By Pat Atchison
"Go west, young man, go west!" Many people heeded these words. Some were escaping their present life for one reason or another, some were seeking their fortune and some were seeking adventure. Dennis A. Burke was one who left his home in the midwest and followed this often-repeated advice.
Dennis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 21, 1859. He was the third son of Patrick and Mary Ann Burke who had emigrated from Galway, Ireland. The family was completed by the birth of two daughters.
Early in 1878, Dennis enlisted in the army in Chicago, Illinois. He was assigned as a private, to Company B, 12th Regiment, during the time of the Indian Wars. Dennis was sent to serve at Ft. Verde, Arizona Territory. During his tenure there, he was promoted first to Corporal and then to Sergeant. Before his discharge in October 1882, he was serving at Headquarters Department of Arizona at Whipple Barracks in Prescott.
After leaving the army, Dennis served as a civilian clerk/accountant at Whipple. This was during the tenure of General George Crook. At that time, Dennis met Jennie Murphy, an Irish lass who had accompanied the family of Colonel Benjamin, as a nanny, when they moved to Whipple. On The fourth of January 1883, Fr. Julius Deraches married Dennis and Jennie at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The growing family lived at Whipple through the birth of their first four children.
In 1890, Dennis entered the private business world. He and Michael J. Hickey bought two lots at the corner of Montezuma and Gurley Streets. On this piece of property, the Burke Hotel was constructed. The original building was a lovely structure consisting of two stories and was modern in every detail including electric lighting. In the mid- 1890s, a third story was added. Advertising claimed that the building was the "Only absolutely, fire-proof hotel in Prescott." This statement was tested on July 14, 1900. It was on this day that a great fire started on South Montezuma Street. As it moved through most of the business district, it consumed the beautiful Burke Hotel.
Undaunted, Burke and Hickey began plans to construct a new hotel on their property. This time, the building would be built of bricks in order to thwart further possible fires. A Phoenix architectural firm, D.W. Millard & Son, designed the building that was constructed by Sines and Maxwell, a local contracting firm. Business at the hotel was conducted by the partnership until 1908, when Dennis sold his share. After Dennis left, the hotel's name was changed to the one we know it by today, 'The Hotel St. Michael.'
Dennis Burke's business life did not consist solely of the Burke Hotel. He entered into several mining ventures over the years. The McCabe Extension Mining & Milling Company was a business enterprise that he entered into at the turn of the century. He served in the capacity of president.
Dennis belonged to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. In 1896, he was a charter member of Lodge 330 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. This organization frequently met at the Burke Hotel until its building on Gurley Street was completed in 1905
A democrat, Burke served his party and the public in several capacities. He was elected to serve in the Territorial Seventeenth Legislative Assembly (1893-1895). This group met from February 13 through April 13, 1893. During that time, laws were enacted to create a territorial museum and to mandate compulsory school attendance, among other things. Dennis was again elected to serve in the House. This time it was with the Twenty-fourth Territorial Legislature (1907-1909), meeting from January 21-March 21, 1907. This body decided to move the state prison from Yuma to Florence. It also created the office of public examiner and established regulatory means over optometry.
Dennis Burke also was elected to serve at the county and town levels of government. He served two terms as Yavapai County Treasurer (1897-1900). Other elections proclaimed him the mayor of Prescott, in which capacity he served two consecutive terms. The first began in January 1903 and the second in January 1905.
Six children (three boys and three girls) were born to Dennis and Jennie. When they moved "in to town," they lived on South Cortez Street. They later moved to 221 North Marina Street, where the family resided for many years.
Shortly after Dennis sold his portion of the Burke Hotel, he moved to Bouse in Yuma County (now La Paz County) with several of his children. He established a Burke Hotel in that town. Mrs. Burke maintained the family home in Prescott with several of the other children. In 1917 while sleeping on a cot at the hotel during warm weather, a poisonous insect attacked him. The wound on his hand did not heal, but did not bother him for some time, until it became infected. After consulting with various physicians, he decided that he needed a change of climate and he moved back to Prescott in the summer of 1918. His health continued to fail rapidly. In June 1918, he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. Death came to him at Mercy Hospital on November 3, 1918, as a result of tuberculosis. He was buried at Citizen's Cemetery on November 6th of that year.
Dennis was interred in the family plot next to his son, Dennis A. Burke, Jr. who died on March 28, 1898 due to cerebrospinal meningitis. He was just a few days short of his fifth birthday. An imposing granite curbing, with the name 'BURKE' chiseled into the step, surrounds the plot. In recent years, there have not been markers for either grave. This year, the Yavapai Cemetery Association secured a military marker for the senior Burke's gravesite. It was installed in early May. Appearing on the marble stone is the usual information that appears on such a marker. Additionally, it states that he served in the Indian Wars.
On Monday, May 26, 2003, The Yavapai Cemetery Association will produce the ninth annual Memorial Day Observance for the public at the Citizen's Cemetery. At 9:00 a.m., veterans, living-history groups and public figures will patriotically honor the pioneers and military people interred at the cemetery. Matthew Osvog, the seven year old great, great, great grandson of Dennis A. Burke, will place the memorial wreath at the flagpole.
(Pat Atchison is the Chairperson of the Yavapai Cemetery Association. George Goodwin, Carolyn Burke Lane, and Sylvia Silva also contributed to this article.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (buh7020p)
Reuse only by permission.
The Burke Hotel, c.1890s, was advertised as a fireproof hotel - until 1900 when it burned down! The hotel was rebuilt and later re-named Hotel St. Michael. It stands at the southwest corner of Montezuma and Gurley Streets. Although mostly known for the hotel, Dennis Burke served in many different levels of government, civic organizations, and the military. He, like many in his time, also invested in mines in Yavapai County.