A 1.35 m-high monolith that stands in Bürstadt's municipal area, the so-called Sackstein (49°39′19″N 8°26′4″E / 49.65528°N 8.43444°E / 49.65528; 8.43444), is probably a menhir from the late New Stone Age.

Also worthy of note are a number of finds from early La Tène times, for example a beaker shaped by hand with finger impressions dating from about 500 BC.

For the traveller, Bürstadt, where there was once a Carolingian royal court, lay halfway between the Nibelungenstadt (city connected with the Nibelungenlied) of Worms, founded by Celts, and the former Lorsch Abbey.

In 776, Eufemia, Count Kankor's daughter, donated her holdings in Villa et marca Babestat to the Lorsch Abbey.

In late April 873, at Whitsun, King Louis the German held his Imperial Assembly (placitum) in Bürstadt.

There were negotiations with Danish King Siegfried's legation and a reception for Great Moravian Prince Svatopluk’s envoy.

In May 1882, Peter Itzel, a Catholic priest from St. Michael’s, was stabbed to death by day labourer Fischbach, giving Bürstadt a bad reputation and the nickname Messerstecher (“Knifer”) On 10 July 1936 came the dedication of the first Erbhofdorf (“Heritage Farming Village”) in Hesse, Riedrode.

In 2005, the world's biggest rooftop photovoltaic system was brought into service in Bürstadt (40 000 m2 roof area; 5 MW output).

On 22 February 2007, the foundation was laid for one of Germany's biggest biogas facilities with an output of roughly 2.2 MW, and on 5–7 September 2008, the EnergieTrends+ fair was held for the first time.

The Lorsch cross fitchy (that is, with a point on the bottom arm) recalls the time from 767 to 1262 when the town was one of the Abbey's holdings.

In 1461, Bürstadt was pledged to the Electorate of the Palatinate, hence the chief with the bendy lozengy (that is, made up of slanted diamonds of alternating tinctures) pattern.

In 1632, the town passed back to the Electorate of Mainz, and in 1803 belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, hence the red field behind the cross.