and glacial deposits left after the recession of the last Ice Age glaciers, Burlington occupies the highlands of its portion of the state, (average elevation at center: 220 feet above sea level). It contains contributing watersheds to three important Massachusetts rivers: the Shawsheen River, (located to the north and west), the Ipswich River (located to the north and east) and the Mystic River (located to the south and east.) When first explored by Edward Johnson and others, Woburn (of which Burlington was once a part) was called the highest of the yet-settled lands.

By following the waters which drain from Burlington, it was (and is) possible to access Billerica, Lowell and Newburyport, via the Shawsheen and Merrimac Rivers; Middleton, Ipswich and other communities via the Ipswich River, and Woburn, Arlington, and Boston via the Mystic River.

The topography is characterized by a variety of conditions including several tall hills locally called "Mountains" (e.g. Mount Playnum and Greenleaf Mountain), as well as small hills and scenic overlooks. Greenleaf Mountain, at 290 feet elevation and in the south-center of town, is the highest point in

Burlington. Babylon Hill to the south, Wood Hill to the east and Bennett Hill, Chestnut Hill and Druid Hill to the north were also dominant features. These hills and mountains punctuate and provide character in a region which also has many flat lands—meadows, fields, and swamps.

"Great Meadow" was the name given to the area near the Vine Brook and Sandy Brook intersection, while "Long Meadow" bordered Long Meadow Brook. Several natural water springs are identified on the 1875 map of Burlington, while "Swamp Road" on the old maps also speaks clearly of Burlington being a well-watered town.

Significant secondary waterways in Burlington historically included Vine Brook (a major north-south tributary of the Shawsheen River), Long Meadow Brook and Sandy Brook
(two east-west tributaries to Vine Brook), and four small branch tributaries to the Shawsheen River on the northern borders; which all contributed waters to the Shawsheen River.

In the eastern part of town, two branches of the Ipswich River were historically located roughly aligning with Long Meadow and Sandy Brook. Due their watershed, however, they drained to the east instead of to the north or west.

South and east of the center of town, Burlington also possessed two branch tributaries to Woburn’s Fowle Brook, which ultimately drained south and east into the Mystic River. Thus a grand total of eleven brooks and river tributaries served to drain Burlington’s land areas towards larger rivers, located to the north, east and south.

The territory of Burlington was originally claimed by the Colonial English settlers as part of Charlestown Village, following Edward Johnson’s and others’ explorations about the year 1640. Charlestown Village (with territory in what is now Woburn, and Winchester was then formalized and renamed Woburn in 1642. The southwest town boundary (separating Burlington from Lexington) is said to survive from the original 17th century Woburn grant.

Dissatisfied with having to travel such long distance to Woburn Center to attend church, by 1730, Burlington residents commenced a movement to separate into an independent township. The General Court did not approve formation of a new town in 1730, but did permit Burlington to be re-defined as Woburn’s Second Parish. The Second Parish distinction permitted a new Meeting House to be built at the corner of Lexington and Bedford Roads. Nearby Wilmington was incorporated as a separate town in the year 1730. The town lines separating Burlington from Wilmington, Bedford and Billerica all date from approximately this period.

In 1799, with talk of American and French Independence heavy in the air, the Woburn Second Parish settlers renewed their town independence drive, and established Burlington as a town separate from Woburn. The town lines on the south and the east (separating Burlington from Woburn) were created when Burlington was separated and last split from "mother" Woburn. Burlington’s birth as a new Massachusetts town (the 20th in the State) was formalized on February 28, 1799. Burlington is located in Middlesex County, whose county seat is Cambridge.

Burlington is a suburban commercial and residential town located at the junction of the Boston and Merrimac corridors. Prior to the arrival of the English, Native American settlements were located along Sandy Brook, on Chestnut Hill, and other sites.

The territory became an early center of Colonial settlement and trade between Boston and Billerica with early maps of the area calling upper Cambridge Street, Center Street and Winn Streets portions of the "[old] Boston Road." Different ends of Cambridge Street in the 1660s were called both "The way to Boston" and "The way to Billerica Church."

Modest agricultural development occurred during the Colonial Period, with several early and mid-18th century houses surviving, including many with Georgian plans. An original 1730s meeting house in recognizable form also survives near the Town Common.

Burlington became an important travel corridor during the 19th century between Boston and Merrimac (Lowell). Federal and early Industrial period taverns (and stage stops) were established; at least one (Marion Tavern/Grandview Farm) survives near the town center.

Excluded from railroad development connecting Lowell, Woburn and Boston by 1850, Burlington remained a rural farm community with little heavy industry. Leather-working, shoe and heel manufacture, and market agriculture remained leading town businesses into the 20th century. Reed’s Ham Works was a significant agriculture-related industry in town.

During the early 20th century, because of its rural character, Burlington attracted summer vacationers, picnickers and campers, who came to the area for its beauty and climate. Early campers further contributed to the building up of the area by constructing modest bungalows and camps. Mail order houses, summer camps, and early motor car garages (later adapted as houses) all became means of establishing new footholds in the area. The first residential subdivision (Winnmere) was plotted in 1910. Many early 20th century buildings, including Burlington’s 1915 Town Hall, (See Burlington Common Area Form) were built in the Colonial Revival Style which drew its inspiration from older landmarks in Burlington and the U.S.

New trolley and streetcar systems also contributed to Burlington’s popularity in the early 1900s. Sears Street and the section of Winn Street between Cambridge Street and Center Street were both developed initially for street cars. Burlington was a popular stopping point on the new trolleys to Pinehurst in nearby Billerica.

As the Great Depression forced many greater Boston area city dwellers to seek less costly means of living, Burlington experienced a population influx and growth between 1929 and 1935. New residents farmed, lived year round on "camp" properties, and placed new demands on Burlington schools. As part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, Burlington’s first High School at 61 Center Street was constructed with Federal funds in 1939. The high school, in turn, introduced the Modern Style architecture to Burlington.

Another early 20th century development which took advantage of Burlington’s rural, open character was the aviation industry. Burlington attracted airports and air hangars prior to 1940, due to its proximity to Boston, remote location, open farmland, and steady breezes.

The coming of Route 128 to the Burlington in 1941 and new water supply in 1949 opened Burlington to rapid, and lightly controlled development in the "Baby Boom" years following World War II. Farmland became intensely re-developed as residential housing subdivisions. New Modern style strip commercial malls and retail facilities were built on Cambridge and Winn Streets. Some older portions of the ancient "Boston to Billerica Road" (e.g. Chestnut Street and County Street) were spared the impact of modern development, due to older curves in the roadbed being abandoned as primary paths of travel.

Intense urban development continued, virtually unabated, after mid century. After 1950, Burlington was noted to have the most accelerated rate of development "of any town in Massachusetts." New houses, highway developments, gravel pits, malls, clinics and other developments ushered in new tax dollars and a

new suburban character for the town.

