Robert Louis Burns (January 12, 1876 – March 17, 1955) was an American politician, attorney, and businessman who served as a member of the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

school board from 1923 to 1929 and the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

from 1929 to 1945. At the time of his death in 1955, he was described as a local "elder statesman."

Early life

Burns was born January 12, 1876 in

Knoxville, Iowa Knoxville is a city in Marion County, Iowa, United States. The population was 7,595 at the time of the 2020 census, an increase from 7,313 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Marion County. Knoxville is home of the National Sprint Ca ...

, the son of William E. Burns of

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

, and Dulcina Elizabeth French of

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. He had three brothers. He graduated from high school in

Hutchinson, Kansas Hutchinson is the largest city and county seat in Reno County, Kansas, United States, and located on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch". As of the 2020 cen ...

Career

He later became a lawyer and worked as the business manager of ''

The Hutchinson News ''The Hutchinson News'' is a daily newspaper serving the city of Hutchinson, Kansas, United States. The publication was awarded the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service "for its courageous and constructive campaign, culminating in 1964, to bri ...

.'' He also engaged in coal mining and the telephone business. He and a brother began a

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

that grew into the Consolidated Flour Mills of Kansas, His company was the first in the nation to introduce the

eight-hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 16 ...

for mill employees. In 1916, he retired and moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the

Los Angeles Country Club The Los Angeles Country Club is a golf and country club on the west coast of the United States, located in Los Angeles, California. History In the fall of 1897, a group of Los Angeles residents organized the Los Angeles Golf Club, and a lot wa ...

. Burns was a Presbyterian and a Republican.

Politics

Kansas

Burns was on the

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

, for five years.

Los Angeles

Burns first ran for election to the

Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

in May 1923, when he came in thirteenth in a field of twenty, a sufficiently high result to be nominated for election to the seven-member board. In the final vote in June, he was third and was elected. He was reelected in 1925 and 1927 but announced in January 1929 that he would run for the City Council. As a school board member, he attended the unveiling of a portrait of the late school superintendent

Susan Miller Dorsey Susan Miller Dorsey (February 16, 1857 – February 5, 1946) served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools from 1920 to 1929. Biography Susan Almira Miller was born in Penn Yan, New York, the daughter of James and Hannah ...

in 1929 and cast one of the favorable votes the same year to purchase the surplus property of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

campus on

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length betwe ...

to be used by

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus ...

City Council

Burns was first elected to represent the 4th District on the City Council in 1929, was repeatedly reelected for sixteen years, and for half of that time was the council president, serving as acting mayor when the mayor himself was out of the state. Known as an opponent of "radicals and subversives," Burns was opposed in his candidacy in 1935 by James A. Farley,

postmaster-general A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a Ministry (government department), ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having ...

of the United States and chairman of the national Democratic Party, in telegrams sent to two council members. In January 1930, Burns and seven other council members who had voted in favor of granting a rock-crushing permit in the Santa Monica Mountains were unsuccessfully targeted for recall on the grounds that the eight "have conspired with

Alphonzo Bell Alphonzo Edward Bell Sr. (September 29, 1875 – December 27, 1947) was an American oil multi-millionaire, real estate developer, philanthropist, and champion tennis player. The westside Los Angeles residential community of Bel Air is name ...

, Samuel Traylor and Chapin A. Day, all multi-millionaires, to grant this group a special spot zoning permit to crush and ship from the high-class residential section of Santa Monica, limestone and rock for cement." Burns was one of the six council members who in July 1931 lost a vote to appeal a judge's decision ordering an end to racial restrictions in city-operated swimming pools. The pools had previously been restricted by race to certain days or hours. Burns was appointed to the Water and Power Commission in 1945 and subsequently to the Recreation and Park Commission. He headed the Coliseum Commission in 1947. A city park in Windsor Square at

Beverly Boulevard Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east–west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtown ...

and Van Ness Avenue was named after him in 1959.

Personal life

Burns was married to Sarah Bertram of Kentucky on October 11, 1898; they had four sons, William B., Robert J., Harry F. and John A. Burns died March 17, 1955, in his home at 672 South Serrano Avenue, between

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...

and Seventh Street. He was buried in

Inglewood Park Cemetery Inglewood Park Cemetery, 720 East Florence Avenue in Inglewood, California, was founded in 1905. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed there. History The proposed est ...

Notes

References

External links

Portrait of Robert L. Burns, City Council President, Los Angeles, California, 1935.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Robert L. 1876 births 1955 deaths Presidents of the Los Angeles City Council Politicians from Hutchinson, Kansas People from Knoxville, Iowa Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery California Republicans Kansas Republicans