City of Burbank

History Of Burbank

Burbank is a city built by People, Pride, and Progress. These three ingredients turned a tiny, rural town into the thriving community it is today.

In the beginning, the land occupied by the present City was part of two large Spanish land grants. The first was the vast Rancho San Rafael, granted to Don Jose Maria Verdugo by the Spanish government in 1798. Nearby Rancho La Providencia was created following Mexico's successful bid for independence from Spain in 1821.

The real history of the city, though, began when a New Hampshire dentist headed west with the thousands of Americans seeking new opportunities. This was at a time when men like Isaac Lankershim and Isaac Van Nuys were changing the face of the San Fernando Valley.

Investing In The Future

Dr. David Burbank was active in Los Angeles real estate when he purchased portions of both ranchos in 1867. He combined them into a large ranch where he raised sheep, built a ranch house (on what was later Warner Bros. backlot) and occasionally sold off small plots of land.

Realizing that bringing in the railroad would increase the value of his ranch, Dr. Burbank sold the Southern Pacific Railroad a stretch of right-of-way for one dollar. The first train passed through Burbank on April 5, 1874.

During the rate war between the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads, low fares brought people streaming into California and Dr. Burbank once more seized the opportunity. In 1886, he sold his property to a group of land speculators for $250,000 and the Providencia Land, Water and Development Company was formed.

The speculators laid out a business district, started construction on a "brick block building" which still stands on the corner of San Fernando Blvd. and Olive Avenue, and subdivided the property into small farms and residential lots. They opened the tract for sale on May 1, 1887, and the town of Burbank was born.

The population of the town was 500 when the voters approved incorporation in 1911. That same year, civic boosters began a campaign to have the Pacific Electric Streetcar line extended from Glendale into Burbank. The citizens of Burbank had to put up a $48,000 subsidy to get the reluctant P.E. officials to agree. The first Red Car rolled into Burbank on September 6, 1911.

Leading the opposition to the public fundraising was J.W. Fawkes, who had patented the first monorail car in the United States. He built a prototype on his Burbank ranch, running a line between Lake and Flower Streets. Fawkes called his invention the "Aerial Swallow." City officials, however, called it "Fawkes' Folly" and the proposed monorail system never materialized.

Burbank Continues to Grow

The following years brought marked progress in Burbank's development as a city. In 1917, civic leaders Ralph O. Church and Maurice Spazier convinced Walt Moreland to relocate his truck company to Burbank by offering him a free site to build.

The $25,000 cost was raised to buy the Luttge farm at San Fernando Blvd. and Alameda Avenue and the Moreland Truck Company became Burbank's first major industry. For years afterward, the Moreland trucks traveled the highways of the world bearing the label "Made in Burbank."

The 1920's saw a period of growth and real estate development with the population increasing from 2,913 in 1920 to 16,622 in 1930.

Earl L. White knew the value of a connecting link from Burbank to the Cahuenga Pass. When he couldn't get help from the City, he cleared the underbrush through Dark Canyon and graded the street. This link is now Barham Blvd. and Hollywood Way.

White developed the Magnolia Park area and by 1929, more than 3,500 homes had been built. The area had a shopping center at the corner of Hollywood Way and Magnolia Blvd., a bank, Burbank's first radio station, KELW, and Magnolia Park's own newspaper, The Tribune.

The Changing Face of the City

A new City Hall was built by City employees and opened in 1943. Still standing as a local landmark, the marble building has been named to the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Burbank's boom didn't end with the war. A postwar real estate boom left few undeveloped areas in the community. A ten-year capital improvement program produced many new municipal facilities, most of which were completed when the City celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1961.

During the 1960s and 1970s, more and more of the Hollywood entertainment industry were relocating to Burbank. The National Broadcasting Company moved its network television headquarters to its new location at Olive and Alameda avenues. By 1962, NBC's multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art complex was completed.

On June 28, 1978, the airport was purchased from Lockheed through a tri-city authority. The newly named Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport is the largest privately owned municipal airport in the United States.

Burbank continues to look to the future with the same "can-do" attitude of the early City pioneers. With the energy crisis of the 70s and the drought conditions of the 80s and 90s, Burbank quickly responded with conservation programs to deal with the environmental issues. The City has a nationally acclaimed recycling program and uses reclaimed water for landscape irrigation.