The earliest settlers located in the area in the fall of 1868, with 10 more families following in the spring. As the settlement continued to grow, the railroad continued to build west along the Elkhorn River. When a depot was constructed in Antelope County in 1880, just across the line from Madison County, the village of Burnett was founded spanning the Madison/Antelope County Line. Incorporation was completed in October of 1885 with an official census of 218 people.

Because Burnett's mail was continually being mixed up with that of a town by the name of Bennett, the U.S. Post Office officially changed the name of the village to Tilden in 1887, after a presidential candidate by the name of Samual J. Tilden. Mr. Tilden was opposing Rutherford B. Hayes, who won the presidential bid. Older townfolk continued to use the name Burnett until the town council enforced the name change by ordinance.