The Bob Burns House is a historic house at 821 Jefferson Street in
Van Buren, Arkansas
Van Buren ( ) is the second-largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area and the county seat of Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. The city is located directly northeast of Fort Smith at the Interstat ...
. It is a two-story wood frame late Victorian house, built in 1885 by a local merchant. The house is most notable as the childhood home of
Bob Burns (1890-1956), a famous radio comedian of the 1930s and 1940s. The Burn family (the "s" was added to Bob Burns' stage name) moved into this house in 1896 and purchased it in 1901. Bob Burns and his brother Farrar made their start in music, with Bob being credited with the invention of the
bazooka
Bazooka () is the common name for a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the ...
, a musical instrument bearing some resemblance to a
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
. During Burns' period of fame his mother operated a gift shop out of their home.
The house was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1976.
See also
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References
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Victorian architecture in Arkansas
Houses in Crawford County, Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Crawford County, Arkansas
Buildings and structures in Van Buren, Arkansas
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