BURLINGTON, Iowa, city and county seat of Des Moines County, 206 miles west southwest of Chicago on the west bank of the Mississippi River at the intersection of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, the Muscatine North and South and the Toledo, Peoria, and Western railroads. Burlington, sometimes called the *Orchard City,* occupies a natural amphi theatre, formed by the limestone bluffs that slope back from the river, and on which many of the residences are built. The river here is broad and deep and is spanned by a railroad bridge. The city is connected by steamboat lines with important points on the Mississippi, and its river commerce is of considerable im portance. The industries include the manu facture of agricultural tools, pearl buttons, wheels, desks, furniture, screens, boilers, mat tresses, soap, flour, candy, burial caskets, Cor liss engines, sleigh bells, novelties and the quarrying of limestone found in the vicinity.
The extensive machine and repair shops of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad are located here. The city contains among its im portant buildings an opera house, courthouse, public library, hospitals, schools of various kinds and the Burlington College of Commerce. Crapo Park, of 100 acres, is in the southern part of the city and is noted for its beauty. The city is governed by a mayor, elected for two years, and a city council, which has the power • of appointment to all city offices (the commission form of government). It was named for Burlington, Vt., by its first settlers. A fur trading post was established there in 1829; its earliest buildings were erected in 1833, and it was the State capital, 1837-40. It was incorporated in 1837 and received its city char ter in 1838. Pop. 24,800.