From Kit Carson County Cattlemen's Association, p  46.
 

Later there was some difference of opinion as to just where the town should be. The railroad was built as far west as Western Kansas and it had not been decided where the new depot would be built when the railroad would come through Burlington. However, the railroad company settled the question by building the new depot west of the town of "Old Burlington". And then it was that R. S. Newell and C. H. Jilson, an officer of the railroad, two alert and enterprising businessmen and real estate men, at once plotted the new townsite and built the two-story brick building, then known as the Bank Building, now the Perry Wilson Building. By offering every other lot to those who would buy, the new town was soon active in building business houses, streets and homes. Bricks were made from clay from the banks of Beaver Creek south of town. The ruins and site of the old brickyard could still be pointed out as late as 1934.

The town of Burlington was incorporated on May 15, 1888, on the W 1/2 Section 31-8-43 and E 1, 2 Section 36-8-44. The incorporation notice was recorded by George Fahnow, the County Judge of Elbert County, at Kiowa on May 21, 1888. The town was incorporated in August, 1888.

On August 10, 1888, the first town election was held in the office of King Brothers at Burlington, Elbert County, Colorado. Votes cast were 41. The notice of the election was signed by T. G. Price, Daniel Kavanaugh, E. P. Worchester, and T. A. Bishop, the town commissioners, with the following the result of the election: T. F. Sutton, Mayor; Hi Wilson, Geo. W. Tally, Dan Kavanaugh, H. E. Neal, and M. E. Cooke, as trustees.

The first meeting of the new town council was held August 16, 1888, and H. E. Neal was elected secretary pro-tem. The following were then elected to serve the town:

T. Ellis Browne, City Clerk and Recorder; S. K. King, Town Attorney; A. Danthel, Marshal; I. B. Cory, Town Treasurer; E. P. Worchester, Police Magistrate.

In 1889 Kit Carson County was formed and Burlington was decided on as the County Seat, and the following year a new court house was built.

By 1900 Burlington was an up and coming town with many improvements and was attracting the attention of people in the east who wanted to come west to make their home.

From the Burlington Call, 1935.

The "Settlement".
Russian Germans, Ukraine Migrants, began coming to Kit Carson County in 1889-1890 and settled in an area northwest of Burlington and Bethune, and started what is now known as the Russian (German) Settlement. These people were originally Germans, having migrated to Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great in the 1810's. They remained true Germans and did not accept the Russian way of life. When life there became unbearable they left and came to America (the next generation). Many of them had stopped in the Dakotas before coming to Colorado. They chose this part of the county on account of the sandy soil which would produce some crop every year, even in a shortage of rain, whereas the black dirt soil farther east would require more rainfall to produce.

Chris Dobler came and took up the first homestead in the Settlement. August Adolf was the second. Soon others followed the Strobels, Schaals, Baltzers, Bauders and others.

A. W. Adolf, born in June, 1890, was the first white child to be born in the Settlement. He is still living in 1963.

In 1908 the Russian Settlement consisted of 25 families in one township started ten miles north of Burlington. These people were all very thrifty and they were getting more cattle and horses and making better improvements as they became more prosperous and were on their way to becoming rich.

They started the Emanuel Lutheran Church in 1890-91. It is the oldest American Lutheran Church in eastern Colorado and is located ten miles north and one east of' Bethune. 'The first little rock church building was built in 1893 with Rev. Daniel Mayer as pastor. In 1911 some of the members pulled away from the Lutheran church and started the Hope Congregational Church located just one mile north of the other church.

Bethune.
Bethune was on the map in 1888 after the coming of the railroad.

Fred G. Thomas, the son of Elder Thomas, was born here on June 29, 1889.

Dr. Gillette and Sam Beidelman organized the first school district in the new county. A Mr. Reddington donated an acre of ground and a school house was built in 1889. This District was known as School District No. 1 of Bethune. Mrs. Alta Yersin was one of the early day teachers here. Mrs. Grace Griswold was another.

Mr. Sheafer, Mrs. Yersin's father, operated one of the first grocery stores in the new town. Later he became Judge in Kit Carson County.

James Pfaffly worked on the section for the railroad in 1897. The families of Pfaffly, Flexor, Sheafer, Gruell, Wilson, Paisley and Kern were among the early residents here.

The first rural mail route out of Bethune went north in 1909. The town was incorporated in 1926, and in 1927 a special election was held for the issuance of $5,000.00 for water bonds to install a water system.