Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, TX)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Oakwood Cemetery NRHP: City Cemetery |
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| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
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| Location: | 16th & Navasota Austin, Texas, USA |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Added to NRHP: | September 17, 1985 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 85002297 |
| MPS: | East Austin MRA |
| Governing body: | Austin Parks and Recreation |
Oakwood Cemetery, originally called City Cemetery, is the oldest city-owned cemetery in Austin, Texas. Situated on a hill just east of I-35 that overlooks downtown Austin, just north of the Swedish Hill Historic District and south of Disch-Falk Field, the once-isolated site is now in the center of the city.
[edit] History
The cemetery dates from the mid-1850s. It may have begun even earlier, as legend states that its first tenants were victims of a Comanche attack whose bodies were laid to rest on the same hill.
The cemetery was renamed Oakwood in 1907 per city ordinance. It spreads over 40 acres, including an annex across Comal Street to the east, and includes sections historically dedicated to the city's black, Latino, and Jewish populations. Paupers were historically buried in unmarked graves on the cemetery's south side. Graves without permanent markers were subject to reburial after a given period of time.
The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985; its annex was added on October 30, 2003. Despite its protected status, the cemetery has been subject to crime, vandalism and decay for decades.
[edit] Notable burials
- Wilmer Allison (1904–1977) - Tennis Player
- Albert S. Burleson (1863–1937) - United States Postmaster General (1913–1921)
- Oscar Branch Colquitt (1861–1940) - Governor of Texas (1911–1915)
- Susanna Dickinson (1814–1883) - Alamo survivor
- John Henry Faulk (1913–1990) - Radio Personality
- Thomas Green (1814–1864) - American Civil War General
- Andrew J. Hamilton (1815–1875) - Governor of Texas (1865–1866)
- Morgan C. Hamilton (1809–1893) - U.S. Senator (1870–1877)
- John Hancock (1824–1893) - Member of the United States House of Representatives (1871–1885)
- Ima Hogg (1882–1975)
- James S. Hogg (1851–1906) - Governor of Texas (1891–1895)
- Elisha M. Pease (1812–1883) - Governor of Texas (1853—1857, 1867–1869)
- Oran M. Roberts (1815–1898) - Governor of Texas (1879–1883)
- Ben Thompson (1842–1884) - City Marshal of Austin, Texas
- Charles S. West (1829–1885) - Texas Supreme Court justice and Texas Secretary of State
[edit] External links
- Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, TX) is at coordinates Coordinates:
