Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-02-27
TWENTY-FIVE BURLlNGTONS.
TOWNS, CITIES AND VILLAGES THAT
BEAR THAT NAME.
Many Places Named After Our Own Beau
tifuI City-Some Less Than Ten
Years Old aud One Was
Settled In 1867.

The Burlington, Iowa, Hawk-Eye, pa
per which is as good as the name of the
place where 1t Is printed, has for several
months been endeavoring to secure from
the various cities and towns that bear the
name burlington" facts concerning their
settlement and why the name was chosen
by them. The results of the Hawk-Eye's
efforts appear In last Sundays issue. The
Hawk-Eye says that Burlington, VT, the
beautiful city in New England, has been
the cause Of many of the cities bearing the
name while others have been named by
shaking up slips of paper in a box, and
drawing one out; Wy choosing a name easy
to pronounce; by copying the name off of
Burlington Route" box cars; while still
others were named 50 long ago that no
record can be found of the cause. Some
of the towns are less than ten years old
and one was settled in 1861 Burlington,
Iowa, bears the distinction of being the
largest but 1t is not exactly known which
is the Oldest"
Burlngtons are found in Iowa. North
Carolina, Maine, Ohio, West Virginia,
Kansas, Washington. Vermont, Massachu-
sets, Wisconsin. North Dakota, Illinois,
Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New jersey
Montana, Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Ar
kansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mis-
souri, and New York. Burlington, Iowa,
has $4,000 inha btants 1t was settled in
1888 and in the spring of 1894 John b. Gray
a Vermont man located there and opened
the first grocery store The HawkEye says
that he named the little settlement Bur
lington," in memory of the city in the
Green Mountain State. The Burlingtons
In Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois,
Texas, and possibly Massachusetts, were
named after the Vermont city. The Bur-
lington, Kansas, Town company was or
ganized in Lawrence, Kansas, in the fall
of 1864 The town was named in honor of
the city Of Burlington, VT, of which place
some of the prominent members of the
company were natives. Conspicuous among
the number was Col. o. Il. Leonard, who
was really the father of the present city.
Burlington, Wisconsin, was named by
Silas Peake, in honor of Burlington, Vt
Burlington, Illinois, was named by j. w.
Hapgood of Burlington, Vermont, in honor
OF his native town, and the most promi-
nent of the early settlers who staked their
claims here can be mentioned as Hap
good, Van Nelyer, Holden, Eaton and
Young. They were all Yankees, members
OF that determined, energetic class of peo-
pie who wrested a living from the stony
soil Of the New England States, and their
rugged nature and honesty of purpose has
left its impress upon this independent little
town on the Illinois prairie.
The postmaster of Burlington, Texas,
writes that "a man by the name of Tim
othy Gleason named this town "Burling-
ton but do not know why, unless It was
because he was originally from Burling-
ton. VT. There are about 30 inhabitants
here, whose occupation is farming" This
is probably the smallest Burlington in the
entire list
The representative of Burlington. Mass
says that las the place possesses beau
tiful view of widely distant mountains, a
resemblance may have been observed to
Burlington, VT, and this may have been
the occasion for its name"
The article descriptive of our own Bur-
and, emitting some statistics familiar to
a.. our readers. is as follows:
why this city was named Burlington
and by whom named, At Is impossible to
answer positively. In the charter of Col
chester, the town adjoining on the north
there were 10 grantees of the name of
Burling, and as this town was chartered
at the same time as Burlington DUNE Z,
1863, 1t is possible that by some careless
ness of clerks or mixing up of papers we
received the name intended for Colchester,
as the name Burling does not appear
among our list of original grantees. 1t is
also possible that the name, being of
English origin, may have been suggested
by some of the original settlers the de-
pendants principally of the old Puritans
who settled in Massachusetts and Con-
necticut and thence emigrated TO YER
mont
1t was settled principally by persons
from Connecticut and Massachusetts. The
first propretors' meeting was held in
Salisbury, Conn, March 20, IVA, Ira Allen.
brother OF Ethan, being the clerk, and
Ethan Allen. Remember Baker, Herman
Allen, Zimri Allen and Ira Allen were
represented as having laid out Is 100 acre
lots in said township.
The nationality was chiefly English and
American originally. Now about one-half
of the present populations are French
Canadians, Irish and some Germans and
few SwedeS and Polish Jews
The most prominent men among the
first settlers are Samuel Allen, Moses Cat
lin, John Johnson, William Colt, Daniel
Farrand William c. Harrington. Samuel
Hickok, stephen Reyes, Lyman King,
Samuel Lane. Stephen Lawrence Phineas
and Luther Loomis, Stephen Pearl, Zacch-
Gus Peaselee. Seth Pomeroy, Moses and
George Robinson, Nathan Smith, Elnath-
an Reyes, Rev. DR.. d. C. Sanders, be-
sides the Aliens before named.
The reason they chose this location
was because the site of the city is at
the head of the finest harbor on the lake,
about midway the length of Lake Cham
plain, and where II is broadcast about 10
miles,. The Winooski river. one of the
largest tributaries of the lake. took a
bend about one-half mile from the lake,
where was fine water power. The coun-
try between the lake and the Green
Mountain range. some 20 miles east, was
promising farming land and well wooded
1t was on the water way between Mont
real and Troy Albany and New York, and
It's situation was most lovely and pictures
que
The present population Is estimated at
1900. When II was organized city, Feb
bruary p, 1865, the population was 1900
At that time its grand list of property for
taxation was $2.211 ,035. In 1895 it is 12,13S,-
$50.
The chief occupation of its people is
manufactures. principally of lumber and
cotton and wooden cloths boots and shoes
marble and iron in its various forms, pro-
prletary medicines, etc.
Senator Edmunds and our former am
bassador to England, Edward j. Phelps
are representatives of the character of the
town. Orphan asylums, sanfariums, vari-
Gus charitable Institutions are features
Of the citys benevolence The famous Uni
versity OF Vermont is located here, bul
Its graduates are located in every State
In the Union Here the Ethan Allen mon.
ument raises its shaft toward the heaven
in memory of the brave hero of the revolu
tion whose capture of Fort Ticonderoga
is part of the history of the country.
Your Worst Enemy Writing
with the rheumatism is an individual
whom, n you have Christian spirit, YOU
would forgive. He is, no matter what his