As a consequence of accelerated development, the town lost a great number of its character-defining features. However, Burlington retains many significant houses and barns located on some of the less traveled roads (e.g. Francis Wyman Road, Bedford Street, Lexington Street and Center Street). The old Town Common Area continues to form the center anchor for the community.

Between 1950 and the year 2000, Burlington developed most intensely near Route 128, supporting such new facilities as the Middlesex Mall, the Burlington Campus of Northeastern University, the Burlington Plaza, the Burlington Industrial Center, the Northwest Industrial Park, the Burlington Mall, the Burlington Cinema 10, the Northeast Executive Park, the Lahey-Hitchcock Clinic, Burlington Woods Office Park and Sun Microsystems. While once valued for its remote country location in the heart of the highlands, the proximity to major Interstate Highways allowed Burlington to now market itself both as a satellite community to Boston, and an extension of Boston’s North Shore.

A preservation consciousness become rooted in Burlington in the 1960s, responding to desires to preserve the town’s original character, and to moderate the impacts of radical change. During the Preservation Decades, Burlington succeeded in adaptively re-using a number of key historical properties (such as the Union School, Center School, West School and Francis Wyman House) and redeveloped its Town Common along traditional and historical lines. Following the founding of the Burlington Historical Society, Burlington Historical Commission and Burlington Historical Museum in the 1960s and 1970s, a comprehensive community survey was commenced in the 1980s. The survey was brought to first phase completion in 1999, the year of the Town’s Bicentennial.

In addition to its well documented position near the sources of the Ipswich, Mystic, and Shawsheen Rivers, a mapping of the river systems of northeastern Massachusetts shows that Burlington is a natural hub and center towards which the lower sections of the Concord, Ipswich, Merrimac, Mystic, Saugus,

Shawsheen, and Sudbury Rivers all point. Many different ancient water "highways" and river eco-systems were all accessible from the highland water source area now called Burlington. Because of its high, central location and well-watered quality, Burlington was likely valued both as a cross-over spot between neighboring river systems, and as a high point of strategic dominance and power. To hunters intimately aware of fresh water as the sustainer of all life, the country which now is called Burlington was likely appreciated in high regard as a regional source of life.

In 1920, historian George Hill Evans postulated that the "first white man to set foot in the territory [later] known as Woburn" may have been Captain Miles Standish, voyaging on an exploratory trip from Plymouth in 1621. In October, 1621, Standish and the Plymouth Pilgrims sailed, boated, and proceeded by foot up the Mystic River Valley in search of "Squaw Sachem", widow of the famous Indian chief Nanepashemet. The Pilgrim party is known to have made it to an Indian settlement somewhere near the Mystic Lakes, but they returned without finding Squaw Sachem. Nanepashemet ("New Moon") was the chief who dominated the Saugus River system in the early 17th century, operating as a sub-chief or sachem beneath the great sagamore Passaconaway, of the Penacooks on the Merrimack River. Evans’s account and John G. Whittier’s recording of the Algonquin legend of the "Bridal of Penacook" illustrate how closely united by blood and culture were the Merrimack, Ipswich, Saugus and Mystic River tribes. Geography and tribal ties both argue for Burlington having been a strategic settlement and navigation site prior to the year 1635.

The pre-1635 Native and White population is not well documented. Archaeology and surface finds suggest that there were fairly significant Native American settlements or temporary camps located in areas where Native American artifacts and archaeological remains have been discovered. Contextual knowledge of New England settlement history indicates that early Native American populations suffered severe population losses (an estimated 90 percent) by disease following first contact with Europeans before 1615.

The pre-1635 settlement pattern of both Native Americans and whites is not well documented. The Shawsheen, Ipswich and Mystic River valleys are postulated to have attracted significant Native American populations during the pre-historic and early Contact Periods. Early white utilization of established Native American trade systems may explain both French and English competition for the region, and the fur and skin-related occupations (tanners) of the Wymans, as well as the interests of Eliot, Gookin, Dunster and early white settlers in establishing valuable Christianized Indian towns e.g. Shawshinock.

The English explored the territory working inland from the coast. Burlington was explored prior to 1640 by English settlers and traders living in Charlestown, desirous of obtaining additional land for farming, trading, and putting down roots. Indian trader Thomas Walford of Charlestown may have visited the area prior to 1635. In 1635, church leaders, land surveyors and other prominent citizens of Charlestown conducted exploratory missions to map and settle a new town.

Narrow foot paths likely existed in or prior to 1635 connecting different river systems with each other, allowing Native American populations to access the entire Northeast region of Massachusetts by canoe. Portions of Cambridge Street, Center Street, Winn Street,Wyman Road and Lexington Road may have originally existed as cross country paths prior to being later widened into roads. The principal paths in this area in the 17th century likely included the Mystic River water system (to the south) with the Shawsheen and Merrimac River water systems (to the north).

Burlington’s original English name—Charlestown Village—provides further evidence that the Mystic River was first utilized as a transportation route and highway between 1635 and 1640—linking the highlands with the coast. The Mystic River is the major geographical feature linking Burlington (and the inland "Village" area near the river "source") with Charlestown, the coastal town which lies at its mouth. In Algonquin, "Mystic" derived from Massa- (big) + Tuck (river). The "Big River" was (and is) large at its mouth, and was strategically valued as a route to the highlands.

Following the return of the first groups of explorers from Charlestown in 1635, Burlington was settled as "Charlestown Village" about the year 1640. In 1640, Charlestown Village was re-developed as "Woburn" under the leadership of Puritan Edward Johnson. (Johnson is noted to have drawn a Plot for the town of Woburn on December 18, 1640 while meeting at Thomas Graves’s house located in what became East

Woburn.) Following the founding of Woburn by Johnson, new efforts were made in earnest to widen existing trails into roads. New roads were cut by the Woburn pioneers beginning in 1640-1641. Within two months, the new settlers had set about building bridges, highways, farms and homes. Early roads known to have been existence by 1641 included Winn Street (which provided access to the Winn family’s house), Cambridge Street (which then provided access to the house of one family named Bacon) and Up Street (now the north part of Cambridge Street) which provided access to other points north of the town and Town Common. By 1642, Charlestown Village was re-named Woburn, and included territory in what now constitutes Woburn, Winchester, and Burlington.

By the 1660s, the Colonial English had blazed at least one important "inter-urban" highway through Burlington—the old Boston Road—which snaked its way around hills, swamps, brooks and other obstacles to traverse Burlington (from south to north) via modern day Winn Street, Center Street, and Cambridge Street, generally following the highest and driest route. The original course of "The Old Boston Road" included not merely the relatively straight portion of Cambridge Street (Route 3A) which survives north of Burlington Center, but also the curved abandoned segments which have since been re-named County Road and Chestnut Street (located near the intersection with Wilmington Road).

