The company was an offshoot of the W. Starling Burgess Shipyard, of Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Burgess was charged licensing fees of $1000 per aircraft and $100 per exhibition flight.

Burgess designed and flight tested most of the aircraft that were manufactured at the two plant sites in Marblehead.

The Burgess Company then operated as a manufacturing subsidiary producing Curtiss's naval training aircraft in late 1916 and continued to produce these aircraft under the Burgess name during World War I until its main production facility was totally destroyed by fire on November 8, 1918.

17) in December 1914 was the first in the Army to demonstrate two-way air-to-ground radio communications.