BURK STATION, TEXAS. Burk Station was a ranching community between Wichita Falls and Electra in northeastern Wichita County. It developed when rancher Samuel Burk Burnett built cattle pens at the site in the late 1870s. The tracks of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad reached the area in the early 1880s and acted as a catalyst for growth. Originally the site was referred to as Burke Switch or Station. By 1882 a hotel, a school, a cotton gin, and two stores served area ranchers and their families. In February 1886 the village acquired a post office branch named Ruthford in honor of Burnett's wife, Ruth B. (Lloyd). Three years later Ruthford competed for selection as the county seat but lost, after which most of the residents left for the new county seat, Wichita Falls. In 1889 the post office closed. For the next ten to fifteen years a few residents remained, but the discovery of oil in 1911 in Electra resulted in their departure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Louise Kelly, Wichita County Beginnings (Burnet, Texas: Eakin Press, 1982).