A 1660s map of the area around the Francis Wyman House indicates that this "Old Boston Road" was clearly laid out and utilized before the King Phillip’s War as a Colonial road joining "The way to Boston" [in Burlington] with "The way to Billerica Church" [in nearby Billerica.] Some evidence suggests that the road may also have been blazed at a very early date to proceed northly to Lowell, so as to better link Cambridge (and Boston) with the Penacook Indians. In its earliest years, the Billerica end of this route was also known simply as "Up Street" or "Billerica Road."

The Christianized "Indian Towne" located just over the "timber swamp" and border in Billerica was established—along with the earliest roads—to forge an active partnership of English and Natives. Both groups saw the wisdom of joining forces to fend off common enemies e.g. the Mohawks while the English also wanted religious conversions, Indian trade-goods, and clear titles to the land.

Francis Wyman Road, Bedford Road, and the Burlington Town Common were likely laid out by the Colonial English by the 1660s decade. Hints of such a road system are evident on the Wyman Family Association’s 1660s map, while archaeological excavations support the commonly held interpretation that the first Francis Wyman House on Francis Wyman Road—a predecessor to the surviving structure—was built in or about the year 1666.

Other "first period" roads established in Burlington—then Woburn—included "Walker’s Lane" (also called Violet Lane, a portion which survives as Mountain Road); and Cambridge Street (south of the center it apparently always went by that name; as opposed to north of the Center it was the "way to Boston" or "way to Billerica Church," "Up Street", etc.).

Edward Johnson, considered to be "The Father of Woburn [and also of Burlington]" is noted to have settled in the 1640s on Cambridge Street in Woburn east of Shaker Glen where he also built and operated a mill. Shaker Glen is located close to Vine Brook. 1640s settler Edward Converse also built a mill on the

Aberjona River (in what has since been re-named Winchester). Roads were required to link farms, mills and water systems in colonial Woburn.

South of the Woburn town line (in the part which still carries the Woburn name), one of the earliest streets laid out by the Woburn settlers of the 1640s was "Military Lane." Military Lane connected Cambridge Street (and the center of Burlington Center) with the Military Training Field (or Parade Ground) and Meeting House and Common at Woburn Center. Military Lane together with Cambridge Street in Woburn and Burlington served to link the Commons of both Woburn Center and the outlying settlement, providing (as it name suggested) a key military defense tie between Woburn Center and Burlington.

Between 1640 and 1641, the white population of Woburn grew from an exploratory group of seven in number to about 30 families numbering almost 150 people. Burlington probably had at most about one third of the settlers of Colonial Woburn, because Woburn encompassed a much larger territory. What later became Woburn’s Second Parish (Burlington) likely had no more than 10 or 12 families by the mid-1600s. It was a remote, frontier farming community.

Of the 32 men who signed the Woburn Town Orders in 1640, at least four had built their homes and lived in what is now Burlington. These were Michael Bacon, Daniel Bacon, Nicholas Treerice (or Traraice) and Edward Winn, Wynne or Winne. By 1666, John and Francis Wyman, original signers, are also noted to have built houses in the territory.

Burlington was first settled as a parish or portion of Woburn, whose center was (and is) located towards the southeast, about three miles distant. Because the connection with Woburn Center was so important, Winn Street (which leads directly southeast to Woburn Center) evolved in the earliest years as a key transportation corridor. Likely because Cambridge, Lexington, Billerica and Bedford Streets were secondarily important as Indian trails and early Colonial roads, Winn Street prior to 1906 connected with all these other roads at Burlington’s Common. The Common was likely after 1641 the core and "center" around which the community both traveled and evolved.

Farming: The Puritan English settlers were farmers by orientation and experience, and valued the lands principally as new farming resources. The English settlers cleared much of the forests at a very early date (using pine and oak lumber for construction, fuel, and trade) and grew wheat, corn, hops and other crops. Prior to King Philip’s War (1675), Native Americans were employed to help in the cornfields, because labor was scarce and the Indians were most familiar with corn and with maize. In addition to maintaining gardens, the English kept meadows where cattle, pigs and other animals grazed, as well as wood lots. Wet

areas (such as were many in Burlington) were also used for growing hops, cranberries, and cut to obtain hay for silage and feeding of cattle.

Commerce and trade: Prior to King Philip’s War (1675), some Burlington settlers also derived additional and/or primary income from trade and commerce in Woburn Center. The Wymans, for example, were among the earliest settlers of both Woburn and Burlington. John and Francis Wyman both maintained Colonial tanneries and leather works at Woburn Center. Leather tanning and manufacture, like candle-making, soap-making, shoe-making, herb drying, etc. appears to have evolved naturally out of subsistence farming needs.

In addition to tanning, related colonial industries are thought to have included sawmilling and gristmilling. Colonial sawmills and gristmills are postulated to have existed on Vine Brook, but can not be confirmed with precision, due to lack of surviving written records, and destruction of archaeological resources. In the late 20th century, the Vine Brook area was extensively disturbed to build gravel pits and the Burlington Mall.

Early house types built in 1640-1675 period likely included:

1. One room pitched-roof houses;
1. Tiny 1-1/2 story 3-bay Gambrel-roofed houses;
1. Garrison Houses [for example: the Michael Bacon House, pre-1686, which was located at the southwest corner of Cambridge Street and Walker’s Lane] and
1. Other unidentified early farm houses. In both Woburn and Burlington, we see an evolution to Salt Box houses by the 1660s, e.g. the Solomon Trull Saltbox, now part of the Grandview Farm / Marion Tavern.

The English rapidly learned to substitute wood shingles for thatch on the roofs (shingles were less fire prone), and also to substitute cut boards for wattle and daub walls. These New English variations represented uniquely American adaptations of known building methods, and came about in large part because of the ready availability of wood as an American building material.

Industrial architecture included the Wyman family’s tanneries in nearby Woburn; Johnson family grist mill or saw mill on Vine Brook tributary in nearby Woburn or Lexington; and sawmill(s) in nearby Menotony or Arlington as early as 1637. No mill sites have been confirmed in Burlington current town limits prior to the 1700s.

Commercial / trade facilities during this period likely included the palisaded "Indian Towne" in nearby Billerica.

Woburn (of which Burlington was early a part) was the fourth largest town in Massachusetts in 1709. During the early 1730s, the northwest part of Woburn became an independent parish. The 1732 Second Parish Meeting House was structured around 21 pew lots, in a 40 x 50 foot building. From the number of pews, building size, and mandatory church affiliation of those times, it can be inferred that Burlington may have had a population of about 200 in the 1730s, exclusive of Black slaves and Indian laborers. Over the next 40 years, it is estimated that the population increased significantly to about 450 or 500 by the year 1775. Surviving architecture further points to circa 1730 being the key "beginning point" for the development of the town. Early population figures are estimates only, because no census records were taken prior to 1790.

