A University Town

By Hannah Schaefer

Burbank is a town along the old Dakota Southern Railroad about 6 miles from Vermillion and the University of South Dakota. It was named for John Burbank, the governor of Dakota Territory and a railroad director, when the line came through in 1872.

Burbank doesn’t look like a college town when you first arrive. The little village is surrounded by corn that grows 7 feet high in the lush bottomlands of the Missouri River.

Burbank has dirt streets. Chickens outnumber people two to one, and its most prominent architectural features are a railroad track and an old grain elevator.

But nearly every Burbanker has a connection to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, just 6 miles away.

Jim Slattery runs Whimp’s, Burbank’s only eatery — and its only business — along with his brothers Nick and Tom. He learned to cook at the Silver Dollar in Vermillion while studying political science at USD.

He acknowledges that the town looks more like a traditional farm town. Some of the locals wear Coyote red with their seed corn caps, and they frequent Whimp’s along with professors and students. “The farmers know I’m a city boy,” Slattery grins. “I haven’t been asked to drive a tractor, but I can do that.”

Whimp’s was started in 1967 by Leonard “Whimpy” Girard and it has been a staple ever since, thanks to the Taggarts and Radigans who also spent stints as owners. Now it’s the Slatterys’ turn. All four families are “old names,” both in Clay County and on the USD campus.

The Slattery brothers haven’t changed the menu or decor since buying Whimp’s as well as Toby’s, a popular chicken shack in nearby Meckling — which is like a sister city to Burbank on the west side of Vermillion.

Whimp’s’ menu has six signature burgers (Burbank, Keg, Cornhusker, Mushroom & Swiss, BBQ Bacon Cheddar and the Dark Lord). “We’re one of the few places you can still get liver and onions,” Slattery says.

Popular specials include the $5 cheeseburgers on Tuesdays, chicken wings on Wednesdays and all-you-can-eat spaghetti on Thursdays, with mouth-watering meatballs made from tenderloin trimmings.

Carley Johnson, Grace Reynolds and Taryn Taggart are students at USD and waitresses at Whimp's, a popular eatery in Burbank.

“If we can make it, we do it,” Slattery says.

Ted and Karen Muenster — namesakes of USD’s Muenster University Center — were at the bar for a recent spaghetti night. “We drive out here one or two nights a week,” says Ted, who’s now retired from a distinguished career in business, politics and academia. Karen served as a state senator from Sioux Falls and was a leader in historic restoration of downtown Vermillion for many years.

“Whimp’s has always been run by these old families who have been well-connected to the university,” Ted says. “Some people say it’s wicked,” he grins, gazing at the lawyers, teachers and retirees seated at simple tables.

Despite Burbank’s tiny population, Muenster notes that hundreds of thousands of people live within a 40-mile radius encompassing Yankton, Sioux City,  Sioux Falls and Vermillion, so Whimp’s is actually a dirt-street oasis in a well-populated region.

The tiny town has a history of attracting outsiders. Frank Verzani, an Italian immigrant, ran a ferry on the Missouri River, just a few miles away. His crossing was called Victors, and then Green Point. When the Dakota Southern Railroad extended into Dakota Territory in 1872, the community was renamed in honor of John Burbank, the fourth governor of the territory and a director of the railroad.

Bob Hudelson is one of the few Burbankers without a connection to the nearby university, but he knows history and his own life story sounds like a Charles Dickens novel. “I was raised on the streets of Sioux Falls,” he says. He escaped from an orphanage and made his own way as a child, thanks to the benevolence of kindly policemen, store owners and others who helped him find a place to sleep and a meal. On some cold nights, he remembers being locked inside stores so he would be safe and warm. “I wish I knew how to say thank you to the people of Sioux Falls who helped me survive as a boy,” he says.

Ted Muenster (left), a longtime champion of USD, is a regular at Whimp's, now run by Jim Slattery (right) and his brothers.

For 23 years, he and his wife Barbara have lived in Burbank, where he has soaked in the wicked past that Muenster referred to. Hudelson says Burbank was a wild cow town because ranchers brought stock here to be shipped on the railroad. He points to a house that was once a brothel and tells a story of when the notorious outlaw Jesse James nearly got involved in a shootout on main street.

Jerry and Colleen Johnson live across the street from the Hudelsons, along with a dozen ducks, 10 dogs and more than 200 chickens. Colleen takes the eggs with her to Vermillion every day, where she works as a custodian at the university.

“I like it here because at 6 o’clock at night it’s so quiet you could hear a pin dropping,” Johnson says. Or a rooster crowing.

Like any university town, Burbank has an ongoing fundraising project. It involves a historic school building that closed in 1972. Every September, the town holds a barbecue to raise money for repairs to the school, which is now used as a community center.

Nick Slattery, a local contractor and part-owner of Whimp’s, helps with the project. His brother, Jim, assists with the food.

“We’re here to help, whether it’s the schoolhouse or whatever,” Jim says. “This will not be a ghost town. There will always be people here.”

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the November/December 2024 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.