Burbank

Burbank. . The town that became Burbank began its life in Union County under the name Liberty. In 1873, the town was moved to a new plat on its present location and renamed for territorial governor John A. Burbank. Non-Indians had resided in the Burbank area since the 1830s with the presence of the nearby trading post, Fort Vermillion. A group of Mormons paused here on their way to Utah from 1845 to 1846., A booming community in the early twentieth century, Burbank had a bank, two lumberyards, two general stores, three grain elevators, three pool halls, two restaurants, a meat market and a blacksmith shop. The community's growth peaked by the early 1920s., Burbank staked its future on the trade and lumber industries that the Missouri River brought. When the flood of 1881 altered the course of the river, economic focus switched to the railroad, and Burbank became a grain- and cattle-shipping center. Burbank's economic energy suffered further as good automobile roads diminished the role of railroads. The stockyards were not rebuilt after fire destroyed them in 1919, and the original school was converted to Whimp's Place, a restaurant and lounge popular among locals and USD students., Caption: , Top left: Main Street Burbank, date unknown; top right: King Grain Co. Elevator; lower left: Burbank School, 1910; lower right: restored Burbank school a century later in 2011.