The Woburn Second Parish or Burlington Common appears to have blossomed as the heart of the community after the Meeting House was established at Lexington and Bedford Streets in 1732. Lexington Street also assumed a new urban importance after 40 Lexington Street (the Thompson-Jones-Marrett-Sewall House) was built, and functioned as the Church Parsonage. By 1775 the development of the settlement around the Meeting House resulted in such Colonial peculiarities as there being little Church-State separation. The Meeting House was also used as a place of Militia assembly. The Common may also have functioned as a military Parade Grounds where the early militia drilled and trained.

Between 1732 and 1775, Woburn’s Second Parish maintained close neighborly and family ties to Lexington, which allowed it to play at least two nationally significant roles during the American Revolution. The key connection appears to have occurred through the Ministers (or Reverends) selected to have been Church leaders in both communities. Rev. Hancock of Lexington was noted to have preached at the dedication of the Woburn Second Parish Meeting House in 1732. Rev. Clark of Lexington also spoke in the Second Parish Meeting House when Rev. Marrett was inducted as Burlington Reverend in 1774. Building upon the Hancock-Clark-Marrett connections, Woburn’s Second Parish was used as a hiding place for Boston’s—and Massachusetts’—and America’s—leading Patriots when both John Hancock and Samuel Adams were wanted by the British for inciting the Tea Party and other acts in April, 1775.

On April 19, 1775 (now celebrated as Patriot’s Day), Adams and Hancock, accompanied by Dorothy Quincy, fled from the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington to 40 Lexington Street in Burlington, and then

traveled by the Second Parish Meeting House and out to Francis and Amos Wyman’s houses for better hiding, while Revere and Dawes gave notice that the "British were coming!" Gen. John Walker of Woburn’s Second Parish was a well-trained military man from the 1750s, who directed a large and well controlled company of Second Parish Minutemen to fend off the British at Concord and Lexington. In April, 1775, Burlington played one of her finest roles in American history by protecting and defending Adams, Hancock and Quincy—and with them, the cause for American Independence. After Independence was won, John Hancock and Samuel Adams became two of Massachusetts’ first Governors, and governed the new State into the early 19th century.

Agriculture remained the dominant economic base of the community during the 1675-1775 period. Some Colonial grist, saw and fulling mills likely operated along Vine Brook. Leather-working and tanning continued as secondary activities for farmers. The Cummings and Marion families emerged as important shoemakers, tanners and leather-workers—important for both Burlington and Woburn. Burlington retains at least two properties on Winn Street (99 Winn, 100 Winn) valued for 18th and 19th century associations with the early leather working industry.

A 1731 effort to mine copper at Mount Playnum proved unsuccessful.

During the Colonial Period (1675-1775), Burlington achieved its first "Grand" buildings, executed in the Georgian Style. These buildings were frequently graced with spacious dimensions, large interior stair halls, regular and Renaissance-derived facades (and details e.g. quoins, and double-hung windows), two-room deep plans, and fine paneling and English joinery details. The best residential examples included:

1. Gambrel 2-1/2 story 5-bay Georgians, e.g. the 1734 John Wynn House at 13 Wyman Street (a/k/a Hen and Chicken Tavern);
1. Gambrel and hipped 2-1/2 story 5-bay Georgians, e.g. the 1732 William Winn Mansion which formerly stood at Winn Street and Newbridge Avenue (in 1936 dismantled and re-erected in Wellesley, Massachusetts);
1. Gambrel one-story 5-bay Georgians, e.g. the circa 1750-1780 Jonathan Reed House at 17 Chestnut Avenue [The avenue originally was used as part of the road to Billerica];
1. Pitched Roofed two story 5-bay Georgians , e.g. the circa 1724 Lt. Nathaniel Cutler House at 59 Mill Street; the 1732 Jotham Johnson House at 56 Lexington Street; possibly the circa 1770 Nehemiah Hunt House at 23 Chestnut Avenue [originally used as part of the road to Billerica]; the circa 1750 house later owned by Nathaniel Kendall at 25 Wyman Street; the circa 1754 Benjamin

Simonds House at 1 Terrace Hall Avenue; the circa 1774 Ebenezer Cummings House at 100 Winn Street; and possibly the pre-1799 Jonathan Simonds House at 121 Lexington Street;

1. Pitched Roofed two story 3-bay Georgians , e.g. the circa 1730s Francis Wyman House which survives at 56 Francis Wyman Road [long, but erroneously held to be 17th century in origin. Complete exposure of the original frame in 1998-99 proved without question that virtually all surviving above ground features were/are circa 1730 in origin.]

Colonial Era industrial buildings include 99 Winn Street—reputed to be the circa 1770 22 x 26 foot two story Tannery Shop of David Cummings.

Religious Structures from the Colonial Period included Burlington’s First Meeting House, the 1732 Meeting House at the corner of Bedford Street and Lexington Road. Altered during two later periods (but still recognizable as an 18th century structure), the Meeting House was originally shorter and had neither portico nor belfry.

1. The Middlesex Turnpike. The Middlesex Turnpike was developed and built between 1805 and 1811 to provide a straight and direct route for teamsters, travelers and stage coaches to connect from West Cambridge all the way to Tyngsboro, MA and the Connecticut River Valley towns of southern New Hampshire and Vermont. A portion of the Turnpike was built across the west part of Burlington. However, it was not widely utilized in its earliest years, due in part to resistance about paying tolls on a toll road, and distance from established urban infrastructure (Burlington Common, downtown, and taverns).
1. The Middlesex Canal was also opened during the Federal Period (between 1793 and 1803) to promote trade and commerce between Lowell on the Merrimack and Charlestown on the coast. It did not pass directly through Burlington—due to the high elevation of the town—but it did pass through portions of Woburn, which was also the hometown of the engineer, Loammi Baldwin. The Middlesex Canal did have an important effect upon Burlington of providing alternate means of shipping and exporting goods for market—goods e.g. leather shoes, hops, etc.[see Economy]
1. Cambridge Street re-aligned. Cambridge Street is believed to have been straightened during the Federal Period, perhaps in response to the Middlesex Turnpike. County Road and Chestnut Avenues were likely "abandoned" as principal street segments about 1810.

Burlington achieved its town independence in 1799, and commenced taking census counts immediately. The population remained at about 500 throughout the Federal period, with a slight population drop to 446 in the year 1830.

The principal transportation route and developed street remained "Old Boston Road" connecting Boston and Woburn Center with Billerica and points north. Samuel Thompson’s 1794 Plan of Woburn clearly showed that through street—in the Burlington area—was then comprised (running south to north) of Wyman Street, Mountain Road, Winn Street, Center Street, Cambridge Street [north of the Common], and included the Chestnut Avenue, and County Road "ox-bows" that were later bypassed and abandoned as principal paths of travel.

