Description

Photo of Prescott hotel owner Dennis A. Burke (third from left) and businessman and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst (holding the flag) in Prescott during Hearst's trip through the West as a United States congressman.

Dennis Burke (b. 1859 - d. 1918) came to Arizona Territory as a soldier at Fort Verde and Whipple Barracks in Prescott. He is best known for his construction of the Burke Hotel in Prescott. In 1890 Dennis and his partner, Michael J. Hickey, purchased two lots on the southwest corner of Montezuma and Gurley Streets and hired a Phoenix architect, Samuel E. Patton, to design a two-story hotel. Construction proceeded quickly, and the new Burke Hotel opened with much fanfare on New Year’s Day, 1891. It was designed in a remarkable forward-thinking manner, with bedrooms “single and en suite,” furnished in the latest style. It was billed as the “Finest, Largest, and Best Appointed Hotel in Northern Arizona.”

The Burke Hotel was destroyed during the Fire of 1900 that ravaged Whiskey Row. When reconstruction of the hotel began in 1901, the owners installed a large number of fire extinguishers and iron fire escapes at the ends of the hallways. In 1907, Burke sold his interest in the hotel to Hickey, who rechristened it the Hotel St. Michael.

In addition to being a hotel proprietor, Burke served as Mayor of Prescott in 1903 and 1905, two terms as the Yavapai County Treasurer in 1897-1900, and in the Territorial Seventeenth Legislative Assembly in 1893-1895. He was again elected to serve with the Twenty-fourth Territorial Assembly in 1907-1909.Burke died on November 3, 1918 after suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis.