Burden grew up around a railroad that had not arrived yet
Burden was laid out in 1879 in anticipation of the railroad, which arrived in 1882 and made the town a shipping point.
By Garrett Pruitt
Burden was planned before the railroad got there.
In 1879, a local company surveyed and laid out a town where it expected the Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern Railroad to come through. One of the people involved was Robert F. Burden, and the town took his name. The post office was called Burdenville until 1884.
The railroad, by then part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, arrived on Feb. 1, 1882. Burden became one of its stations and shipping points, and the early businesses were the usual ones: a general store, a drug store and the post office. The town had a newspaper, The Enterprise, by 1880.
Today Burden has about 500 people and shares the Central USD 462 school district.