Burlington, Vermont
Burlington Vermont is a great place to be for residents and tourists alike. From the middle of the 18th century, the entire area has been one to adopt the best trends. From the beginning of the United States's independence, this small city has had success as a center of agriculture, trade and manufacturing. This city has even been voted as one of the top four places to watch within the United States by AARP magazine. While the median age for people who live in this city is around 35 years old, it also has plenty of great traits for older individuals in retirement.
Another factor favoring the city is the entire area is distinctly lovely and scenic. A lot of the success of the 19th century can still be seen in the city, in the form of Victorian architecture that remains lovely to this day. The creation of Ben & Jerry's in 1978 brought some notoriety to the area. Burlington is considered a great place for people to visit and to live.
Welcome to the city of Burlington, where you will be able to make just about anything happen. The city also has a bustling nightlife, various places to eat, places to see and can also offer you a great shopping experience. It is also an area of history and culture.
Burlington History
In 1763, Governor Benning Wentworth granted the establishment of the city of Burlington to Samuel Willis and 63 other people. While they began to clear the area and build log huts, the Revolutionary War kept them from permanently settling the area until 1783 when Stephen Lawrence came around. Burlington organized in 1785. The War of 1812 saw a group of 5,000 soldiers being quartered in Burlington, which at the time was a greater number than the entire local population. 500 of the soldiers died of various types of illnesses.
In 1813, the British shelled Burlington. Future hero of the Battle of Lake Champlain Naval Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough commanded the American side of the sortee, and the ultimate effect on the war itself was essentially nil.
As the 19th century came along, so did Burlington. Over the course of a generation, the Champlain Canal opened in 1823, the Erie Canal opened in 1825 and the Chambly Canal opened in 1843. Each of these various canals opened up trade allowing the city to expand and become a more effective producer of goods. With the connection these canals and their wharves allowed between steamboats and the existing railroad lines of the time, manufacturing and lumbering became significant sources of revenue for the locals in the middle of the 19th century. Burlington finally became an officially incorporated city in 1865. During this time, a great deal of fine architecture was built, including a number of designs by well-established architects such as Mead & White, H. H. Richardson and McKim, and Ammi B. Young. The area was lovely enough to be the primary filming location for two films in the year 2000: Me, Myself and Irene, as well as What Lies Beneath.
In the year 1870, the Pine Street Barge Canal's construction extended the city's waterfront, which ultimately became a very polluted area and has spawned efforts at cleaning it up. The 20th century saw several interesting changes in the city.
In recent history, the city refused to tolerate mistreatment from its local cable provider, Burlington Telecom. When the company could not pay the city the $17 million it owed, the city reported it to Moody's, which promptly downgraded the company's credit rating.
Another interesting event in Burlington is that it was the birthplace of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. In 1978, they renovated a gas station and began to sell their unique brand of interestingly named, creatively sourced products that have since become staples of civilization all over the world.
About Burlington, Vermont
Burlington, Vermont is the state's largest city, and is the shire town or county seat of Chittenden County. Lying only 45 miles south of the border between the United States and Canada and only about 94 miles from Montreal, this is an area that has had strong opinions since the beginning of the history of the United States. In addition to having a great deal of intriguing cultural events every year and being an early adopter of several of them, Burlington also has several very notable landmarks that are historically significant. One of Burlington's most interesting traits is that it is the smallest city in the country to be the largest within its own state.
The residents of Burlington have disagreed at times with general country concensus. The most notable occasion happened during the War of 1812. The people of Burlington actually voted for the Federalist Party, who actively opposed the war on ideological grounds. During the war, 5,000 troops were stationed in the city, and they actually outnumbered the local residents at the time. The city resisted as best they could, providing neither any troops to the cause nor any financial support.
Culture plays a very important role in Burlington. This city was the 4th city out of the entire country to celebrate the arts in a First Night celebration on New Year's Eve, doing so in 1982. As well, since 2006 the city has held a charitable benefit known as the Dragon boat races on Lake Champlain. As the years have gone on, the event has gotten massive, with thousands of participants across dozens of teams. Another interesting thing about this city is that it's both the headquarter city of the Emily Post Institute and has a drag troupe known as the House of LeMay. Every year, the House of LeMay hosts a ball entitled, "Winter is a Drag" for various charitable causes.
Burlington is a small city compared to many in the country, having only a little over 42,000 people among its permanent population as of the 2010 Census. However, it does contain the tallest building in Vermont, Decker Towers, coming in at 11 stories. In addition to this, Burlington also has the Carnegie Building of the Fletcher Free Library. Originally endowed by Andrew Carnegie, its budget is over $1 million per year. Another great building in this area is the ECHO Lake Aquarian and Scient Center, which is within the first LEED Certified Green Building in Vermont.
About Chittenden County, Vermont
The city of Burlington Vermont is the county seat, otherwise known as the shire town of Chittenden County. Coming in at double the population figure of Rutland, the second most populous county in Vermont, Chittenden County is dominant in its lead as the most highly populous in the state. Founded in 1787, it is among the older counties in Vermont, and has been split up several times to form other counties including Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille Counties. As well, other sections of Chittenden County were split off to form parts of Orleans, Washington and Addison Counties. As well, this is a fairly wealthy section of the country.
Going by the 2000 Census report, there were roughly 146,000 people in the county of Chittenden. Out of these people, there were just over 35,000 families and well over 56,000 total households. The total population density of the area was 272 people for every square mile. The county is overwhelmingly caucasian, with more than 95% of the population being in that group. Less than 1% of the population is African American, less than 2% is Asian, less than 1% is hispanic or latino, and less than 2% of the population is a combination of two or more races. Other ethnic groups were represented at levels below 1% of the population.
This is a reasonably affluent county, with the average household earning well over $47,000 per year and the average family earning slightly less than $60,000 per year. The per capita income for all people is $23,501 per year, and there is a definite disparity between what men and women in this county make. While men average $38,000 per year, women only average a little less than $28,000 in the same time frame.
Chittenden County covers a total surface area of 620 square miles. Out of this, 539 square miles are composed of land, while 81 square miles are made up of water. As with most of the other counties in Vermont, there is no executive function and the primary county-wide government agencies are judicial, road maintenance and waste management related. As such, there is no county tax, and the property taxes tend to be fairly low.