Burr Parking Service Then and Now

609 First Avenue

Hiram T Burr of Coldwater arrived in Dodge City in 1908. His father, Harvey, was an insurance agent and Hiram followed in his footsteps.

In those days, Burr shared an office with real estate agent L. L. Taylor in Gluck’s Opera House. Insurance and real estate go together like peanut butter and jelly and Burr was very successful at both. He was also an enthusiastic booster of Dodge City’s development.

To explain why Dodge needed a parking garage in the 1950s, we have to go back to our unsuccessful campaign for the Cowboy Hall of Fame. That planned structure was enormous and if it had been built, a whole lot of additional downtown parking would have been required. You also have to keep in mind that several sites were considered for the Municipal Auditorium, which we all know as the Civic Center. In 1952, Burr and E. A. Brown planned to build a parking garage at the north end of what is now a City lot at Third and Walnut/Gunsmoke.

That hill going up toward Boot Hill Distillery would be a perfect spot for a multilevel garage and if the old First National Bank building is redeveloped, I would say it could still be done.

The site at Third and Walnut didn’t work out so Burr redirected his efforts toward a spot on First Avenue across from the Courthouse. Those lots had been mostly residential until at least the 1930s but the homes were long gone by the time Burr had the four-level garage designed in 1954.

The Burr garage was designed by Gurtner and Robison of Dodge City. Hunter Construction Company of Hays was chosen as the general contractor.

The Globe reported more than 1,800 people attended the grand opening on September 8, 1955. In addition to parking for approximately 150 vehicles, the garage housed a 24-hour service station with two gas pumps.

Sadly, Burr died at Trinity Hospital the night of the grand opening at the age of 75. (Find a Grave incorrectly shows his date of death as September 12.)

Burr’s daughters, Helen Davies and Isabel Woodruff, operated the businesses along with their husbands after his death.

Southwestern Bell bought the parking garage in the Summer of 1969 as part of their expansion. At one point, their marketing department occupied the corner building just to the north of the garage.

In the mid-1980s, the garage was purchased by the gentlemen who resurrected the Lora-Locke Hotel.

A taxi company also operated out of the garage around that time. By 1990, the structure had been renamed Plaza Parking Garage and I believe that was when Mike Burkhart’s company was the sole owner.

In September of 2007, the Ford County Commission voted to swap with Plaza Professional Center, Inc. to obtain the parking garage. In exchange, Burkhart got a County Fire Department building at First and Water. The garage has been owned by Ford County ever since.

This is how the former Burr Parking Service looks today:

Unless you spend time wandering through alleys, you probably think the number of levels is a typo. I assure you there are, indeed, four levels to this garage.

This structure is definitely underutilized and it definitely needs a ton of work. Fortunately, it is listed as a contributing structure in the Dodge City Downtown Historic District. There are state and federal grants available not only for historic buildings but also for public spaces. Having participated in Future Problem Solvers, I know it’s never that easy. But I also know it’s not a lost cause.

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