Burlington maintained an agricultural and farming base to its economy all during the Federal Period. Prior to about 1830 and the coming of the railroads, the town produced an abundance of grains, (including wheat, rye, and corn) as well as other crops and livestock. Hops were shipped to Charlestown via the new Middlesex Canal.

Small shoe-making shops also developed and became popular as a means to increase farm income during the winter season. By about 1830, Burlington was said to employ 21 men and 18 women as shoe-makers or "cordwainers."

Residential: Houses during the Federal Period (1775-1830) primarily fell into the following categories:

1. 2-1/2 story pitched roof, 2-room deep 5 bay houses, e.g. the Samuel Shedd House, 4 Francis Wyman Road;
1. 2-1/2 story pitched roof, 1-room deep 5 bay "I" houses e.g. William Lawrence House, 3 Winona Road; Cutler-Walker House, 128 Winn Street; David Skelton House, 244 Middlesex Turnpike;
1. Diminutive 2 story 16’ x 18’ Pitched Roof, center chimney Houses, e.g. Skelton House, 97 Bedford Road.

Modest sizes and a general lack of hipped roofs, balustrades, fanlights, etc. reflected the basic and limited resources of the community. Against this context, William Lawrence’s talents as a Federal Period cabinetmaker and housewright were noteworthy.

Institutional. New School House Architecture:

Four new one-room schools (East School, West School, North School, South School) were all built in Woburn’s Second Parish in 1794; Most originally had hip roofs; one [now moved and called West School] survives largely intact and restored. Others survive largely as house conversions.

Industrial: The Clapp Mill Dam on Sawmill Brook (and end of Sawmill Road) is said to survive from the Federal Period—late 18th century and early 1800s. It is significant as the last surviving early water powered mill site in Burlington, and contains an impressive group of at least three early country roads converging at—and crossing—a stone mill dam which backed up Sawmill Brook to form a Saw Mill Mill Pond. On the downstream side of the dam, a number of early industrial features are still visible, including a waterwheel pit, spillway water deflection channel (edged with a stone wall) and Saw Mill foundation, complete with machinery floor and worked stones which once held waterwheel and machinery shafts. The stonework in the dam is particularly impressive, complete with water channels one can walk through. It is thought that this Federal Period Sawmill in Burlington was built to be front-gabled facing the Mill Pond on the dam, and that logs were hauled in from the pond to be sliced into planks by water powered up-and-down saw. A ramping dirt road ran by one side of the mill to permit drivers with horses and oxen to collect the milled plank for stacking and seasoning on flat ground near the mill. This early sawmill likely cut the timber used to build many of Burlington and nearby Wilmington’s antique Federal and Greek Revival Style houses.

Between 1830 and 1870, Burlington’s population rose substantially, gaining from a low of 446 in 1830 to a high of 626 in 1870.

Some—perhaps many—of the new immigrants during this period were of Irish descent, who came to Boston in great numbers escaping the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s. Some Irish are noted to have worked as masons and builders in stone on the Helen(e) Kent Place on Kent Lane (now Network Drive). In addition to farming and stone building experience, the Irish may have brought with them a consolidated Catholic community (and perhaps the first Catholic services held in town) as well as a small "Irish town" settlement on Winn Street near the current location of St. Margaret’s. First generation Irish-born families which came to Burlington at this time carried last names of Brown, Buckley, Campbell, Carr, Carle, Chalane, Collins, Costello, Crawley, Doherty, Dunnigan, Flatley, Foney, Gofney, Haffaran, Johnson, Keaf, Larrigan

(or Lundrigan), Lee, Looby, Martin, McCady, McGar, McLaughlin, Mulligan, Murry, Neil, O’Brien, Quinn, Ready, Rogan, Ryan, Simpson, Simons, Stumson, Taylor and Walsh. (See further discussion under 26 Mountain Road).

After 1849, the California Gold Rush caused an out-migration of would-be gold seekers. Bradford Skelton on Francis Wyman Road was one of Burlington’s original emigrants to California Gold Rush Territory.

The 1840s-1860s Early Industrial Period also witnessed the immigration of new people seeking refuge in Burlington for its picturesque and bucolic country beauty, for its natural bounty, and as a setting for new utopic country estates. Coincident with the immigration of the Irish, and regional utopic experiments by Shakers, Millerites, Transcendentalists, new literary figures (Thoreau in Concord; Whittier in the Merrimac Valley, etc), etc., new "ideal" country estates were being established by the Kents and the Frothinghams. These early and first wave "retreaters" to Burlington during a period of 1840s-1850s maximum urban crisis appear to have laid the groundwork for later "retreats" to Burlington as a safe haven during later periods of crisis. Two later periods which saw a repeat in that pattern occurred during the 1930s (Depression years) and 1960s (White Flight; back-to-the country years) when urban crises again contributed to population increases in Burlington.

The 1831 Bartholemew Richardson map provides one of the best early depictions of the community at the opening of the early Industrial Period. The Richardson map is significant for showing

1. the Old Boston Road (or south-north through street) continuing basically as before, labeled "Boston Road" and "Road to Billerica" south and north of the Common;
2. a well defined Burlington Common at the center of the community, accessed also by "Road to Bedford" [Bedford Street]; "Road to Lexington" [Lexington Street] and "Road to Cambridge" [Cambridge Street] at the west, south-west and south;

Most early streets were the same as later shown on other maps. However:

1. The old Walker’s Lane (west end of Mountain Street) appears to have been discontinued;
2. Mill Street as currently laid out near Locust Street connecting with Winn Street (the westernmost end) was not yet laid out, and Locust Street provided the original way to the mills;
3. Skilton Lane was not yet laid out; and Locust Street provided the original southern way to the mills.

The agricultural base remained the town’s mainstay during the Early Industrial Period. 105 farms with over $300,000 worth of annual produce were active in Burlington in 1865. Several specialized products

and services were developed to counteract the loss of the major New England wheat and corn markets lost to the American mid west, and other areas following the popularization of steam power, and the building of Boston’s "Western Railroad" in the 1840s.

One such specialized Burlington "response" industry appears to have been the Reed Ham Works, which developed out of Isiaiah Reed’s hog, pork and sausage making operations on Cambridge Street in the 1840s. Reed was able to identify a new specialty market, and to utilize the same technological "threat" (the western railroad) to his unique advantage. Reed imported grain fed hog bodies from Chicago stockyards, had them delivered to the railroad depot in Woburn, and smoked, cured, and packaged choice ham from expanded facilities in Burlington.

