A prominent hotel and a commercial block go up in flames. Horses and sleighs come to a standstill...

The Hotel Burlington and the Walker Block burned on this day in 1887.

What is now City Hall Park used to be Court House Square, and the burning structures were located on the northeast corner of the Square. It was the site of the former jail and had been prominent commercial blocks for years.

People stood next to their horses and sleighs looking on in wonder. The Hotel Burlington had been converted into the Strong Block more than thirty years earlier.

The fire was devastating, reducing the structures to mere shells of their former existence. Some stores, including Samuel Huntington's bookstore, moved to other Burlington locations.

Photo courtesy Images of Vermont: Burlington Volume Two by Mary Ann DiSpirito and David Robinson.

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