Editing Burlington, Iowa (section)

== Economy ==
Burlington's roots are in transportation and manufacturing. Manufacturing plants are among the largest employers in the area, including companies such as [[Iowa Army Ammunition Plant|American Ordnance LLC]], [[CNH Global|Case Corporation]], ABB (formerly [[General Electric]]), [[Federal-Mogul|Champion Spark Plugs]], [[Shearer's Foods]] and Winegard Company. The largest employer in the area is the Great River Medical Center. Among the oldest businesses in Burlington, the Murray factory (now Murray Turbomachinery and owned by [[Dresser-Rand]]) which has been in operation in Burlington since before 1900, the original building on Central St. and Washington St. which was divided by the local train tracks, was recently razed. Another long-lived business is [[Case Corporation]], which has been at its current location on Des Moines Avenue, approximately a quarter-mile from the Mississippi River, since 1937. The first backhoes rolled off the assembly line at the Burlington plant in 1957, which is now the only plant in the United States that produces the Case [[backhoe loader|Loader/Backhoe]], giving Burlington the nickname "''Backhoe Capital of the World''". Case is now a division of the Italian holding group [[CNH Industrial]]. Employment at Case peaked in the 1980s, according to the [[Des Moines Register]], then declined after "Case initiated a wave of buyouts and early retirements in the 1990s and early 2000s, and ended the contract with the union in 2004"; but in May 2010, the ''Register'' reports, Case announced that "it will open a new line that builds corn-picker heads for combines, as early as [Spring, 2012]" and that by mid-2013 it will add more than 200 positions.<ref name="Des Moines Register">{{cite news| author = Belz, Adam| title = Factory town of Burlington working to remake itself| work = Des Moines Register| date = March 18, 2012| url = http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120318/BUSINESS/303180064}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Over the last several years, several businesses have either left the area or relocated elsewhere. These businesses include [[Exide]], makers of vehicle batteries, [[Caterpillar Inc.|CAT]], Case Corporation's closest competitor in American made construction equipment, and Lehigh-Leopold, makers of office furniture. This has left some former manufacturing plants around the city empty, but other businesses have moved into them; [[PPG Industries|PPG]], maker of auto safety glass has moved into the former CAT plant, and a warehouse has moved into the former Leopold building. In March 2012, the ''Des Moines Register'' reported that "Unemployment here is 7.6 percent, compared with the 5.4 percent state average".<ref name="Des Moines Register"/>

In 2022 Ben Jacobs of ''[[The New Republic]]'' wrote that the area's economy had more problems related to late 20th century [[globalization]] compared to that of [[Dubuque, Iowa]].<ref name=JacobsBenRepubIowa>{{cite magazine|last=Jacobs|first=Ben|url=https://newrepublic.com:443/article/166775/iowa-red-state-republican-party|title=How Iowa Fell in Love With the Republican Party|magazine=[[The New Republic]]|date=2022-06-28|accessdate=2023-05-28}}</ref>

=== Downtown Burlington ===
[[File:Capitol Theater - Burlington Iowa.jpg|thumb|right|Capitol Theater]]
The downtown area holds a number of buildings listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], among them the Burlington Apartments (listed as the Hotel Burlington), the Burlington Railroad Depot, the Des Moines County Courthouse, the Burlington Fire Department central station, the Port of Burlington building, Memorial Auditorium, River Park Place (as Burlington Mercy Hospital), the former Burlington Police Department building. It is perhaps best known for Snake Alley, the most crooked street in the US.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Parrott|first=Jason|title=Burlington Police to Move to New HQ This Week|url=https://www.tspr.org/post/burlington-police-move-new-hq-week|access-date=2020-08-20|website=www.tspr.org|date=May 21, 2018|language=en}}</ref> (as Burlington Paper Company), [[Capitol Theater (Burlington, Iowa)|The Capitol Theater]], [[First Congregational Church (Burlington, Iowa)|First Congregational Church]], [[St. Paul's Catholic Church (Burlington, Iowa)|St. Paul's Catholic Church]] and several others. The downtown skyline is noted for its several church spires.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thehawkeye.com/e566f2f0-7c58-5c54-b782-644b99094d13.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610164720/https://www.thehawkeye.com/e566f2f0-7c58-5c54-b782-644b99094d13.html|archive-date=2020-06-10|access-date=2023-08-03|title=Burlington churches light up the night|date=2016-08-20}}</ref>