Burlington

/berr"ling teuhn/, n.

1. a city in S Ontario, in S Canada, on Lake Ontario. 114,853.

2. a city in NW Vermont, on Lake Champlain. 37,712.

3. a city in N North Carolina. 37,266.

4. a city in SE Iowa, on the Mississippi River. 29,529.

5. a city in NE Massachusetts. 23,486.

6. a city in S central New Jersey. 10,246.

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City (pop., 2000: 38,889), northwestern Vermont, U.S. Lying on a hillside sloping toward Lake Champlain, it is the largest city in the state and a port of entry.

Chartered by Gov. Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire in 1763, it was named for the Burling family, who were pioneer landowners. Settlement began in 1773. Later it was a military post; in the War of 1812 it saw several engagements between land batteries and British warships on the lake. It was the home of Ethan Allen. It is the seat of the University of Vermont. Shelburne Museum, a reconstruction of early American life, is nearby.

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▪ Iowa, United States

      city, seat (1838) of Des Moines county, southeastern Iowa, U.S. It is a port on the Mississippi River (there bridged to Illinois), 78 miles (126 km) south-southwest of Davenport. The site was once a Mesquakie village called Shoquoquok, in an area where Native Americans gathered flint to make tools and weapons. The site was settled as Flint Hills in 1833 after the Black Hawk War the previous year and was renamed (1834) by a settler for his hometown of Burlington, Vermont. The only adequate steamboat landing on that stretch of the river, it served briefly (1837–38) as the Wisconsin territorial capital and (1838–40) as the Iowa territorial capital. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad began operations in 1856 and made the town a bustling railroad centre.

      The early economy based on lumber and pork packing gave way to manufacturing, which now includes munitions, automotive products, and baked goods; railway maintenance is also important, as is a riverboat gambling casino (opened 1997). The Heritage Hill National Historic District contains many restored 19th-century homes and includes Snake Alley, a twisting, brick-paved street built in 1894 to allow horse-drawn carriages to gradually climb the steep hill from the riverbank. The Apple Trees Historical Museum, housed in railroad magnate Charles E. Perkins's mansion, contains many artifacts from the city. Southeastern Community College, North Campus (1920) is in nearby West Burlington, and Geode State Park is about 10 miles (16 km) west. The Burlington Steamboat Days American Music Festival is held annually in June. Inc. 1836. Pop. (1990) 27,208; (2000) 26,839.

▪ New Jersey, United States

      city, Burlington county, western New Jersey, U.S. It lies along the Delaware River (bridged), opposite Bristol, Pennsylvania. Settled (1677) by Quakers, it was known as New Beverly, then Bridlington (for a village in Yorkshire, England), and later Burlington (an alternate spelling of Bridlington). In 1681 it became the capital of the province of West Jersey, and it alternated with Perth Amboy as the capital of West and East Jersey from 1702 until 1790, when Trenton became the capital of the state of New Jersey. In 1776 the Provincial Congress met there and adopted the state constitution.

      Steamboat service (1788) and the railroad (1834) opened up trade outlets for the city, and it developed as a trade and shipping centre for nearby farms. It later acquired diversified light manufactures (textiles, food and metal products, computers and electrical appliances, and chemicals). Inc. 1733. Pop. (1990) 9,835; (2000) 9,736.

▪ North Carolina, United States

      city, Alamance county, north-central North Carolina, U.S., between Greensboro (west) and Durham (east). Maintenance shops of the North Carolina Railroad were erected on the site in 1851, and the town of Company Shops was incorporated in 1866; it was rechartered in 1887 as Burlington. The economy suffered when the shops were moved to Spencer in 1896, but the subsequent introduction of small manufacturing plants brought recovery. These were followed in the 1920s by large-scale textile operations.

      Textiles and apparel are still important and are augmented by diversified manufactures (electronic equipment, chemicals, plastics, and machinery) and printing and publishing. Nearby is the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site, where the Regulators (Regulators of North Carolina), a group of dissident colonists, were defeated (May 16, 1771) by militia dispatched by the royal governor. Elon College (1889) is nearby. Inc. 1893. Pop. (1990) 39,498; (2000) 44,917.

