Burlington is a

home rule municipality Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

and most populous community of Kit Carson County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, United States. The city population was 3,172 at the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

History

Burlington was originally laid out one mile west of its present location in 1887 by a man named Lowell in anticipation of the arrival of the railroad. In addition to having the location wrong, Lowell also did not have title to the land. When the railroad did arrive, the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

, it built its depot at the present site of Burlington and those who had built in Old Burlington moved their buildings to the new townsite. Trains began running in 1888. "The Settlement", about 12 miles northwest of Burlington, was settled by German immigrants from Russia, many from Hoffnungstal, South Russia, who, in addition to their homesteads, built Congregational and Lutheran churches.

Geography

Burlington is located at (39.304293, -102.268683) on the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

in eastern Colorado. At the

, the city had a total area of , all of it land. The easternmost interchange in Colorado on

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

is located at Burlington.

Climate

Burlington has a typical High Plains cool semi-arid climate with hot, dry summers punctuated by occasional heavy thunderstorm rains, and cold, very dry winters. Snowfall is occasionally heavy – the 1971 to 2000 mean was – but mostly the winter weather is very dry and extremely variable in temperatures. More than 33 afternoons (over a third) each winter can be expected to reach or exceed , but 6.5 mornings each year will drop to or under and 24.6 afternoons do not top freezing.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 4,191 people, 1,478 households, and ? families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,478 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 84.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 6.2%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.2% Native American, 0.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 8.5% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.90% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 27.5% of the population. There were 1,287 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.11. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 121.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 126.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,854, and the median income for a family was $42,500. Males had a median income of $29,167 versus $19,018 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $16,054. About 12.2% of families and 14.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Burlington is a

Education

Burlington Public Schools are part of the Burlington Public School District RE-6J. The district has one elementary school, one middle school and one high school. Burlington also has several private schools. Burlington Elementary School, Burlington Middle School and Burlington High School are located in Burlington.

Media

Print

Burlington has a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

, ''The Burlington Record''. A run of 3 years, 1910–1912, of the ''Kit Carson County Record'' is archived in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.

Radio

The following

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

s are

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to Burlington: AM FM

National Historic Landmark

* Kit Carson County Carousel (National Historic Landmark)

Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in or have lived in Burlington include: *

Mark Hillman Mark Hillman was elected to the Colorado State Senate in 1998. He served as Majority Leader from 2003 to 2004 and Minority Leader in 2005 before serving as State Treasurer from 2005 to 2006. He is a member of the Republican Party and was ele ...

(1967- ), Colorado state legislator * Robert P. Kerr (1892-1960), film director, actor, screenwriter * Mike Lounge (1946-2011), engineer, astronaut * Beau McCoy (1980- ), Nebraska state legislator * Susan Phillips (politician), Susan Phillips (1949- ), Missouri state legislator

References

External links

City of Burlington websiteCDOT map of the City of BurlingtonThe Early Days of Burlington (PDF)
{{Authority control Cities in Kit Carson County, Colorado Cities in Colorado County seats in Colorado German-Russian culture in Colorado Populated places established in 1887 1887 establishments in Colorado