Married to Mary Strickland, Joe R. Burch arrived in Texas in the early 1850s and erected a house in what would become Mountain Springs in 1856.

A store was opened by Ed Runyon approximately 2½ miles south of Burch's cabin in 1877, and the post office was relocated there as well.

Mountain Springs boasted a general shop, grocer, pharmacist, blacksmith, and wagonmaker in 1890, along with a gristmill and gin.

[2] Mountain Springs is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 922 and 372, 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Gainesville in southeastern Cooke County.

Two couples surnamed Hodge and Rayzor were given land grants for the new school at Mountain Springs that year.