A second Burlington "response" industry was the active development of Boston "market garden" farming, in which Burlington farmers would substitute traditional crops (like wheat, corn and rye) with specialty crops and vegetables grown and shipped to the urban Boston market. The Reeds who managed the Francis Wyman House property from the 1820s through 1890s were noted to have grown and shipped many vegetables and farm products to Quincy Market in Boston.

A third response during this period was likely the development of a Burlington branch of the Grange. The Grange was conceived and promoted by New England farmers to counter the new Western Threat by adopting scientific methods of husbandry, and new specialties, and a new spirit of hope—by developing agricultural fairs, and lectures, etc. Grange Halls emerged as a new type of rural "school house" (with their own unique type of furniture) and—based upon the model of the Colonial New England Meeting House—became a focus where new forces could be "rallied." The 4-H Clubs evolved from the Grange. The Grange sponsored new Agricultural Fairs. There is also evidence that the Grange was responsible for promoting new types of farm houses (e.g. connected farm buildings) in order to create more indoor and outdoor workplaces to boost farm income through new outreach cottage industries. Charles McIntire’s take-over of the old Marion Tavern (and the building of Burlington’s best connected farm complex) may represent developments of this sort.

Dairy farming has also been postulated to have been yet another of the circa 1830-1870 "response" developments which allowed Burlington farmers to counteract the loss of wheat, rye, and corn farming to the mid west during this period, and to find new means of subsistence in the mixed-up, urbanized, post Civil War world.

During this period, the shoe- and shoe-parts leather working industry also developed new levels of sophistication, especially near Center School and in the Havenville district of Burlington (which was no doubt seeking alternatives, because farms there were so small and non-prosperous). William Carter and Charles Haven emerged as prominent Burlington industrialists.

During this period, Burlington’s Vine Brook water powers also developed new levels of operation—and new products. Thomas Barr & Co. developed a significant industry which printed patterns on woolen fabrics.

The Cumston Mill took advantage of the mid-19th century emphasis on education and "culture" by shipping piano parts for assembly in Boston.

Although the Early Industrial Period radically transformed how farming, milling, and shoe-manufacture was practiced in Burlington, some of the more rural water powers continued to operate almost oblivious of the new technical trends and advances. On the extreme east border of the town, Clapp’s Mill is thought to have operated along traditional lines as a water-powered up & down sawmill through the 1890s.

The Early Industrial Period (1830-1870) ushered in a new architectural style which was noted for its emphasis on strength, boldness, and classical precedent: the Greek Revival Style. Burlington was quick to adopt the new Greek Revival Style for important town landmarks in the 1840s. Two of the best institutional and major examples (which mostly no longer survive) included:

1. Burlington’s new Town Hall built in the 1840s, by the Common, overlooking Bedford Street, opposite the Meeting House;
2. The Greek Revival alterations introduced on the Meeting House. The Meeting House was converted into an up-to-date "church" with the addition of a Gothic Revival steeple, and Greek Revival temple end, complete with two columns in antis. . The prototype for this church model may have been a similar church on the Common in Woburn Center. Burlington’s own William Lawrence (of 3 Winona Street) built the sophisticated Greek Revival alterations to the Meeting House, and emerged as Burlington’s leading housewright at this time.

Domestic examples in the new Greek Revival Style in Burlington were more modest, and often simply involved placing new Greek Revival trim and/or pedimented roof forms on older buildings and building types. The 3-bay, gable end-to-the street, side hall plan became popular. Representative examples of domestic Greek Revival included:

1. East end and additions to new Marion Tavern for Boston & Lowell Stage Coach Route (circa 1840);
2. Bradford Skelton House, 92 F. Wyman Road (circa 1860);
3. Close-pedimented and/or Temple-proportioned Roof forms to 36 Bedford St., 23 Chestnut Street; 26 Mountain Road, 14 Skilton Lane, 157 Wilmington Road, 128 Winn Street;

In Havenville, diminutive forms of Greek Revival were popularized, e.g. the George Skelton House (circa 1850) at 54 Bedford Street.

A second major style developed during this period was the Rural English Cottage Style, reflecting the influence of A. J. Downing. The Helen[e] Kent Cottage, on Kent Lane (now Network Drive) appears to resemble some English Cottage designs promoted by mid-19th century American architect Andrew Jackson

Downing. The clipped or English "jerkinhead" gable, stone wall construction, slate roof, all distinguished the Kent Cottage as a costly and stylish country retreat dating from about 1850. The Kent "cottage" is said to have been built for Charlestown brewer John Kent and his wife Helen[e] with the help of Irish immigrant stone mason laborers from Boston. The Kent Cottage is doubly important as both a rare and wonderful example of the circa 1850 English Cottage style—and a building associated with Boston’s mid-19th century Irish immigration.

Several of the new, and progressive architectural styles introduced to Burlington in the mid-19th century were brought in by sophisticated and well-educated Boston residents, who put up new houses in Burlington to serve initially as country "seats" and summer resorts. In addition to the English Cottage Style, the Italianate Style was also introduced in this manner. The Rev. Dr. Nathaniel L. Frothingham Mansion at 3 Theresa Avenue (built 1853) remains a superb example of an mid-19th century urban country "seat," as well as Burlington’s best expression of the trendy Italianate Style. Built for the Pastor of the First Church of Boston who admired Burlington for its bucolic, country beauty, the Frothingham Mansion is a large, cubic Italianate Style residence which shows off the new European Continental style through massing, hip roof, symmetry, wood brackets, and other details.

Vernacular Italianate Style Houses: Nationally—as well as regionally throughout New England—the Italianate Style became popular beginning in the 1850s decade, as wealthy and well educated Americans returned from European excursions and educational voyages abroad with tales and excitement over the handsome and orderly urban landmarks seen in Naples, Venice, and Rome, Italy, and other parts of Italy. Key features of the new Italianate Style houses and buildings included rounded (or arcaded) windows, an extensive use of supporting stone or wood brackets (particularly under the cornice), window headers with heavy molding, and other novelties, e.g. 3-bay facades, balconies and/or oriel and bay windows, paired openings and tall proportions. Where builders were reluctant to construct whole new edifices in the Italianate Style, it was often simpler, cheaper, and easier to integrate novel "Italianate" features into and onto house forms which were otherwise Greek Revival and/or already "native" to the region.

The Reed House at 336 Cambridge Street is one of Burlington’s best examples of the so-called "vernacular" Italianate Style. -The paired round-top (or "arcaded") windows at the center of the front facade, the single round-top windows in the gable ends, 3-bay facade and sophisticated window headers are all key indicators of the "new" Italianate Style; however, the wide Greek Revival Style band beneath the eaves—and the 1-room deep "I-house" elements are older, indicating a fusion of "old" and "new" about 1850 or 1860, likely by William Lawrence or another of Burlington’s leading builders.

