USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Gazetteer and business directory of Chittenden County, Vermont, for 1882-83 > Part 14
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The Commercial Bank of Burlington was chartered November 8, 1847, with a capital of $150,000.00, and Harry Bradley, president, and Martin A. Sey- mour, cashier. Its charter was extended in 1861, and it continued business as a State Bank until 1868, since which time it has been operated as a private institution by V. P. Noyes, with J. E. Lovell, cashier.
The Merchants' Bank was incorporated November 10, 1849, with a capital of $150,000.00, Timothy Follett, president, and H. S. Noyes, cashier. It first commenced business on the east side of Water street, and subsequently moved to its present location on College street. In 1865, it was reorganized as a
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National bank, with a capital of $300,000.00, under its present name of Merchants' National Bank. A year or two later the capital was increased to $400,000.00, and in 1870, it bought out the First National Bank, with which it was consolidated, making its capital $700,000.00, which was subsequently decreased, until it now has a capital of $500,000.00, and a surplus fund of $100,000.00. H. P. Hickok is president, and C. W. Woodhouse, cashier.
The Howard National Bank, located on the northeast corner of Church and College streets, was chartered June 16, 1870, with a capital of $200,000.00. Lawrence Barnes was chosen president ; F. N. Van Sicklen, vice-president ; and C. A. Sumner, cashier, and still retain their offices. The capital was subse- quently increased to $300,000.00, and the bank now has a surplus fund of $22,500.00. The building occupied by HOWARDT ATIONAND ANK the institution was erected by the First National Bank, in 1867, and is admirably adapted for the purposes of a bank, as it is fire-proof, neat and commodious, and furnished with spacious vaults lined with walls of railroad iron, and is heated by steam. The whole block is not used by them, however, but rented to other par- (HOWARD NATIONAL BANK.) ties, the principal portion to Mr. Charles P. Frissell, successor to Griswold & Frissell, being one of the oldest insurance agencies in the city, having been established by S. Wires, in 1848, and represents some of the strongest foreign and American companies.
The Burlington Savings Bank, located on the northeast corner of St. Paul and College streets, was chartered by the legislature December 13, 1847, with John N. Pomeroy, president ; Wyllys Lyman, vice-president ; and Edward A. Stansbury, secretary. The bank has always done a good business and retained the confidence of its depositors since it first commenced operation, the month following the grant of its charter, January 1848. It now has the names of many depositors on its books, whose money is judiciously and safely invested. The present officers are : S. M. Pope, president ; C. F. Ward, treasurer ; and F. W. Ward, teller.
The Farmers' and Mechanics' Savings Institution and Trust Company, located on College street, was chartered by the legislature November 11, 1870, with a capital of $100,000.00, with power to increase the same to $500,000.00, and " to receive moneys on deposit or in trust, at such rate of interest or on such terms as may be agreed upon, the rate of interest to be allowed for de- posits not to exceed the legal rate." The present list of officers is as follows :
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Henry P. Hickok, president ; Charles W. Woodhouse, treasurer ; Henry P. Hickok, George Morton, Edward Lyman, Charles W. Woodhouse, and Lorenzo Z. Woodhouse, trustees. The business of the institution is transacted by the Merchants National Bank, who receive and pay deposits daily, during banking hours.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The public buildings are all substantial, well-built structures, the finest of which is the county court-house, located on Church street. It is an elegant building, two stories in height, with a mansard roof, built of cut and hammered stone, and said to be the second best public building in the State. Its structure was commenced in 1871, and completed in 1873, costing between $50,000.00 and $60,000.00. The county jail is situated on Church street, midway be- tween Bank and Cherry streets, upon land conveyed for the purpose by Capt. King, in 1802. It is a two-story structure, built of brick, and well adapted for the convenience and safety of those who for a time may become involuntary guests of the county. The City Hall, located on the southeastern corner of the Square, was built in the years 1853 and 1854. It is 80 by 80 feet, with a basement, which is built of stone, the other two stories being brick with stone trimmings. The basement is used for a police office, and shops and stores of various kinds ; the first story for the city offices, and the upper story for the hall, and is valued at about $36,000.00. On August 4, 1854, congress passed an act appropriating $40,000.00 for the erection of a custom house, postoffice, and rooms for the district judge of the United States courts, at Burlington, and also enough to purchase a location for the building. A site was selected on the southeast corner of Main and Church streets, containing two and one-half acres of land, for which $7,750.00 was paid. The construction of the build- ing was commenced in the fall of 1855, and finished in the spring of 1857. In June, 1858, an appropriation was made of $4,000.00, for paving and grading the grounds and furnishing the building. It is made of brick, iron and stone, and is fire-proof ; only the doors, base-boards, and the floors of the upper story are made of wood. In 1870, a city market building was erected on the corner of Main street and Winooski avenue, at a cost of $10,000.00. It was used for a time and gave promise of proving of great public utility, but soon grew into disfavor, was abandoned, and now stands unoccupied.
