Dentist, Landowner, Burbank Namesake

That name--Burbank--so familiar worldwide thanks largely to entertainment giants NBC, Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros., is the legacy of a land-rich dentist.

David Burbank, a native of New Hampshire who tended to teeth in Maine and San Francisco before moving to Southern California in 1867, made his everlasting mark through land ownership in the eastern San Fernando Valley.

Historians say Burbank was quick to buy land, and lots of it.

The same year he arrived in the area, Burbank bought about 9,000 acres in the region that would one day bear his name. Much of the acreage had once been Spanish and Mexican land grants given to soldiers such as Jose Maria Verdugo, who settled his massive estate in the late 1700s. But by the time Burbank arrived, he was buying from established Anglos.

“He bought the majority of Burbank,” said Mary Jane Strickland, president and founder of the Burbank Historical Society. “He was very instrumental.”

Burbank and his wife, Clara, built a home on what later became a Warner Bros. studio back lot and ran a sheep ranch. Over the years Burbank was credited with providing land for the first school in the area and establishing the Burbank Theater in Los Angeles.

In 1887, about 20 years after arriving from San Francisco, Burbank sold much of his property to the Providencia Land, Water and Development Co.

In May of that year he watched as the city of Burbank was founded. He died in 1895 at age 73, and the city was incorporated in July 1911.