John Burden

Who was John Burden?

John Allen Burden was a Seventh-day Adventist minister, administrator, and medical missionary instrumental in founding sanitariums, restaurants, and health food factories. At the age of 9, John attended Adventist meetings for the first time and was introduced to the writings of Ellen G. White, which left a lifelong impression upon him. Five years later he was baptized, and at the age of 18 moved with his family to Oregon. John met Eleanor A. Baxter as a student at Healdsburg College. They were married in 1888 while working for the Rural Health Retreat, of which John became manager in 1891.

In 1901 the Burdens went to Australia where they helped Merritt G. Kellogg who was founding the Wahroonga Sanitarium in Wahroonga, Sydney. By March 1904 the Burdens returned to the United States. Ellen G. White encouraged them not to unite with John Harvey Kellogg in Battle Creek, Michigan. Instead, John sought to establish a sanitarium near Los Angeles. Eight miles from the city he discovered the Glendale Hotel that had cost $60,000 to build in 1886. However because of local business failures, property value had declined so that he was able to purchase it for $12,500.