Alanreed Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Alanreed Cemetery, out in Gray County, Texas. Now, cemeteries have a way of holding a town's whole story in one place. And this one, sitting on a rise overlooking the community of Alanreed, does exactly that.

More than ten acres of ground, quiet and high, looking out over the land below. Before there was an Alanreed, there was a place called Eldridge, about four miles to the north. Then came the railroad.

The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad pushed through, and with it came expansion, supply points, and the kind of opportunity that reshuffles a map. On April 24, 1902, a man named Robert Mangum moved the post office from Eldridge down to this new site. And when he renamed it, he reached for the name of a railroad trustee out of Philadelphia, one Alan H.

Reed, born 1851, died 1906. The town would carry that name, slightly rearranged, from then on. The cemetery on that rise had already been receiving the community's dead before the town got its name.

The oldest marked grave belongs to Nancy Louisa Baker, born 1841, died 1899. She rests there still, along with most of the other older burials, gathered in the west section of the grounds. Walk through and you'll notice the features that make a cemetery speak.

Family plot fences and curbing. Markers cut from granite and marble. And those distinctive Woodmen of the World grave markers, standing like carved sentinels among the rest.

In 1918, the Alanreed Townsite Company deeded the site officially as a community cemetery. A formal recognition of what the ground had already been doing for years. Veterans are buried here.

Prominent leaders of the area are buried here. And the whole place continues, in the words of those who documented it, as a beloved record of area heritage. That rise overlooking Alanreed has been watching over the community, and the community has been watching over it.

Some bargains, it turns out, go both ways.

What the marker says

This public cemetery includes more than ten acres on a rise overlooking the community. The site became an important supply point with expansion of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad. On April 24, 1902, Robert Mangum moved the post office from Eldridge (4 mi. N), renaming it for railroad trustee Alan H. Reed (1851-1906) of Philadelphia. The oldest marked grave is for Nancy Louisa Baker (1841-1899). Most older burials are in the west section. Prominent features include family plot fences and curbing, and granite, marble and woodmen of the world grave markers. In 1918, the Alanreed Townsite Co. deeded the site as a community cemetery. With many veterans and prominent leaders buried here, it continues to be a beloved record of area heritage. (2017)