Louis L. McAllister Photographs
Collection Overview
Louis L. McAllister photographed people and places near Burlington, Vermont for 60 years. He was born in Columbus, Nebraska on October 16, 1876, the son of Julius S. McAllister (born 1841 in Lincoln, VT) and Rosette Gould (born in Vermont in 1851)...
Show moreLouis L. McAllister photographed people and places near Burlington, Vermont for 60 years. He was born in Columbus, Nebraska on October 16, 1876, the son of Julius S. McAllister (born 1841 in Lincoln, VT) and Rosette Gould (born in Vermont in 1851). Julius McAllister worked as a photographer and dentist in Washington D.C., Bristol, Vermont and Columbus, Nebraska. Around 1895, Julius, his third wife Amy, and their children left Nebraska for the Union Soldiers’ Colony in Fitzgerald, Georgia. By 1900, Julius and Amy were divorced, and Amy and her stepson Louis were working as photographers in Thomasville, Georgia.
In 1907 Louis McAllister married Cora Shepard (born about 1872 in Vermont) in Holland, Michigan. By 1910, they were living in Queen City Park in South Burlington, Vermont, where Louis established a photography studio. The McAllisters moved to Burlington, and by 1919 they lived at 47 N. Winooski Avenue. They continued to occupy a summer cottage at Queen City Park, and were active in the Queen City Park Association, which held spiritualist camp meetings annually. McAllister conducted his photography business from home until his death in 1963.
McAllister’s “trademark” was his panorama camera which made him familiar to all sorts of groups ranging from graduating classes to state police to summer camp groups. In addition he did print 8 x 10 photos, many of which document building construction and Burlington Street Department projects, as well as group and individual portraits.
The L.L. McAllister Collection includes portraits, construction projects, buildings, businesses and events in the Burlington area covering the period ca. 1920-1960. The collection also includes photos of street, bridge, airport and sewer construction and repair, as well as group portraits of clubs, schools, etc.
Revised April, 2010
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January 20, 1944. This building was erected by regular Street Department employees using Salvage material saved from the fire of the old Davis Machine Shop, also from salvage corrugated sheet metal from Fort Ethan Allen. The remainder of the building was constructed of lumber obtained by cutting...
Show moreJanuary 20, 1944. This building was erected by regular Street Department employees using Salvage material saved from the fire of the old Davis Machine Shop, also from salvage corrugated sheet metal from Fort Ethan Allen. The remainder of the building was constructed of lumber obtained by cutting pine trees in the Airport woods and hauling them to the saw mill at Essex Jct. and Winooski where they were cut into timber and boarding. The only new material purchased for this building was the corrugated sheet metal used for facing the south side of the building which was not completed at the time this picture was taken. The main building is 90 feet in length and 28 feet in width with a clearance of approximately 14 feet to the eaves, the doorways being approximately 10 ft. X 18 ft. Between each doorway is a 12 ft. X 28 ft. bin with sloping sidewalls where all salvage is classified and stacked and then disposed of to junk dealers. All materials having any salvage value are saved, sorted and disposed of through the facilities of this building. The two small lean-to sheds at the easterly end of the building were originally used for WPA (Work Projects Administration) construction crews, one of these sheds will be used as a garage for the Allis-Chalmers tractor which will be used with a reversible bulldozer blade sidewalk snow plow to push the refuse through the back doorways and over the bank after the salvage material has all been sorted out. When the building is completed it will be painted with camouflage asphaltum paint which has been donated for the purpose.
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