The Five Sisters Neighborhood

The Five Sisters neighborhood, located in Burlington’s South End, was developed between 1910 and the 1950s on former estate land. The development occurred in three phases north to south. In 1910-1911, developers Roland D. Batchelder and Frank H. Brown purchased the former Buell Estate and subdivided the land into uniform, rectangular lots on Hayward, Caroline, Charlotte, Catherine, and St. Paul streets. Between 1926 and 1932, developer Paul D. Kelley developed plans for Ledgemere, Marian, and Margaret streets and southern extensions of Caroline and Charlotte streets. The neighborhood’s name references Caroline, Charlotte, and Katherine (Catherine), three daughters of Edward and Maria (Buell) Hungerford, and Margaret and Marian, developer Paul Kelley’s wife and niece, respectively. The origins of the local nickname “New Harlem” is unknown.