Entering Burdett, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
Burdett, Kansas, in Pawnee County, was initially named Brown’s Grove in 1876, in honor of Dr. Gallitin Brown, who settled beside a large grove of ash trees.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Depot in Burdett, Kansas.
Situated on the banks of the Pawnee River, this village was first platted in 1876 and was surrounded by a very fine farming country that yielded some of the best wheat ever harvested in Kansas at the time. On June 21, 1877, it was established as a post office. In 1880, it became an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad station on the tracks running from Larned to Jetmore.
On April 29, 1887, the post office and the town’s name were changed to “Burdette” in honor of Robert Jones Burdette, a humorist and newspaper writer. Over the years, the last “e” in Burdette was dropped.
By the turn of the century, the small community boasted a bank, a money order post office, telegraph and express offices, a grain elevator, a hotel, and several retail stores. It had become the chief shipping and supply point in the western part of the county, and its population in 1910 was about 300. Burdett was the childhood home of Dr. Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered the former planet, Pluto.
Old business building in Burdett, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
The very small community of Burdett has a population of just about 220 today and still retains its post office. It is located on Kansas Highway 156, about 23 miles west of Larned, Kansas.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated May 2026.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Pawnee County
Fort Larned National Historic Site
Santa Fe Trail in Pawnee County
Old business building in Burdett, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.