Many Burlington residents during this period chose neither to adopt the Greek Revival, nor the Italianate style, but to evolve a hybrid mixture of the Greek with the new Italianate. This often meant Greek Revival influenced wood framed houses which taller in height and proportion than the "classic" Greek, and which also had an abundance of brackets, reflecting familiarity with the latest Italianate models. . In Burlington, housewright Ishmael Munroe emerged as a housewright most comfortable in this style, and a leading carpenter in the Early Industrial Period. Yet he was not the only one to adopt the new mix:

The circa 1855 Ishmael Munroe House (a/k/a Rice House). 2 South Bedford Street, manifested a good and almost-equal mixing of the Greek Revival and Italianate Styles. The Greek Revival Style was evident in the peaked lintel over the front door, heavy cornerboards at all house corners, and wide band of "architrave" beneath the front cornice. Yet the newer Italianate Style was also evidenced by tall room and house proportions, an abundance of paired wood brackets in the cornice and (originally) round-topped and Palladian-grouped windows over the front door of the house, as well as a 3-bay Italianate arched porch (since removed). A tall gilt mirror in one of the rooms of the Ishmael Munroe House likely also survives from the circa 1850 period, which characterized the beginning of Victorian opulence—and America’s "Gilded Age."

The 1855 Center School—corner Bedford and Cambridge Streets—now the Burlington Historical Museum—was another good transitional Greek Revival and Italianate Style landmark built in Burlington in the mid-19th century. The older Greek Revival Style was evident in the basic proportions to the building, the heavy band of "architrave" beneath the side wall cornices, the gable-end-to-street orientation, as well cornice returns on the front gable end. Italianate Style features included the cupola, rounded opening in the cupola, arched window in the attic, ornate window trim elements on the front gable facade, and quoins on the building corners. The 1855 Center School was patterned after Town of Lexington’s West School; standard plan—Board of Education, Plan No. 4, with basement masonry built by Mr. French of Woburn; timber work by David Clark of West Cambridge.

The Lawrence Family Homestead at 110 Winn Street, said to have been the circa 1860 retirement home of Burlington housewright William Lawrence—also expressed a good integration of both the Greek Revival and Italianate Styles. The Greek Revival Style was evident in the "temple front" proportions to both the main house and its flanking shed roof porches, as well as cornice returns and other features. The Italianate Style, however, was also evident most clearly in the heavy window headers and other window trim. Famed as a housewright and cabinetmaker in the earlier Federal and Greek Revival Periods, William Lawrence apparently chose to keep "up with the times" as the 19th century progressed by integrating-and using in his repertoire—select decorative features from the newer Italianate Style.

Between 1870 and 1915, Burlington experienced an initial population decline during the first half of the period, dropping from a high of 711 in 1880, down to a low of 591 in the year 1910. Presumably, this drop reflected the loss of people moving to nearby urban centers for better paying jobs.

However, the population loss was recaptured after 1910, reaching a new peak of 715 in 1915.

It has been observed that Burlington’s recapture of population loss after 1910 coincided with the development of Burlington’s first housing subdivision in 1910 (Winnmere, on lower Winn Street). Development likely occurred heaviest in that area, due to proximity to Woburn Center, and to the easy transportation access provided by the new inter-urban streetcar system. The trolleys promoted pleasant summer country outings along Winn Street (and their new lines) north to Pinehurst, a popular resort overlooking the Shawsheen River in Billerica.

Agricultural production remained the town’s principal economic mainstay during the Late Industrial Period. Dairy farming assumed new importance, supplemented by fruit and vegetable production. Many Burlington farmers supplied goods to Faneuil Market and provided market garden products for Boston. The Walkers, Cutlers, Reeds, and McIntires were among Burlington’s leading dairy farmers of this period. Peach Orchard Road, and Cranberry Meadow near Wood Hill likely evolved their names (and specialized uses) during this period.

The Reed’s Ham industry, and "Shoddy Shops" and Barr Print Works appear to have flourished in this period. Clapp’s Mill is believed to have no longer been able to compete, and to have ceased running its traditional water-powered sawmill about 1890.

As Burlington maintained its beautiful, and showcase farm appearance in closer and closer proximity to expanding urban centers, Burlington also began to attract artists and scenic photographers drawn to Burlington for its architectural and scenic and natural beauty. The talented painter and renderer John Gilman from nearby Wilmington was most active in the 1870s decade, (and sketched many landmarks, including the Meeting House, Sewall House, etc.). A Wyman relative also earned renown as an early artistic photographer, publishing several views of Burlington’s old Francis Wyman House in photography magazines in the 1880s.

During the Late Industrial period, late Italianate and Greek Revival Style Hybrids (or eclectic mixes) were built across New England. In Burlington, the Greek Revival -Italianate style mixture achieved a new local popularity by, and/or after 1870. Housewright William Lawrence (best known for his Greek Revival

works) is believed to have worked in the new style. Exceptional examples of the new Greco-Italo Hybrids included: Cutler’s Store, (first general Store and Post Office)—built north side of Burlington Common. (NOTE: This structure no longer survives, and its precise build date is not yet known. It may have been built earlier—in the 1860s—like the William Lawrence House at 110 Winn Street which is architecturally similar in many respects.)

The American Colonial Revival Style also blossomed during the Late Industrial Period, evolving most strongly after 1876 in connection with the American Centennial and a renewed appreciation in the America’s (and New England’s) own Colonial building traditions. Boston during this period became a national architectural leader (first architecture school—MIT, in the Back Bay—and prominent building magazines e.g. American Architecture and Building News) and several Boston area architects (including Robert Swain Peabody, and William Ralph Emerson) emerged as nationally prominent arbiters of the Colonial Revival style. As a consequence, it is not surprising to see that the Colonial Revival Style became exceedingly popular in Burlington, reflecting her proximity to greater Boston. Key architectural adaptations included the renewed use of hipped and gambrel roofs, and other elements (e.g. Palladian windows, balustrades, Georgian details, etc) designed to make new buildings fit in historic context. Exceptional Colonial Revival Landmarks erected in Burlington during the Late Industrial Period included:

1. Colonial Revival modernizations of the Woburn Second Parish Meeting House—12 Lexington Street, corner of Bedford Street. In 1888, the members of Burlington’s oldest church (and meeting house) sought to glorify the antiquity of their landmark structure by designing new facades and elements in the nationally popular Colonial Revival Style. The Greek Revival columns and steeple were removed and, and a new entry and belfry were constructed more "Colonial" in style and feeling. The circa 1888 modernizations to the Woburn Second Parish Meeting House represent among the earliest of Colonial Revival Style manifestations in Burlington.
1. Union School—45 Center Street: The Union School was built first in 1897-98, and expressed the new Colonial Revival Style most strongly in its utilization of a large hipped roof, upon a 2-story, five bay front. In form and detail, this school was conceived to recall an expanded "house" from the 18th century—to both tie in with the nationally popular Colonial Revival Style—as well as to express the concept of one school "house" for the entire town. (Prior to its construction, the town used smaller, geographically scattered 1-room schools, which were abandoned in the 1890s. The "house" form and "Union" name pushed the modern alternative of one larger school building for the Burlington community.)
1. The John & George Winn House at 1 Winn Street, built circa 1897, remains one of Burlington’s finest Colonial Revival style edifices. The hip-roofed, towered, and balustraded main house is complemented by a matching hipped roofed carriage house which is both handsome, and one of Burlington’s finest examples of the new style.
1. 340 Cambridge Street. This fine gambrel roofed 2-1/2 story house with Palladian window at attic level (and front porch with diamond pane and arcaded windows) combined a number of 18th century

Transitional Queen Anne-Colonial Revival Style: It was not uncommon to see new Colonial Revival hipped roofed houses designed to incorporate playful "Queen Anne" influences, as the Queen Anne and Colonial Styles developed as Anglo-American "cousins" and history-minded philosophies at this time. Both were well adapted to the emergence of new streetcar suburbs. Good examples of the transitional Queen Anne / Colonial Revival Style in Burlington included:

1. 176 Mill Street: The Colonial Revival Style is evident in the gambrel roofed form used to shelter the main house. The playful (and asymmetrical) projecting bays suggest additional Queen Anne Style influences.
1. 355 Cambridge Street: This gambrel roofed house’s transitional Queen Anne and Colonial Revival Style influence is best seen in the 2-1/2 story tower on the front. The tower possesses pedimented and keystoned semi-circular windows (suggesting the Colonial Revival style) but also overhanging corners, Queen Anne skirt and mixed claddings (clapboard first floor, shingled upper story) reflecting the Queen Anne style.

The Shingle Style Subset of the Colonial Revival: Through William Ralph Emerson’s efforts in particular, the Shingle Style was developed in New England as one subset of the Colonial Revival which used Colonial Roof forms and an extensive use of exterior wood shingles—on the walls as well as roof—to revive a [coastal] "Colonial" aesthetic. A good Burlington examples of the Shingle Style included the ca. 1895 Hugh Stewart House, 71 Center Street. The Stewart House could be characterized as a Shingle Style building because wood shingles cover both the roof, as well as the walls. Colonial Revival elements are also visible in the gambrel gables, diamond window panes, hipped roof porch, and turned wood columns—appropriate, as the Shingle Style itself evolved as a Colonial Revival experiment and expression. Later used as the Parsonage for the Fellowship Baptist Church, the Stewart House was originally built by Hugh Stewart of nearby Cambridge between about 1890 and 1900.

Specialized Building Techniques and Forms: During the Late Industrial Period, some specialized forms of buildings and building materials were developed across America—and in Burlington. These included trolley car architecture, dairy barns and silos, and stone faced concrete blocks.

Trolley Car Architecture: A Sears Street inter-urban trolley car waiting shelter was noted to have been later re-used as a tool shed in the Simonds Park, after the trolleys were removed about the year 1920.

Dairy Barns and Silos. Dairy Barns and silos were built as very large agricultural necessities, and the crowning symbols of Burlington’s chief agricultural industry as local milk production was embraced by more and more farmers. Large dairy barns once survived at the Winn Farm (Winn Street), Walker Farm (Winn Street), and Grandview Farm (59 Center Street); Most, if not all, have been lost.

Stone Face Concrete Blocks: In the opening years of the 20th century, home-owners turned in great numbers towards the economy, strength, beauty, and fire-resistance associated with building new houses from -home-made "stone faced" concrete blocks. Concrete was promoted as a new miracle material, and simple machines which could be used at home to manufacture concrete block were sold mail order by such companies as Sears, Roebuck & Co. (from their World Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois.) Burlington is fortunate to possess several buildings with examples of early 20th century home-made "stone faced" concrete block:

1. Winn Street Barns upon the old Walker Farm property (now part of Saint Margaret’s, on Winn Street opposite Peach Orchard Road) built of "stone faced" concrete block are believed to date from the opening decades of the 20th century, and to have been among the earliest structures in Burlington built in this new material;
1. The Ruel-Boyd House at 61 Bedford Street, which utilizes stone faced concrete blocks in its foundation, is believed to have been built later—in the 1920s. It is described further under Mail Order houses—see below);

Between 1915 and 1940, Burlington’s population more than doubled, from 885 in the year 1920, up to 2,275 in the year 1940.

One major underlying factor for the new immigration and population growth during the Early Modern period was the Great Depression (1929 through 1930s) which forced many greater Boston area renters and homeowners to lose their city homes, and to camp, farm, or "cabin" out in the country. The Early Modern Period also saw the development of new ethnic populations in Burlington, including people of Polish, Swedish, Greek, and Portuguese descent.

Polish immigrants brought with them expertise in new agricultural areas, e.g. growing apples, cherries and strawberries. Swedish immigrant Simon Johnson [who lived in the Prouty House at 26 Prouty Road] developed "Johnson’s Grove" as a popular summer picnic area for Swedes, Greeks and Portuguese. The Swedes established a Woburn chapter of the Independent Order of Vikings in 1929. New Burlington immigrant families of Swedish descent included Carlbergs, Carlsons, Gustafsons, Johnsons, Larsons,

Lundins, Nelsons, Petersons, Strombergs, Swansons and Thylanders.

Motor cars permitted a greater mobility, and the opportunity to build and live further out in the country (thus facilitating the ability to chose Burlington as a place to live) as well as to develop wilderness camp areas and rural farm properties as new residential home sites. Following the 1910 laying out and platting of Winnmere, many new residential subdivisions were also designed and built in the opening years of the 20th century. Village Farms, Village Acres, Pinewold, Overlook and Garden Acres were the names given to five early 20th century Burlington house subdivisions. The names provided a new sense of identity and community for home-owners, while extolling Burlington’s beauty as a rural farm village with pine trees, farm gardens, and scenic distant views.

Burlington’s agricultural base remained strong and constant during the Early Modern Period. In the WPA’s 1937 motorist’s guidebook to Massachusetts, very little was said about Burlington. The town was characterized simply (and only) as "an agricultural community." The Great Depression, fires, deaths and other causes appear to have shut down most, if not all of Burlington’s other industries (the mills, shoe and leather works, and tanneries). The Reed Ham Works continued, but with less success. 1915—the first year of the "Early Modern Period" was also the first year that the Grange began sponsoring annual Burlington Agricultural Fairs. Burlington’s dominant agricultural base (which had survived intact, and with conscious development and attention from the Native American and Colonial Periods) rendered the town quite "Depression Proof." The soil was more valuable than stocks and bonds, and Burlington residents appeared to delight in its bounty and their security.