You’ve heard about his park, Burnett Plaza, Burnett Street, the BurkBurnett Building, and perhaps even the town of Burkburnett, Texas, but who was Samuel “Burk” Burnett?    A New York Times article about his passing in 1922 sheds light on the early Fort Worth philanthropist.

CAPT. S. B. BURNETT DEAD.

Pioneer Texas Oil Man and Rancher Dies in Fort Worth at 73.

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 27 (Associated Press) — Captain S. Burk Burnett, oil man, rancher and owner of hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas lands, died at his home here early today.  He had been in ill health more than a year, but his condition became alarming only yesterday.  He was born in Missouri in 1849.

The famous oil town Burkburnett was named after him, and, in addition to his vast grazing lands, Captain Burnett’s oil interests were immense.  His land was among the first in Texas to reveal the presence of the golden fluid.

Captain Burnett also was a dominant figure in the commercial development of the Southwest.  He had stock in many banks and other industrial and commercial concerns.

A pioneer resident of Texas, to which he was brought by his parents at the age of 8, Captian Burnett literally carved his fortune from the wild and wooly” West.  In that decade the cattle industry occupied the commercial life of Texas and young Burnett’s attention was turned to it.
In 1875 Captain Burnett had developed his holdings to 30,000 acres.  In 1900 he purchased the famous 666[6] Ranch in King County, which includes more than 200,000 acres.  He also possessed the Dixon Creek Ranch in Carson County of more than 100,000 acres.