Burlington was laid out in 1828 by David Stipp and was promoted as the seat of a new county to be made partly from the Great Miami Reserve, which began two miles east. The Lafayette & Muncie Road crossed the Great Michigan Road there. It became an important stage stop, mill village, and trading center for both whites and Indians from the Reservation. Among the early families were Ewing, Foster, Gwinn, Harness, Landrum, Rinker, Shinn, and Stockton. It was incorporated as a town in 1967.