Burt, ND is along Highway 21 in Hettinger County, roughly sixty miles southwest of Bismarck/Mandan. The post office was established in 1910 at Burt, which had previously been known as Alton. The name was changed to avoid confusion with Alton Junction.
Burt once had 200 people but is now home to a couple dozen.
Burt even had a newspaper once upon a time — the Burt Echo was the “official paper for Hettinger County” from 1914 to 1919 and featured both English and German-language columns for the predominantly German settlers in the area.
We visited Burt during a trip to check out a bunch of abandoned places in the southwest part of North Dakota — places like Lefor, Haley, Bucyrus and Gascoyne.
The main occupants of this place now are horses.
I really loved this place. That facade really says “frontier.”
Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, copyright Sonic Tremor Media LLC
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adjective: abandoned
1. having been deserted or cast off.
verb: abandon
1. cease to support or look after; desert.
2. leave (a place or vehicle) empty or uninhabited, without intending to return.
3. condemn someone or something to (a specified fate) by ceasing to take an interest in or look after them.
Ghosts of North Dakota 
I have fond memories of Burt. We used to go roller skating in Burt. The floor was warped and if you stood at one end you would roll to the other end. There pictures of the rink building in your collection.
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My family spent a lot of time in Burt. We lived 10 miles north and my older siblings went to the school there. i remember stopping at the store and post office often. And of course we went to the roller skating sessions every Saturday night during Lent. A great meeting place!
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I have property in Burt that i inheirited and have never been there. I would love to speak to some one that has memories of the town that they could share with me! Thanks!
Chris
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My grandparents George and Margaret Meier resided in Burt.
I believe around the corner is where the Roll’s
Lived
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I always wanted to check out Burt but never made it yet. My grandparents were Regina and Innozent Meier. They resided there many years. Your grandfather and mine were brothers.
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I live in Burt right now, or well my family does and im there weekends… the 2 houses side by side that there were pictures taken of are now long gone, and now stands a brand new shop and soon to be another in those spots… we hated to do it, but we found it nessicary after we had all our stuff hailed out a couple years ago… hated to lose the history there… I have some VERY old pictures of this place tho from probly about the 1920s
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Please contact me regarding Burt, I have some questions that you might have answers to. I will be in Burt this summer for the first time to explore couple acres (mentioned above by Chris) that my dad owns and neither of us have ever seen
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Matt Hellman
1-25-14
I worked for my uncle Alex Friedt Sr. back in the early 1950’s. His son Val Friedt and a bunch of other guys would go to dances in Burt. After the dances were over we would go over to the Curve, aanother eating place and dance Hall. Great times back then. I live in Oregon now and we go back to N.D. often since my wife is also from N.D. We are headed back there this coming July. Western N.D. has changed so much since the oil Boom, will never be the same.
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I am going to Burt this weekend to look at three acres. Does Burt have any history of flooding? The contact name is Roger.
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I grew up about 15 or 20 miles north of Burt. For my first year of school, I attended a one room school house a mile from our farm. Then it closed and we went to the “big’ school in Burt–two rooms!! I attended there for three years before it closed and we went to Mott Public Schools. The building with the green trim was once a store. I can remember all the candy that was sold there. I rarely got to buy any of it. These were fun times for our rural community.
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Kelsie, was that school, the Odessa school house?
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I grew up 8 miles north of Burt. I remember lots of good times roller skating back in the day. My parents have also spoke of the dances back in there day.
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My grandparents lived in Burt . I went to school their for two years, third and fourth grade, and then went to school in Mott and graduated there. My siblings and I went rooler skating there also . I and my husband had our wedding reception and dance there. Great place and many memories.
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Hello,
My name is Mark Jarrett and I am a location manager from Texas (http://m.imdb.com/name/nm1810035/) scouting for a film project.
One of our main locations is an old farmhouse in the Northwest North Dakota Area. These pictures loom great, but I worry Burt is too far from Williston (where we are).
Does anyone associated w this know where other old homesteads are?
The house we’re looking for (ideally) would be two stories with a porch. It wd still be habitable (maybe some furniture inside, rugs, etc.)
Big Thank you for any information or leads.
Mark
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Mark Jarrett, Reply to an old post; but still….furnished old farmhouse in southwestern ND. Outside of a town called Reeder, ND. Two stories, porch, couple of barns.
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The building with the green trim was the Burt Tavern
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The building in the photo above captioned – “the main occupants of this place are now horses”, used to be the Burt Post Office. The building used to be located one lot to the north. When my grandmother sold the house the new owner moved it to the lot next door as that lot had a basement. The lean-to on the right side of the building (as well as the small addition on the back, seen in one of the photos up higher) were added after 1945 when my grandmother left ND. The original front door to the PO was where the smaller window is now located. I have a photo of my grandparents, my uncle, & my mother out in front of that building around 1935 or so.
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Just ran across this site,what memories! My parents, Pete & Irene Jorda owned the
Burt tavern,the place that had the roller skating and fun dances. We lived above the tavern for years. Am amazed there is such an interest in this 0ld town that was once very much alive. I am now reminiscing about our neighbors, all the neighborhood kids,the 2 room school house etc. Thanks for the post!
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