16 Crowley Street
With the extension of the Burlington Horse Railroad Company (electrified by 1888) up North Avenue as far as Lakeview Cemetery, Burlington’s residential housing development along North Avenue grew quickly. A significant part of this development was the work of the immigrants from northeast and southwest Germany who had arrived relatively recently. They tended to group in the area of Lakeview Terrace (then called Bissell Street), along North Avenue, and on streets like Crowley Street. Families like the Kieslichs, Haukes, and Heiningers were key members of the group.
Young Oscar Heininger arrived in Burlington in 1882, from Neumarkt, Silesia, Germany, now Sroda Slaska, Poland. He was a graduate of the University of Breslau in his home district.
On August 7, 1884 Oscar Heininger, aged 26, was married to Bertha Lehmann, aged 23, also from Neumarkt, by the Rev. Theodore H. Haskins, in charge of St. Paul’s Cathedral. On July 11 of the following year the young couple became the parents of a son, William Ernest Oscar, named for both grandfathers and his father. The birth record gives his birthplace as 18 Munroe Street. His father is listed at that address in the city directory of 1886-1887. Tragically, baby William died of peritonitis at age 11 months, on June 30, 1886. No home address is listed on his death certificate. His mother delivered her second son, Alfred H., on August 29, 1886. However, Alfred’s birth was not registered until October 18, 1909. His father registered the birth and listed the place of birth as “Crowley”. Could this have been a memory lapse? Here we have two sources of confusion. Besides Alfred’s place of birth, there are two beams in the basement of #16 Crowley Street, one painted with the name of Oscar Heininger, and the other with the date 1887. However, the lot, #9, on Crowley Street was an empty lot when it was bought October 30, 1888. The men who built houses in the north end of the city in those days often collected wood from teardowns in the Hill section for their own projects. Had Oscar marked those beams for his own in 1887? Marked beams usually are meant to date the building of a house. We have no way of answering these discrepancies. We are following the documentation of the deed. At any rate, the city directory documentation of the family residences is as follows:
1886-1887 Heininger, Oscar, laborer, h 18 Munroe
1888-1889 Heininger, Oscar 92 North
1889-1890 Heininger, Oscar, laborer, h Crowley
The next son to arrive after Alfred was Oscar Henry Heininger, born June 21, 1888, at 33 Lafountain Street. After Oscar came Arthur Gustav, born December 29, 1890, at 12 Crowley Street, then Bruno Albert (October 23, 1892), and Edwin Feodor (October 1, 1896), both at 12 Crowley Street. These records would agree with the dating in the deed to the house and with the city directories..
On October 30 of 1888, Oscar Heininger bought Lot 9 on Crowley Street from John Crowley, part of a development on North Avenue that Crowley had registered with the city in 1871. By the following year, he had completed his house, Installing those cellar beams. He and his wife, Bertha, and their boys settled in. The house was numbered 12 until the 1920s, when it became #16.
The map of Crowley’s development shows more lot purchasers with German names; the Lakeview Terrace and North Avenue were similar neighborhoods. By 1901 the Free Press claimed 100 families of German origin, many in this neighborhood. In 1891 15 charter members formed a mutual aid society called Goethe Lodge #592, known as the “German Club”. The members met at a clubhouse at #37 North Avenue until 1896, when Oscar Heininger built the clubhouse at #20 Crowley Street. It became a social center for the group until 1996 when assimilation had caused a gradual loss of membership. The building became The Champlain Club, which anyone could join. The Goethe Lodge has, however, maintained its national charter.
In 1897, Heininger was listed in the city directory as the clerk of the city water works. He worked for the water department for 33 years. He became further involved in housing development. By 1915 he was treasurer of the Kieslich Construction Company, a position he held for the rest of his life. In 1917 he built #308 College Street for his son Oscar Jr. It is one of just two real Prairie Style houses in the state. It was built to Frank Lloyd Wright’s published plans, as featured in a 1906 Ladies’ Home Journal.
His granddaughter, Sylvia Heininger Holden, says her grandfather enjoyed chess matches with other Burlington businessmen. He encouraged his sons to go into the medical field; Three of them became dentists, one a physician, and one a successful Burlington businessman.
Oscar Heininger died at his home on June 4, 1922. His Free Press obituary states “Mr. Heininger had the esteem of all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and his honesty and integrity in his business dealings had made for him a host of friends who will deeply sympathize with his family in their bereavement.”
His wife Bertha remained in their home until her death the following June. Her estate administrators were sons Alfred and Oscar Jr. Son Bruno, a dentist, wound up with the house, and he is listed as a resident through the 1960 city directory. From 1961 to 1966 the city directory lists the ouse as unoccupied. William H. Heininger, a physician for UVM students, was the owner of the house. He and his wife Marjorie lived at 37 Buell Street.
In January of1965 the Heiningers sold the house to Frank A. and Mary K. Metivier. His occupation is listed first in the city directory as “lab”, then as employee Vt. Transit. In 1986 Frank is listed as retired.
In November of that year, the Metiviers sold the house to Stephen Norman, a lawyer. In July of 1995, Mr. Norman sold #16 Crowley Street to Elizabeth Curry and Brian Pine, the present owners.
Image credit: Zillow
REFERENCES
Burlington Land Records
Burlington City Directories,1888 onward
Burlington Free Press and Times: June 5, 1922 and June 27, 1923
Burlington Vital Statistics Records
Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods
Vol. II; pp. 12-13
Vol III; pp. 68-76
Vermont Historic Sites and Structures Survey 1983
Crowley Street