Between downtown and the University of Vermont campus lies the Main Street–College Street Historic District, once Burlington's most exclusive address. Principally laid out along Main and College Streets between South Winooski and South Williams Streets, this is the enclave that sat between downtown and the University of Vermont campus. From the early 19th century to the early 20th century it was one of the city’s most exclusive residential areas, and you can still read that history in the diversity of high-quality architecture from that period.
The district was recognized and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Think back: Burlington was first permanently settled in 1783 after earlier settlers had been driven from the area by raiding in the American Revolutionary War. In 1791, the year Vermont was admitted to the Union as its 14th state, Burlington was chosen as the site of the state college, now the University of Vermont.
The town’s early economy clustered around the waterfront of Lake Champlain, and downtown grew around the courthouse square on Main Street near Church — the very area between that courthouse and the college that developed into the residential neighborhood you stand in. This stretch you're on once linked downtown to UVM, the courthouse square on one end and the college on the other.