▪ Ontario, Canada

      city, regional municipality of Halton, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, opposite Hamilton, from which it is separated by Hamilton Harbour (Burlington Bay). Settled about 1810, the town served as a beach resort and fruit-growing centre until it developed after 1950 with the spread from the northeast of the Toronto metropolitan area. Burlington has become a lakefront residential city with some industry, including the manufacture of metal tubing, brushes, and chemicals. The Burlington Bay Skyway, a toll bridge (nearly 4 miles [6.5 km] long) completed in 1958, links the town with Hamilton. Inc. village, 1873; town, 1914; city, 1974. Pop. (2006) 164,415.

▪ Vermont, United States

      city, seat (1787) of Chittenden county, northwestern Vermont, U.S. It lies on a hillside sloping toward Lake Champlain (Champlain, Lake) and the Adirondack Mountains to the west, with the Green Mountains to the east. It is the largest city of the state and a port of entry; with South Burlington and Winooski cities and Essex Junction village, it forms a metropolitan complex.

      Burlington was chartered by Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire in 1763 and named for the Burling family, who were pioneer landowners. Settlement began in 1773 with the opening of a sawmill and shipbuilding business. Burlington was a military post, and during the War of 1812 (1812, War of) Battery Park was the site of several engagements between land batteries and British warships on the lake; it is famous for sunset views.

      In the mid-20th century the city's economy changed from one based on manufacturing to one dependent on service industries, including tourism. Manufactures include aircraft armaments, concrete products, food service equipment, snowboards, plastic monofilaments, and maple syrup.

      Burlington is the seat of the University of Vermont (Vermont, University of) (founded 1791), Champlain College (1878), and Trinity College of Vermont (1925). Shelburne Museum (1947), a 45-acre (18-hectare) reconstruction of early American life that includes numerous historic buildings and a side-wheel steamship, is 7 miles (11 km) south. Burlington was the home (1787–89) of Ethan Allen (Allen, Ethan), the American Revolutionary War hero, and is the site of his grave. The First Unitarian Church (1816) has a bell that duplicates the tone of the church's original bell, which was cast by the American patriot Paul Revere (Revere, Paul). Inc. 1865. Pop. (2000) city, 38,889; Burlington–South Burlington MSA, 189,889; (2007 est.) city, 38,531; Burlington–South Burlington MSA, 207,361.

▪ county, New Jersey, United States

      county, central New Jersey, U.S., bounded by Pennsylvania to the west (the Delaware River constituting the border) and the mouth of Great Bay in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mullica River to the southeast and south. It consists of a coastal lowland drained by the Bass, Batsto, Mullica, Oswego, and Wading rivers. The county contains the state's largest area of timberland (primarily shortleaf pine), which includes Wharton, Penn, Lebanon, and Bass River state forests. Other public facilities are Rancocas State Park and McGuire Air Force Base.

      European colonists upon their arrival in the 17th century encountered Algonquian-speaking Delaware Indians. The city of Burlington, settled by Quakers (Quaker) in 1677, was the capital of the West Jersey colony from 1681 and then alternated as provincial capital of New Jersey with Perth Amboy from 1702 to 1790. Another historic Quaker settlement was Mount Holly, the county seat. The city of Bordentown was attacked by British forces in May 1778 during the American Revolution. Batsto Village is a restoration of an 18th- and 19th-century iron-making village. Other communities are Willingboro, Pemberton, Mount Laurel, and Medford.

      The county was created in 1694 and named for Bridlington (or Burlington), Eng. By the 1880s its residents were harvesting half of the nation's cranberries. Today cranberries remain one of the county's primary crops; corn (maize), barley, and soybeans also are grown. Burlington county has the largest area of any county in New Jersey. Area 805 square miles (2,084 square km). Pop. (2000) 423,394; (2007 est.) 446,817.

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