This 1908 early photograph, three years after Burley's founding, illustrates the new wood buildings and sidewalks. The stone building on right is the former Yacht Club. (ISHS 76-1493)

 

The seat of Cassia county was named for railroad agent David E. Burley in 1905. Minidoka Dam made the city a processing center for sugar beets and potatoes. A handsome wooden station opened in 1906. A water tower and windmill faced the Burley Hotel at the intersection of Main Street and Overland Street, later the site of a city flagpole. Soon a brick two-story opera house opened on the northwest corner of Main and Oakley. Van Engelens, established in 1910, became Burley's largest department store. As brick replaced wooden structures on Main Street. Five globe lights lined concrete sidwalks. Over the years the storefronts were modernized to keep pace with changing styles.

          Burley began losing its preeminence when commercial uses and services expanded out from the city center. The completion of the interstate highway in 1973, while decreasing truck traffic downtown, also decreased the number of potential customers for downtown shops and motels. Gradually the city was loosing its historic identity. Still the core of old Burley remains. As part of a master plan for urban revitalization, the City of Burley is working the Planmakers to recapture the warmth and beauty of the city's historic downtown.