Burr Bannister was born in 1837 in New York to Harwood and Elsa Boyd Bannister. He received his education at Rochester and Lima in New York before coming briefly to Michigan in 1855. From there he moved to Richmond, Virginia where he lived when the Civil War broke out. Dr. Bannister, a practicing dentist at the time, joined the Confederate army in 1861 at the age of 24. In 1862 at Fort Donelson he was captured and sent to camp Douglas near Chicago where he was held for over eight months. After his release he moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan and opened his own dentistry practice in rooms 4 and 5 Chase Block Kalamazoo, Michigan. He contributed further to the field of dentistry when he and George F. Green patented an automatic tooth plugger in 1867. Along with his dentistry practice he had the Kalamazoo Emery Wheel Company which accumulated significant wealth, making Dr. Bannister a prominent member of the community. In 1864 he married his wife Lucy Bannister, together they had two children named Guy and Walter. Guy went on to become a dentist like his father, and took over the dentistry business in Kalamazoo after his father passed away in 1916.