EDUCATIONAL.
As early as 1790, the town was divided into school districts, by a committee appointed for that purpose, consisting of Col. Frederick Saxton, Capt. David Stanton, and Daniel Hurlburt, who reported said division to be two for the whole township. It thus remained until 1795, when a third was added, from the southern part of the town, and to this number was added one more during the following year, consisting of "the house lots at Burlington Bay," the
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nucleus of the village. From that time until 1813, districts were added, un- til the town had eight, Nos. 1, 2, and 8 of which being located at the village. In 1815, the boundaries of the districts having become uncertain and indefi- nite, on the 28th of April, John Johnson, Nathan Smith, and George Robin- son were appointed a committee to ascertain the lines of the several districts. They reported at a meeting held on the 12th of the following May. The report was accepted, and the districts established accordingly. This report con- tained the boundaries of seven districts: The village district, bounded on the south by the south lines of lots No. 160, 158, 164, 184, and the westerly half of lot 109 ; on the east by a line running from the centre of the south line of lot No. 109, northerly, east of the college grounds, to the river, just east of the residence of the late John N. Pomeroy ; on the west and north by the lake and river. No. I included the territory at the falls and 100-acre lots lying on the river, and most of the two three-acre lots adjoining the latter. Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, just as they remained for many years. In 1816, the part of the town northwest of the village was formed into a district and num- bered 7. From this time until 1820, no changes were made ; but at that time district No. 8 was formed out the territory near the High bridge, being the easterly end of district No. I. In 1829, the village district was divided into six districts, numbered 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, to which was subsequently added 15 and 16. A union school district was organized, December 28, 1849, composed of districts No. 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Only scholars in the higher branches of learning from the districts composing the Union dis- trict attended the school, which was equal in all respects to the best acade- mies in the State. Thus affairs stood at the time the city was organized, the Union School being located on the northwest corner of College and Willard streets, where the High School now is, and each of the districts possessed a good school-house, where school was usually kept from six to ten months each year. Previous to the first day of April, 1868, the city was divided into eleven school districts, and under the charge of a superintendent ; but on that date an amendment to the city charter came into effect, and since that time they have been under the charge of a board of commissioners, who are respon- sible for the schools in a higher degree than the district school officers ever were. Accordingly, they decline to consider the general reputation of a teacher, or even the State's certificates as sufficient recommendation for a place in the schools, and insist on a special examination of applicants by their own committee. Under this plan the schools have been greatly increased in usefulness, and the city now has a most excellent school system, with a fine high school, a grammar school, three intermediate, four primary, a primary and intermediate, one with primary, intermediate and grammar grades, an ungraded, and an evening school, employing forty-two teachers, to whom is paid an aggregate annual salary of $15,594.85. The High School building was erected in 1878, at a cost $30,000.00. It is seventy-four feet long by fifty-four feet wide, three stories high, and is so arranged as to accommo-
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date the entire high school department, and at the same time, when necessity requires, affords a fine audience hall for general exercises, exhibitions, etc. From 1860, up to 1871, the city had no additional school-house accommo- dations, with the population largely increased in that time. So the commis- sioners adopted and recommended to the city a plan that would accommo- date the high school department, and extend the tax for the same for over a period of five years, so as to raise a small tax each year until the whole amount should be paid ; and after much debate and time spent in the exam- ination of grounds, located the building, with the unanimous approval of the city council, upon the old academy site, on College street. The school is under the very able charge of D. Temple Torrey, principal.
