262 South Prospect Street
The Ruggles Foundation
By Katharine Burns
Tucked neatly behind the Italian
Villa mansion fronting South Prospect Street stands a house dating
back to the 1820s (1).
An isolated structure in this area appears on the 1830 Ammi B.
Young map, adding veracity to the claim that the rear of the Ruggles
Foundation survives from this early date (2). What is now
the eastern wing of the complex was built between 1819 and 1828
for Jesse and Clarissa Hollister. Jesse had joined the Continental
army at 19, participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and been
taken prisoner to Canada prior to settling down for a more sedate
existence in Burlington. He died at the age of 76 in 1831, and
Clarissa remained in the house until 1835, when Congregational
minister Marshall Shedd acquired the property.
Shedd's son William Greenough Thayer Shedd taught at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ for seven years, and was given the house a year after marrying Lucy Ann Meyers. The younger Shedd, however, did not hold on to his position at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ for long, and sold the house before vacating Burlington. The next owner, Chalon Davey, had an unsuccessful stint as ¶¶Òõ̽̽ treasurer in 1855. His performance was deemed unsatisfactory, and he relocated to New York City. The Wallings map of 1857 lists Davey as the resident, although George DeForest, a weathly New Yorker, had bought the house in 1856 as a summer residence (3).
The National Register credits Burlington lumber baron Mial Davis
with augmenting the property with construction of the large Italian
Villa, yet Blow offers convincing evidence that DeForest built
the structure prior to Davis' purchase. Whereas DeForest paid
only $4,500 for the site, Davis purchased it from DeForest's widow
in 1868 for $30,000, clearly supporting the contention that significant
improvements had been made. Either way, the modest original house
was incorporated into the new residence. The Davis' were incredibly
active in matters of the church, and a Burlington Free Press
article from 1897 claims that, "It was in his beautiful house
in Burlington about 1868 that Morgan Park Theological Seminary
(since merged into Chicago University) was born" (4).
By 1876, the residence had passed into the hands of Horace Brookes
(the grandson of Horace Loomis), who maintained ownership for
49 years, although mainly as a summer home. Among Brookes' achievements
was the founding of the Vermont Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals. Dr. Carl Robinson purchased the property in
1927, operating the site as a sanitarium for his patients as well
as his home residence. He had earned his medical degree at the
¶¶Òõ̽̽ College of Medicine, during which time he composed "Hail
Green and Gold." His medical career was distinguished by
his 1921 decision to purchase radium for the treatment of cancer,
the only doctor in Vermont to do so at the time. Unfortunately,
his continued exposure to radium wrecked havoc on his body, with
his own doctor warning him that he had only five years to live
if he continued to handle it. The Ruggles Foundation was established
by a grant from Lucy Ruggles, a teacher who lived her own life
sparingly. At the time of her death, she had amassed $30,000 for
the founding of a home for teachers. In 1932, the Ruggles Foundation
was opened.
Photo of 262 South Prospect Street from David Blow, 155.
Sources |
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(1) David Blow, Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods. Vol. 2. (Burlington, Vermont: Chittenden County Historical Society, 1997), 153. All information for this history taken from Blow, 152-157. (2) See Ammi B. Young, Plan of Burlington Village, 1830 (Special Collections, University of Vermont Library, Burlington, Vermont). (3) Wallings Map, Chittenden County, 1857. (4) Blow, 155. |
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