Early years

Behold the beginning. Full story of Burlington’s origin here.

Sewall House on Lexington Street. It appears on the town seal, but it burned down in 1897.

All aboard! Burlington was part of the Lowell & Boston Street Railway, an electric trolley line, which opened in September of 1901. The local section ran through Woburn, Burlington Pinehurst (Billerica) and Lowell and carried people, mail, merchandise and farm products. The first route went up Center Street to the common, until a car become stuck on the way up that hill. The rail company moved the line to nice, flat Winn Street instead.

But that meant getting off on Winn Street and walking uphill to the common. An executive from the train company pressured Burlington to build a shortcut, so his passengers could go back and forth without getting muddy. He even offered to help pay for it. The town named the street after him, since it was his idea. His name was Joshua Montgomery Sears.

Sears St. trolley stop Burlington MA — That’s the bottom of Sears Street, at Winn Street. She is waiting for the trolley.

Here’s the first article about the Woburn/Lowell line, when it was a mere proposal in 1892. Note the reference to Swamp Road. That was the casual name for Lowell Street in Burlington. If you’ve ever driven it, you’ll understand.

The trolley lines didn’t last long. By 1904 the Burlington tracks had “gone to seed,” according to the Lowell Sun. When one section of track failed to turn a profit, it created a domino effect on affiliated rail lines. In short, a deck of cards collapsed, creating the biggest bankruptcy case ever in Massachusetts at the time. The automobile emerged as the preferred mode of personal transportation.

Here are the electric trolley cars. One is still on display in Lowell.

Farther north in Burlington, here’s the Reed house and Reed Ham Works, the town’s biggest company and its only real industry in the early 1900s. It turned pigs into ham and bacon, employing about 25 people. The Reed house is still there at 336 Cambridge Street. Full story here.

T.I. Reed house (right) on Cambridge Street, Burlington MA — T.I. Reed house on the right. Yes, you’re looking up Cambridge Street just north of where LaCascia’s is located today. Those Chestnut trees are the namesake of nearby Chestnut Ave.

Reed Ham Works site today — Reed Ham Works site recently (before 2020 demolition)

The railway made a popular stop in a new recreation/retreat area called Pinehurst Park in Billerica. The hurricane of 1938 destroyed it.

Pinehurst Park, Billerica, MA. Photo credit: Frank P. Levine — Pinehurst Park, Billerica, MA, about 1920. Photo credit: Frank P. Levine

Main Street is now Center Street. Those houses on the left are standing where the fire station and town offices are today.

Below is Grandview Farm, which still stands at 55 Center Street next to the police station. Notice the shadow of the photographer’s vehicle in the snow!

This house with the dual chimneys is 28 Stony Brook Road, one of the Graham homes. The house is facing Stony Brook, and it’s still standing today. That little white house in the distance, in the top right corner of the image, is 82 Lexington Street, part of the Pero property. Photo credit: Carol Skelton.

Welcome home, soldier! The town held a Welcome Home Jubilee for returning WWI troops. Notice Leonard Millican and Kenneth McKenzie, killed in action. Burlington’s American Legion Post 273 on Winn Street is named after them.

William H. Winn house, Newbridge Ave. It was moved to Wellesley and is now part of Wellesley College. Full story here.

In business news — Burlington brew?

In agricultural news — a record-setter!

In 1940, Burlington consisted of these tax districts:

Burlington (meaning mostly the central section)
Overlook (Peach Orchard, Wellesley Ave., etc.)
Village Acres (Bedford, Fairfax, Church Lane)
Village Farms (Winona, Nevada, Rahway, etc.)
Garden Acres (Wilmington Road)
Garden Acres Add. (Wilmington, Wheatland, Westwood)
Winnmere (Winn, Glen, Overlook, Edgemere, etc.)
Winnmere Add. (Winn, Hampden, Harriett)
Burlington Farms (Hillcrest, Pathwoods, Purity Springs)
Pinewold (Terrace Hall, Bedford, Humboldt, etc.)
Bungalow Park (Cambridge, Douglass, Van Norden)
Riverbank Terrace (Francis Wyman)
Perkins Lots (Lexington, Bedford)
Burlington Heights (Church Lane, Elm, Edgemont, etc.)

Here are some pre-1920 real estate ads for Burlington and other towns. Prospective buyers would hop on the local trolley system to have a look at a nice slice of country living in places like, uh, Medford.

Peach Orchard Heights ad 1916 Burlington MA

Pine-Wold Burlington 1917. The neighborhood between Terrace Hall and Bedford St.

Hinston's Garden Acres Addition, Burlington MA

Just over the border, here’s the real estate scene in Vermont-like Billerica.

1918 real estate ad, Nutting's Lake, Billerica

A few years later, goodbye trolleys and hello automobiles — and accidents.

Union School, built 1897 — Union School, built in 1897, marked the end of those little one-room schoolhouses scattered here and there. The Union School atmosphere was rather severe. Story here.

Barnaby's school bus, Burlington, MA 1902 — An early school bus (1902), operated by a man named Barnaby.

A wealthy Burlington native died in 1906 and bequeathed a huge tract of desirable land to the town, since he had no children. The one stipulation: it must be used for a public park. The location? A hill near the common. His name? Marshall Simonds. That’s him on the left.

He had property very close to Cambridge Street before it became a real road. Looks like he wasn’t too keen on the project:

After his death, as the town took custody of the property, a crew of women planted 300 apple trees there. What happened to them? Simonds Park does indeed have a wooded area, but it’s entirely coniferous. Irma Alberghini has no recollection of them even in her youth, and she’s old enough to remember crawling across Simonds Park during the hurricane of 1938.