South Burlington now has a population of 665, is divided into six schools dis- tricts and contains six common schools, employing six female teachers, to whom is paid an aggregate salary of $1,000.00. The schools are usually open from six to ten months during the year, with an aggregate average attendance of about 100 pupils.
University of Vermont and State Agricultural College .- No University in the United States can boast a finer site than that belonging to this venerable institution, chartered November 3, 1791, thus lacking but a few years of its centennial anniversary. Its buildings cap a crest of land on the eastern side of the city, 277 feet above the lake and one mile back from the shore, command- ing a beautiful view of the lake, the Adirondacks, Green Mountains, and the valleys of Winooski River and Lake Champlain. The corporation was organized on the same day its charter was issued. In 1794, the original dwelling for the president was commenced, nearly finished in 1795, but not completed so as to be occupied until 1799, when the Rev. Daniel C. Sanders was authorized to occupy the building, and opened therein a school to fit boys for college. In October of the following year, 1800, Mr. Sanders was chosen president, and instruction was commenced in the University, four students being admitted. In seven years the number had increased to forty-seven. The original college building was erected the following year, 1801, a structure of cruciform shape, four stories in height, 160 feet long, seventy-five feet wide in the central part, and forty-five feet in the wings, containing a chapel, seven public rooms, and forty-five chambers for students.
In the course of the war of 1812-'15, the college edifice was taken by the U. S. Government, to be used, first as an arsenal, and finally for barracks. This compelled a suspension of the institution ; the salaried officers were dis- missed in March, 1814, and the students recommended to other colleges. In September, 1815, the University was reorganized, the buildings having been put in complete repair by the Government. In 1824, this building was burned, with the library and apparatus, and on the following 29th of June, 1825, the corner-stone of the present edifice was laid by Gen. LaFayette. As this building is now in process of re-construction, a detailed account of it would be superfluous. It may be said, however, that the new building will
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be higher than the old one, but of the same length (250 feet), and will group all the public rooms in the middle of the building, leaving the ends or wings for dormitories.
The library building was erected in 1862. It contains a valuable collec- tion of 20,000 volumes. The museum occupies the ground floor of the build- ing, while the casts and other treasures of the Park Gallery of Arts may be found in the third story.
The Vermont Agricultural College was chartered in 1864, under the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, and by the act of November 9, 1865, was incor- porated with the University of Vermont. Each institution is represented in the Board of Control by nine trustees, those of the Agricultural College being elected by the legislature.
In addition to the medical course and the usual course in arts, including languages, mathematics, the natural sciences and philosophy, the University offers courses in civil engineering, in theoretical and applied chemistry, in agriculture and related branches, and in metallurgy and mining engineering ; as also a literary-scientific course, which omits the Greek of the course in arts, and fills its place with sciences and modern languages. Women are ad- mitted to all the courses except the medical.
The whole number of those who have completed their studies in the Uni- versity, up to 1881, is 1,771. The graduates in medicine from 1823 to 1836, number 116; between 1853, the period of reorganization, and 1881, they count 701, or 817 in all. The total of academic graduates is 954, of whom about 200 became clergymen, 355 lawyers, and 70 physicians ; others are teachers, farmers, editors, merchants, etc. It is expected that the re-con- structed edifice will be ready for occupancy in October, 1882, by which time, also, a bronze statue of LaFayette will grace the park in front of the main college building, For both the re-building and the statue the University will be indebted to the generosity of John P. Howard, Esq., who has already more than once testified his interest in the institution by very substantial tokens.
The officers of instruction and government are as follows: Matthew Henry Buckham, D. D., president ; Samuel White Thayer, M. D., LL. D., professor emeritus of general and special anatomy, and dean of the medical faculty ; Rev. Mc Kendree Petty, A. M., Williams professor of mathematics ; John Ordronaux, M. D., LL. D., professor emeritus of medical jurispru- dence ; Rev. Henry Augustus Pearson Torrey, A. M., Marsh professor of intellectual and moral philosophy ; Volney Giles Barbour, Ph. B., professor of civil engineering ; George Henry Perkins, Ph. D., Howard professor of natural history ; Rev. John Ellsworth Goodrich, A. M., professor of Latin ; William Darling. LL. D., F. R. C. S., professor of general and special anatomy; Albert Freeman Africanus King, M. D., professor of obstetrics and diseases of women ; Henry Dwight Holton, A. M., M. D., professor of materia medica and general pathology ; James Lawrence Little, M. D., pro- fessor of the principles and practice of surgery ; Rev. Joshua Isham Bliss, A.
