The family of John H. and Margaret Ford came to Texas prior to 1880 and, by establishing farms and homes, helped settle this area of Newton County. A community cemetery was begun on the land of J. D. and Ida J. Ford; although it contains some unmarked graves, the earliest documented burial is that of Promontory Inez Ford (1877-1880), daughter of J. D. and Ida Ford. Originally kept as a scraped earth cemetery, the graveyard was later planted with grass. Northwest of the cemetery is the site of the Ford Community School, which was organized in 1893 and housed in a one-room log building before becoming part of the Newton Independent School District in 1929-30, after which area students traveled to Newton for classes. In 1910, a wooden frame structure was erected northeast of the cemetery to serve as a place of worship for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Although regular worship services were discontinued in the 1930s, the chapel remained on its original site. The Ford Chapel and Cemetery Association, organized in 1961, maintains the cemetery as well as the chapel and school site.