Abilene Municipal Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Abilene Municipal Cemetery, out in Taylor County. Now, most towns have one cemetery. Abilene has five, all gathered together under one name, and together they hold more than twenty-six thousand souls.

That's not just a graveyard. That's a city beneath the city. The story starts early.

The oldest documented grave in the whole place belongs to Florence Phillips, buried in the Masonic section in 1881. Think about that for a moment. The local Masonic Lodge itself wasn't even established until 1882.

Florence Phillips got there first. The oldest recorded burial in the city cemetery proper came the very next year, 1882, when Oliver Bailey was laid to rest. And that same stretch of early years is where you find C.

W. Merchant, the man who gave land for the burial ground and helped establish Abilene in the first place. The town and its cemetery grew up together, more or less side by side.

Walk the grounds long enough and the names start telling the whole arc of the place. There's Mary Houston Morrow, Abilene's postmistress and, notably, the daughter of General Sam Houston. There's Dr.

W. H. Butler, an African American physician whose grave the marker calls out specifically as one of interest.

There's Mrs. Jewel Scarborough, a prominent citizen and an active woman suffragist. And over in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows section, you'll find early Abilene businessmen James Radford and H.

O. Wooten, interred in a cemetery whose founding deed was first dated August 1906. The Cedar Hill Cemetery has its own chapter in the story.

The city of Abilene purchased those twenty acres in 1920. The Cedar Hill Cemetery Association bought it back from the city in 1923. Then the city took over care of the Masonic and IOOF cemeteries in 1928, and Cedar Hill itself again in 1934.

Cities and their burial grounds have a complicated relationship, and Abilene is no exception. In 1945 the city bought an additional tract of land, and that ground eventually became Cedar Hill Flats, where the first burial didn't come until 1969. Some ground waits a long time before it's needed.

And resting somewhere among all of this are Abilene founder K. K. Legett and railroad legend Morgan Jones, along with veterans of major American and international wars and conflicts, their stories folded into the larger one.

More than twenty-six thousand people believed to be buried here. Five cemeteries, one name, and a chronicle of everything Abilene has been since before it quite knew what it was going to become. The place is still serving the area today, which means the story isn't finished yet.

What the marker says

Abilene Municipal Cemetery is composed of five different burial grounds. The oldest documented grave is that of Florence Phillips, who was buried in the Masonic section in 1881 shortly before the establishment of the local Masonic Lodge in 1882. Among the notables buried here are Mary Houston Morrow, Abilene postmistress and daughter of General Sam Houston, and C. W. Merchant, who gave land for the burial ground and helped establish Abilene. The oldest recorded burial in the city cemetery, that of Oliver Bailey, occurred in 1882. Another grave of interest is that of Dr. W. H. Butler, an African American physician. The first deed verifying the establishment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery was dated August 1906. Several early Abilene businessmen including James Radford and H. O. Wooten are interred here, as is Mrs. Jewel Scarborough, a prominent citizen and active woman suffragist. The city of Abilene purchased the 20-acre Cedar Hill Cemetery in 1920. The Cedar Hill Cemetery Association bought it from the city in 1923. The city took over care of the Masonic and IOOF cemeteries in 1928 and the Cedar Hill Cemetery in 1934. Abilene founder K. K. Legett and railroad legend Morgan Jones, as well as veterans of major American and international wars and conflicts, are interred here. In 1945 the city bought an additional tract of land; the first burial in Cedar Hill Flats was in 1969. More than 26,000 people are believed to be buried in the graveyard. A chronicle of the city's past, Abilene Municipal Cemetery continues to serve the area. (1998)