Alice Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Some stories start with a burial ground and work their way backward to a whole town coming into being. This one does exactly that.

Out in what's now Jim Wells County, the Alice Cemetery has been serving the people of the Alice area for more than a hundred years, and the way it came to exist is tied up in railroads, real estate, and one man who seemed to know where things were headed. By the late 1880s, a man named Frederic B. Nayer was living in this area, back when it was still part of Nueces County.

The nearest real settlement was the Collins community, which had grown to about two thousand residents by 1891. That sounds like a success story. And it was, until the railroad decided otherwise.

The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad Company built its line through the area, but not through Collins. Three miles west of town, that's where they laid the tracks, to intersect the Texas Mexican Railway. Three miles doesn't sound like much.

But in the age of rail, three miles was everything. Nayer read the situation clearly. He helped sell lots at that rail intersection, the new townsite that would become Alice.

And then, in 1903, he took it a step further. He donated the land for the city burial ground, which at the time went by the name Alice Fraternal Cemetery. That name held for a while.

Then in 1925, the Alice Cemetery Association formed, and with the new organization came a new name. Just Alice Cemetery. Simple.

Settled. Martha Fawcus became the association's first president, and her leadership left a mark you can still see. In 1952, under her watch, members planted one hundred oak trees across the grounds.

More than fifty years later, those trees were still standing as a defining feature of the site. Think about that. A hundred oaks, put in the ground by people who knew they were planting for the future, and the future showed up and stayed.

The cemetery holds prominent citizens from Alice's past, military veterans, Texas Rangers, and generations of everyday community residents, the kind of people who built a place and called it home. A railroad changed the map, a donated plot of land started a tradition, and a hundred oak trees sealed the deal.

What the marker says

This burial ground has served Alice-area residents for more than 100 years, and the story of its genesis and ongoing use involves many individuals in the community’s history. By the late 1880s, Frederic B. Nayer lived in this area, then part of Nueces County. The Collins community had about 2,000 residents by 1891, but the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad Co. built through the area three miles west of the town to intersect the Texas Mexican Railway. Nayer helped sell lots at the rail intersection for the new townsite that would become Alice, and in 1903, he donated the land for the city burial ground, initially called Alice Fraternal Cemetery. In 1925, the Alice Cemetery Association formed and the name of the burial ground changed. Martha Fawcus served as the association’s first president. Under her leadership in 1952, members planted 100 oak trees that more than 50 years later remained a defining feature of the site. Individuals buried at the cemetery include prominent citizens of Alice’s past, military veterans, Texas Rangers and generations of community residents. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004