During the first two decades of the 20th century, Burdick attracted large crowds for rodeos, fairs, baseball games, displays of farm products and other entertainment. It has been said that Burdick hosted the first rodeos in the state of Kansas. The population of Burdick around this time was about 200 people. Usually the fairs and rodeos were followed by political speeches. In 1916 Governor Capper spoke to an estimated crowd of 3,000. These fairs eventually faded and the last one was held in 1923.
Since the 20s, Burdick has experienced a 70 year decline in population. With the farm situation as it is one can compare young farmers to the previous pioneers — these are the pioneers of the late 20th century. Nowadays, practically all farm wives have supplemental jobs outside the home and the farmers themselves have supplemental jobs to enable them to continue their farming operations.
Burdick reached its heights in the first 35 or 40 years and since then, like many other small communities in the Great Plains states, suffering the loss of schools and transportation to larger places, there has been a gradual loss of population and business activity.
Still, the community of Burdick moves into the future with faith and hope. In 1973, the townspeople of Burdick revived the town fair celebration on Labor Day weekend. Each year, the parade gets longer and better, with attendance at the celebration averaging around 3,000 people, a testament to the fact that no matter where people have moved, many still maintain a connection to this small town, returning year after year to honor it.
Next: The New Frontier: Further Reading »
Burdick, Kansas
As late as 1870, present-day Burdick, located three miles south of the Old Santa Fe Trail, was a pasture where antelope grazed, prairie chickens fed, and jack rabbits multiplied. Late in the '70s a few Russian families, mostly Mennonites, moved into the vicinity and tried wheat farming. Disgusted with their harvests, they decided to move farther west.
In 1880 Burdick became a Swedish settlement called Linsdale. John P. Setterstrom of Moline, Illinois, a born promoter, presented such a beautiful picture of the fertile valley and lush grass of southwest Morris County to the Swedish immigrants living in Henry and Mercer counties in Illinois that they moved. The name was changed to Burdick in 1887, in honor of Ms. Burdick, the sweetheart of a railroad official of the Santa Fe Railroad, which had just built a branch through Burdick from Strong City to Superior, Nebraska. Since so much pasture land surrounded Burdick and Diamond Springs, the neighboring town to the east, they soon became two of the principal points for cattle in the state.
In the fall of 1889, Edwin Perrson, Burdick's first postmaster, came from Leonardville and opened a store where Gary Hageburg now has his meat market. Many businesses were established during the next 35 years including two mercantile stores, a drug store, a hat shop and a millinery store, doctor and dentist offices, restaurants and a harness store.
During the first two decades of the 20th century, Burdick attracted large crowds for rodeos, fairs, baseball games, displays of farm products and other entertainment. It has been said that Burdick hosted the first rodeos in the state of Kansas. The population of Burdick around this time was about 200 people. Usually the fairs and rodeos were followed by political speeches. In 1916 Governor Capper spoke to an estimated crowd of 3,000. These fairs eventually faded and the last one was held in 1923.
Since the 20s, Burdick has experienced a 70 year decline in population. With the farm situation as it is one can compare young farmers to the previous pioneers -- these are the pioneers of the late 20th century. Nowadays, practically all farm wives have supplemental jobs outside the home and the farmers themselves have supplemental jobs to enable them to continue their farming operations.
Burdick reached its heights in the first 35 or 40 years and since then, like many other small communities in the Great Plains states, suffering the loss of schools and transportation to larger places, there has been a gradual loss of population and business activity.
Still, the community of Burdick moves into the future with faith and hope. In 1973, the townspeople of Burdick revived the town fair celebration on Labor Day weekend. Each year, the parade gets longer and better, with attendance at the celebration averaging around 3,000 people, a testament to the fact that no matter where people have moved, many still maintain a connection to this small town, returning year after year to honor it.
Next: The New Frontier: Further Reading »
The New Frontier
Find out about the depopulation of the middle United States in the following articles, multimedia presentations and picture galleries.
Vanishing Point: The Empty Heartland
This New York Times series examines the effects of rural depopulation in and around the Great Plains. There are four articles in the series, plus a multimedia presentation that features images and audio narration from Times reporter, Timothy Egan. (December 2003)
Change of Heartland: Great Plains
This excerpt from the pages of National Geographic magazine points out the demographic shifts in the Great Plains states in the 1990s and includes a link to a wonderful multimedia presentation featuring photographs and audio descriptions of the geography, people and history of the Plains states. (Of particular interest are the "Down But Not Out" and "Empty Nest" sections of the Flash feature.) (May 2004)
Alone on the Range
The Christian Science Monitor completed this four-part series on depopulation in the Great Plains states. The series includes a slideshow of pictures from the new frontier. (February 2003)
The New Continental Divide
Writer Michael Lind poses a solution to the bulging population on the US coasts in Atlantic Monthly magazine. He also lists related articles about population trends and the future of the Great Plains. (January/February 2004)
Homesteading Reborn for a New Generation
This Washington Post article reports on a handful of central Kansas towns that are reviving President Lincoln's economic development idea for the midwest, The Homestead Act. Give land away and they will come. (April 5, 2004)
The New Homestead Act
Senator Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, has proposed a new bill that promises Americans willing to live and work in areas experiencing out-migration support to succeed. (Introduced to the Senate on March 12, 2003)
NPR Weekend Edition: The New Homestead Act
The 1862 Homestead Act provided 160-acre parcels of land to settlers willing to populate the Western United States. With many original homestead towns dying, two senators have proposed new homestead legislation to revive the Great Plains. NPR's David Welna reports from the Capitol. (July 27, 2003)
Slow Death in the Great Plains
The Atlantic Monthly magazine reports that a sizable swath of the country's heartland is undergoing a severe drop in births that, if it continues, could empty many small towns in just one generation. (June 1997)
Frontier House: Frontier Life
The website for the popular PBS show contains a helpful overview of the history of the original frontier movement, including articles about the Homestead Act, frontier housing, the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and life on the Plains at the turn of the 20th century. (2004)
Kansas Ghost Towns
This site attempts to chronicle all the ghost towns across America. It's not pretty, but it's interesting to look through. Burdick is included on their list.