Part 1: H.G. Burleigh, Ticonderoga's titan of politics, industry

Part 1 of 2 TICONDEROGA | In the aftermath of the bloodshed of the Civil War, the Republican Party saw a surge of supporters in New York and Vermont. Among the most lauded of those elected to the post-war GOP machine in New York State was a businessman and banker named Henry Gordon Burleigh. Going by the initials "H.G.", Burleigh served as Ticonderoga's town supervisor (1861), a local representative to the New York State Assembly (1876), and later as the district's famous U.S. Congressman (1883-87). The Burleigh family endures in the area and H.G.'s beautiful, Queen Ann-style house still stands on Champlain Avenue in Ticonderoga. The mansion remains the home of a Burleigh family member to this day. The architecturally notable house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a local landmark. Titan of industry Burleigh, alongside his brother Brackett Weeks Burleigh, became business titans in the Lake Champlain-Lake George region during the Civil War. Beginning with his humble start as a clerk with Wilson & Calkins, located in the "Old Brick Store" in Ticonderoga, H.G. Burleigh's comet burst across the firmament of the 19th-century. "They played powerful roles in the development of... (local) industries: rail and water transportation, lumber and shipbuilding, manufacturing, mining, and finance and real estate," writes Burleigh researchers Stephen K. Astmann, Ronald F. Kingsley, and Virginia Burleigh LaPointe in a 2014 Vermont History article. "They were also active in philanthropy and state and national politics." Born in 1832 in New Hampshire, H.G. Burleigh, with his family, moved to bustling Ticonderoga during the 1840s when the future Congressman was a teen. H.G. Burleigh's interests grew to span Lake Champlain-Lake George to Canada with his bases of operations in Ticonderoga and Whitehall. H.G. and his brother made their mark on local business with a fleet of canal boats and lake steamers. These vessels — launched in an age before most of today's roads were surveyed, and when sailboating was transitioning to steam power — hauled cargo down Lake Champlain from Canada, via the Champlain Canal to the Hudson River, and on to New York City. Mining, real estate, farming H.G.'s involvement in local enterprises was deep and lasting. According to Astmann, Kinglsley, and Burleigh LaPointe, H.G. became a mining magnate when he owned the Smith Mine in Port Henry. He also invested, in a major way, in real estate acquiring thousands of forested acres along Lake George including, at its height, more than 14 miles of lakefront property. "In the early 1890s he acquired the title to approximately 75,000 acres of land in Canada," Astmann, Kinglsley, and Burleigh LaPointe added. "In addition to business and industrial interests, he owned, at his death, at least five large farms." The three Bureligh researchers also noted that H.G. was president of both the National Bank at Whitehall and the First National Bank of Ticonderoga. He also served as director of the International Paper Company, Ticonderoga Pulp & Paper Company, and the St. Maurice Lumber Company. While taking place on a regional scale, H.G. Burleigh's expanding Empire State enterprises anticipated the likes of Cecil Rhodes of South Africa by more than a decade. Continued Sources: Library of Congress, Vermont History.org, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

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Part 1: H.G. Burleigh, Ticonderoga's titan of politics, industry

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