The automobile made Burlington. Although a meetinghouse was raised here in 1732 as a second parish of Woburn and a separate town of Burlington incorporated in 1799, growth remained slow until after World War II. Modest examples of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings survive at Burlington Center, including the much altered meetinghouse and a former schoolhouse (1857) now housing the Burlington Historical Society. Bypassed by the Boston to Merrimac railroad, the town had few outlets for its products. The construction of Route 128 in the 1950s along the southern border of Burlington ignited a development wildfire. Between 1955 and 1965, Burlington grew faster than any other Massachusetts town, tripling its population between 1955 and 1960 by adding over 1,520 new residents per year. The Burlington Mall, a massive regional shopping and office complex along the 128 corridor, originally opened in 1968 and has overwhelmed that section of the town ever since.
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