Church Street

In the early 1800s, Church Street was a dirt lane with plank sidewalks and low wooden canopies where pedestrians shared space with horses and carriages on the route residents called the road to the brick church at its top. Laid out as part of a 1797 grid plan, it was among Burlington’s first north-south corridors, linking the waterfront, Courthouse Square, the church, and the active settlement at the end of Pearl Street. As the waterfront rapidly developed into the city’s manufacturing center, Church Street became Burlington’s primary commercial district by the early 1830s and has remained the heart of area commerce. Its north end was anchored by the 1816 brick church, now Unitarian, and its south end by the 1790s Courthouse Square. The upper two blocks were closed in July 1980 to create a pedestrian mall, and by 2004 the mall had expanded to all four blocks from Pearl to Main Street. The architecture along the street ranges from the 1820s to the present and includes large masonry Italianate and Queen Anne commercial blocks, earlier gable-front residences and modest wood-frame business blocks, Art Deco renovations, 20th century replacements after fire loss, and historic renovations that reflect Burlington merchants’ drive for high-quality construction and modern materials and style.

Burlington, Vermont · United States