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M., professor of rhetoric; Alvah Horton Sabin, M. S., professor of chemistry .
and physics ; Ashbel Parmelee Grinnell, M. D., professor of the theory and practice of medicine, and secretary of the medical faculty ; Rudolph August Witthaus, A. M., M. D., professor of medical chemistry and toxicology ; Samuel Franklin Emerson, A. B., professor of Greek and modern lan- guages ; Herbert Everett Tutherly, Ist. Lieut. Ist. Cav. U. S. A., professor of military science and tactics ; John Henry Jackson, M. D., lecturer on physiology and microscopic anatomy ; Robert William Taylor, M. D., special professor of diseases of the skin; Stephen Martindale Roberts, A. B., M. D., special professor of diseases of children ; Adrian Theodore Woodward, M. D., special professor of the surgical diseases of women ; Daniel Bennett St. John Roosa, M. D., LL. D., special professor of diseases of the eye and ear ; George Minot Garland, M. D., special professor of thoracic diseases ; William James Morton, M. D., special professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system ; Edward John Phelps, LL. D., special professor of medical juris- prudence ; Jacob Chase Rutherford, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy ; Hiram Hayden Atwater, A. M., M. D., instructor in obstetrics and diseases of woman and children ; William Brown Lund, A. M., M. D., instructor in materia medica and therepeutics ; Andrew Jackson Willard, A. M., M. D., instructor in chemistry and toxicology ; George C. Briggs, M. D., instructor in physi- ology and microscopic anatomy ; John Brooks Wheeler, A. B., M. D., instructor in principals and practice of surgery ; Prof. Goodrich, librarian ; Prof. Petty, curator of buildings; Prof. Perkins, curator of museum ; and Prof. Barbour, superintendent of grounds ; Prof. Grinnell, secretary of the medical faculty.
The Medical Department of the University was first fully organized in 1821. The gentlemen who composed the faculty at that time were :. John Pome- roy, professor of surgery ; James K. Platt, professor of midwifery; Arthur L. Porter, professor of chemistry ; Nathan R. Smith, professor of anatomy ; and William Paddock, professor of practice and materia medica. Instruction was given by these gentlemen and their successors for thirteen years, during which time 114 students were graduated from the institution. The result of the enterprise was not successful, for after 1825, the number of students steadily diminished, and, in 1836, the department ceased to exist. Two un- successful attempts to revive it were made by Dr. S. W. Thayer, the first in 1840, the second in 1842 ; but it was not until 1853, that Dr. Thayer, with the aid of President Smith, Rev. John Wheeler, Prof. Benedict, Hon. John N. Pomeroy, and other public-spirited citizens of Burlington, succeeded in re- organizing the Medical College. The new medical faculty consisted of Horatio Nelson, professor of surgery; S. W. Thayer, professor of anatomy ; Orrin Smith, professor of obstetrics; Henry Erni, professor of chemistry ; and Walter Carpenter, professor of materia medica. Since this time the growth and prosperity of the institution have been uninterrupted, a fact which is owing mainly to the untiring efforts of Professors Thayer and Carpenter. During their long connection with the medical department, these gentlemen
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(MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT.)
have spared neither time nor labor in the promotion of its welfare. Prof. Carpenter filled the chair of materia medica from the organization of the col- lege in 1853, until 1857, when he was made professor of theory and practice, a position which he held until his resignation, in 1881. Prof. Thayer lectured on anatomy and surgery, besides discharging the duties of dean and secre- tary, from 1855 until 1872, when he left Burlington to reside for some years in the West. At this time he was made emeritus professor of anatomy. On his return to active practice in Burlington, in 1881, he was re-appointed dean of the medical faculty, and took the chair of hygiene and State medicine. It is to the liberality of Prof. Thayer that the college owes a greater part of its museum.
