In 1854, the Buras Post Office was established, along with a regular mail route by packet boat on the river.

In April 1862, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip took place near Buras.

Union Flag Officer David Farragut led a fleet up the river to capture New Orleans and engaged the forts in the early morning hours of April 23.

One of the first producing fields was established in Quarantine Bay, east of Buras, by the Gulf Oil Company.

With the coming of the oil and gas industries, Buras began to slowly evolve from a farming and fishing village into a larger community.

More recently, this area was the location where, on August 29, 2005, the eye of Hurricane Katrina first made landfall in Louisiana.

However, the loss of surrounding marsh lands to erosion and subsidence allowed the energy of Hurricane Katrina's storm surge to overtop the levee system and the area was devastated yet again.

The image of the previous tower, collapsed in the rubble, was an icon of the destruction Katrina brought.

Approximately 3,000 acres (12 km2) of the area are drained by two stormwater pumping stations, one north of Buras and one in Triumph.