DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's worth every mile to hear. Way back in the 1820s, a man named John M. Burton made his way out of Georgia and into Texas.
He was the kind of man who showed up early, and I mean early — when Texas was still finding itself. By 1834, he'd settled into this particular stretch of Washington County, and there he stayed. Now, Burton was patient.
Patient the way only a man with deep roots can be. He watched the decades turn, watched Texas change around him, and then in 1869, when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad came pushing through, he did something that would outlast him considerably — he sold land for a townsite. John M.
Burton, born in 1806, died in 1877, never saw all of what that decision would grow into, but he planted the seed sure enough. The post office opened September 23rd, 1870, with Charles Huberich serving as postmaster, and just like that, Burton had a name on the map. The town filled in fast the way frontier towns do — a mercantile store, a lumber yard, a blacksmith, a tin shop, a cotton gin, an oil mill, a drugstore, a leather shop.
You needed it, Burton had it. But here's where the story gets the kind of weight that makes you go quiet around a campfire. The noted Texas Ranger Captain L.
H. McNelly lived here in this community. After his service with the State Police, he came home to Burton, and between 1874 and 1877, he raised two Ranger units that — and I'm taking this straight from the marker — reflected credit on the citizens of the Burton community.
A railroad, a post office, a town full of trades — and a Ranger captain who called this place home. Burton didn't just grow. It earned itself.
What the marker says
John M. Burton (1806-77) of Georgia came to Texas in the 1820s, and to this area in 1834. When the Houston & Texas Central Railroad was being built in 1869, he sold land for townsite. Post office opened Sept. 23, 1870, with Charles Huberich as postmaster. Early businesses included a mercantile store, lumber yard, blacksmith, tin shop, cotton gin, oil mill, drugstore, and leather shop. The noted Texas Ranger Captain L. H. McNelly lived here. After service with State Police, he came home and raised two Ranger units that reflected credit on citizens of the Burton community, 1874-1877.