BURLINGTON

city, seat (1787) of Chittenden county, northwestern Vermont, U.S. It lies on a hillside sloping toward Lake Champlain 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 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 (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 (178789) of Ethan Allen, 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. Inc. 1865. Pop. (1990) city, 39,127; Burlington MSA, 151,506; (1996 est.) city, 39,004; (1995 est.) Burlington MSA, 188,175. city, Alamance county, central North Carolina, U.S. Shops of the North Carolina Railroad were erected on the site in 1855, and the town of Company Shops was incorporated in 1866; it was rechartered in 1887 as Burlington. An economic crisis occurred in 1896 when the shops were moved to Spencer, but the introduction of small manufacturing plants brought recovery. The city's economy is now based on textiles augmented by diversified manufactures including electronic equipment, furniture, and chemicals. Nearby is the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site, the site of the defeat (May 16, 1771) of the Regulators, a group of dissident colonists, by militia dispatched by the royal governor. Elon College (1889) is nearby. Inc. 1893. Pop. (1993 est.) 42,621. 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; (1996 est.) 9,639. city, seat (1836) 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 settled in 1833 and was named (1834) for Burlington, Vt. The only adequate steamboat landing on the western riverbank for 80 miles (130 km), it served briefly (1837) as the Wisconsin territorial capital and (183842) as the Iowa territorial capital. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad began operations in 1856 and made the town a bustling railroad centre. An early lumber economy gave way to manufacturing, which includes tractors, chemicals, electronic instruments, and furniture. Southeastern Community College, North Campus (1920) is in West Burlington. Geode State Park is 6 miles (10 km) west. The annual (June) Burlington Steamboat Days and American Music Festival attract jazz musicians from all over the country. Inc. 1836. Pop. (1992 est.) 27,552. 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 long) completed in 1958, links the town with Hamilton. Inc. village, 1873; town, 1914; city, 1974. Pop. (1991) 129,575. 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 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. (1990) 395,066; (1996 est.) 410,931.