BARTON, MD

Barton was founded in 1853 by William Shaw Jr. to provide housing for local coal miners. It was named after Mr. Shaw's fathers hometown of Barton-upon-Humber, England. Although Barton most certainly was a coal mining community, it was never a privately owned company town, and there were several stores in a small commercial district. In 1918 Barton was incorporated. One of the coal mines at Barton was the Swanton Mine of Koontz Coal Company. Another was Jackson Big Vein-Georges Creek Coal Company's Caledonia Mine.

July 2003 image by authorThe post office and a historic coal miner's home in Barton, with a reclaimed strip mine high on the mountain in the background.

July 2003 image by authorDetail of the miner's home in Barton. The structure could be old enough to predate the Civil War.

July 2003 image by authorCoal stockpile and a very simple coal loading facility at Barton. A front end loader was on site to load coal into the trains. This facilty was probably still in use at the time of this photo. Part of the coal pile was smoldering when I took this photo.

Oct. 1981 image by David Dorsey, Maryland State ArchivesGood streetscape photo taken in Barton.