History-Burke Travel, Inc.

Burke Travel, Inc. was founded in 1950 by Jerome Burke as Jerry Burke Travel Service.  Jerry started out in the travel business working for the Kansas City Terminal Railway at Union Station in  Kansas City.  He went on from there to work at McGrade & Benton, a very early Steamship agency in Kansas City.  He opened his own travel agency  with a one person office in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1954, Jerry's son Joe opened an office in downtown Kansas City, KS, one block from our present location.  The original office was in the lobby of the Town House Hotel (formerly a first class hotel in downtown Kansas City, KS).  Joe was followed by his brother John, who is still working at the agency. 

In the 1980's, we changed the name of the agency to Burke Travel, Inc. to better reflect the current ownership, which is now in its third generation.