
© Mark BushnellThe corner of Church and College streets in Burlington was the site of a mysterious incident in 1907 in which people reported seeing a ball of fire that dropped toward the ground and exploded. It was followed by a downpour. Here is a rendering of how it might have appeared.
It is a bolt out of the blue. Just a typical day - nothing seems unusual in the moments before the giant blast strikes Burlington. It is shortly before noon on July 2, 1907, a Tuesday.
Nobody bothered to record the mundane details of that day, but we can imagine the scene downtown: people ducking into and out of stores; others working at their office desks; some walking home for an early lunch. This being summer, children are playing on the sidewalks and streets. Much, probably most, of the traffic is horse-drawn. Few cars yet rattle through Burlington's streets.
In the midst of this imagined scene, we know exactly where some people are. There is John Stephen Michaud, the bishop of Burlington, and former Vermont Gov. Urban Woodbury, chatting at the corner of Church and College streets. Alvaro Adsit can be seen through the window of Ferguson and Adsit's Store, the grocery he co-owns on the corner of College and Mechanic streets. W.P. Dodds is in his office at the Equitable Life Insurance Co. on College Street.
Then, things get weird in a hurry. A bright ball of light catches Dodds' eye. It is in the sky to the northwest and descending.
Adsit sees it, too. Looking out his store window, he sees a "fire ball" drop in front of a nearby furniture store.
When the ball is about 15 feet above the street - Boom! - it explodes.