DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, best I can render it out here on the road. Now, they called the town Belle Plaine, and it didn't stick around long — but its cemetery has been keeping watch on that Callahan County ground since at least 1878. That's the year the oldest marked grave was put in place, belonging to a sixteen-year-old boy named Virgil Hill.
Sixteen years old. You let that settle a moment. And those unmarked graves scattered across the site suggest folks were burying their dead there even before that — though the marker won't say exactly when.
The community of Belle Plaine simply started using that vacant land, informal as a handshake, and called it their own. Now, the land itself had a complicated pedigree. The state of Texas had owned that larger tract until 1861, and after that it passed through the hands of several railroad companies, one after another.
The last private owner to hold it was the Texas and Pacific Railway Company, which bought the tract — cemetery included — in 1879. And why'd they want it? They were anticipating routing their railroad right through Belle Plaine.
That was the plan. But 1883 came along, and the route changed. The line went to nearby Baird instead.
Belle Plaine got left watching the train go somewhere else. The following year, the Texas and Pacific, perhaps feeling the weight of that decision, deeded the cemetery property over to Callahan County. The town itself had declined by 1909, but the burials kept on coming.
Area pioneers, their descendants, veterans — they're all out there. Belle Plaine may have been short-lived, but that cemetery is still standing as a cultural resource for this whole stretch of country. Some places outlast the towns that made them.
What the marker says
Residents of the short-lived community of Belle Plaine were burying their dead at this site as early as 1878. Although the presence of unmarked graves suggests earlier possible usage, the oldest marked grave, that of sixteen-year-old Virgil Hill, dates to that year. Belle Plaine residents informally established a community cemetery here on vacant land. The graveyard was located within a larger tract of land that was owned by the state until 1861 and later by several railroad companies. Its last private owner, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, purchased the tract that included this graveyard in 1879 when it anticipated routing its railroad through Belle Plaine. However, in 1883 the route was changed to pass through nearby Baird. In response, the railway company deeded the cemetery property to Callahan County the following year. Though the community of Belle Plaine had declined by 1909, burials have continued to take place. Those interred here include area pioneers, their descendants, and veterans. The historic burial ground remains an important cultural resource in this area. (1992)