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History · Burns

Burns dates to 1907, and 47% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1920.

1907founded
0on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Burns began

When was Burns founded?

1907

Burns dates its founding to 1907 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1920.

First census: 300 in 19202020 census: 356119 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1907.The full story ↓

What stands out about Burns’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Burns are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Burns’ homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Burns’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Burns’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Burns came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Burns.

Read it all →

Originally, Burns was a siding with a water tank on the Union Pacific Railroad. The community of Burns was conceived and marketed as a German-Lutheran settlement named New Berlin and initially platted as the Town of Luther in 1907. The original name was given by settlers of German Ancestry in honor of Martin Luther.

Burns was the center of the Golden Prairie District promoted by the James R. Carpenter's Federal Land & Securities Co. formed in 1905.

As of 2023 Main Street is the only paved road and the community has four blocks.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Burns, 1907 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907
    FoundingBurns is established
  3. 1907Post officeThe Luther post office opens
  4. 1910Post officeThe Luther post office closes
  5. 1910Post officeThe Burns post office opens
  6. 1914Born hereRegina Hansen is born here
  7. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Burns, decade by decade

Today1 recent
WYMap-doton-Burns2004WYMap-doton-Burns
On the map

Burns on the map, 1963 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Burns. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Burns on the 1963 USGS mapBurns on the 1981 USGS mapBurns on the 1991 USGS map1963Burns sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Burns.

People over time

Burns, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 356

Between 185 and 356 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Burns’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Burns’s post office has been open since 1910. Another post office, Luther, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Luther
1907–1910
Burns
1910–today
19001960today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Burns’ history

What year was Burns founded?

In 1907, according to Wikidata. Burns’ post office opened in 1907, and the census of 1920 counted 300 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.