Burns Valley

Barton's Chapel is on Farm Road 2210 twelve miles south of Jacksboro in south central Jack County. The first settlements in the county, Salt Hill and Burns Valley, were in this area. Although a few farmers and ranchers were scattered throughout the Barton's Chapel area by the mid-1850s, it is possible that a series of Indian raids inhibited the development of a permanent community until the mid-1870s, when the Indians were driven from the county. By the early 1880s Oak Glen and Brown each had Methodist schools that served the cotton farmers and cattle ranchers who had begun to make the area their home. During the years 1908–09 the two communities decided to build a new church and schoolhouse at the intersection of the newly completed Jacksboro-to-Palo Pinto and Graham-to-Perrin roads. The buildings were constructed under the leadership of Rev. L. S. Barton. The new school community was called Barton; later residents referred to it as Barton's Chapel. The population of the community was estimated at twenty through the 1930s and 1940s.