No single act of any person has conferred so much benefit upon the Medi- cal College, however, as the generous deed of Miss Mary Fletcher, in found- ing the hospital which bears her name. Since the opening of the Mary Fletcher Hospital, medical students have had access to its wards and amphi- theatre, and are thus enabled to enjoy such clinical advantages as are af- forded by very few, if any other places of the size of Burlington. The Medi- cal College building is situated on the College Green, near the main University
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Vermont Episcopal Institute;
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building, and within five minutes' walk of the Fletcher Hospital. Through the generosity of a number of the citizens of Burlington, it was repaired and. enlarged in 1880, so that each of its two lecture-rooms will now accommodate more than two hundred students. A two-story addition has also been built, which contains a dissecting-room and a chemical laboratory, both large, well- appointed apartments.
The Vermont Episcopal Institute .- The Vermont Episcopal Institute was founded by the Rt. Rev. John Henry Hopkins, D. D., LL. D., first Bishop of Vermont, and incorporated by the legislature November 14, 1854. John H. Hopkins, Charles B. Marvin, Thomas H. Canfield, Edward J. Phelps, and Albert L. Catlin constituted the first board of trustees, the latter three of whom still are members of the board. The property held by the corporation consists of a tract of land one hundred acres in extent, located upon Rock Point, distant about two miles from the Burlington postoffice, directly across the bay and within full view of the city, possessing advantages of extraor- dinary attraction in point of healthfulness, pure air, beautiful scenery, etc. In point of scenery, especially, the location is unexcelled. Rock Point itself has already been mentioned for its wild, picturesque aspect; but the lovely view it affords of the lake, the city, the Green and Adirondack Mountains, sur- passes its own picturesqueness, and situated also, as it is, in the midst of an historical region, renders it, as we have said before, a peculiarly advantageous site for a school and seminary of learning. Upon this property is the brick resi- dence of the late Bishop Hopkins, also a large stone building, erected from speci- mens of marble found on the place, 125 feet long, fifty-seven feet wide at the north- ern end, and sixty-six feet wide at the southern end, in which is a beautiful chapel, complete, for the accommodation of 150 persons, and equipped with all other appurtenances for a first-class boarding school, which will accommodate sev- enty-five pupils, with the principal and his family. The style of architecture is the Collegiate Gothic, of the same general character which prevails in the English Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The tower, sixty feet in height, projects twenty-two feet, and the chancel window of the chapel, which is in the second story, is a fine example of ecclesiastical architecture. Inside, the chapel is decorated with several beautiful scripture paintings, executed by the late Bishop. The building itself, with its deeply recessed windows and doors, tall, projecting tower, and walls flanked with buttresses, presents an appear- ance which is universally considered grand and impressive.
The school has been in operation twenty-one years, under the charge of Rev. Theodore A. Hopkins, a son of the late Bishop, and during that time acquired a wide and extensive reputation as a sound and thorough educator. He is now succeeded by Henry H. Ross, A. M., an experienced teacher, well fitted for maintaining and increasing the high standard of instruction established by his predecessor. The original tract of land and all the build- ings (except the seminary building which he erected during his life time) were owned by the late Bishop Hopkins. In his experience as Bishop, he saw
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that Vermont was at best a small Diocese, and that by reason of the constant drain of its young and most active population to the more attractive fields in the West, the Church would be necessarily small and weak, and with difficulty could sustain a Bishop, and withal had no Church school within its borders. He determined, therefore, so far as he was able, to provide for this deficiency by "giving and devoting," as he expressed it in his deed, " all this property perpetually to the service of Almighty God, as the property of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Vermont, for the purpose of being the residence. of the present and every furture Bishop of said Diocese, and the site for a Theological Seminary and school in strict conformity to the stand- ard doctrines, worship, and discipline of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America." The deed bears date December 15, 1854, and the property was then valued at $20,000.00, all of which he conveyed to the corporation for purposes set forth in the deed. From that time on he labored, and procured during his life-time some $40,000.00, which was ex- pended in the erection of the Seminary and other buildings, and the accumu- lation of a fund for the erection of a girls' school, the foundation of which he had commenced, when he was called from the Church militant to the Church triumphant, on the 9th day of January, 1868.
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