Bellevue-Cheapside

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and here's how I'm passin' it along to you. Back in 1876, pioneer settlers came to this corner of DeWitt County, many of them of English descent, and they didn't waste a moment getting to work. They acquired land right here for three things that any serious community needs: a church, a school, and a burial ground.

Nearby, they also put up a two-story Woodmen of the World Lodge. Two stories. Out here.

These folks meant business. Now the burial ground they established, Bellevue Cemetery, is still in use today, still serving the residents of the Cheapside community, which sits about a mile and a half to the north. Cheapside.

Now that name didn't come from nowhere local. It was named for a well-known street in London, which tells you something about where these settlers' hearts still were, even as their boots were planted firmly in Texas soil. And Cheapside, in its day, was no quiet little crossroads.

That town had a cotton gin, a grist mill, a hotel, grocery stores, saloons, and a variety of other businesses. It hummed. The town did eventually decline, as towns sometimes do out here, but here's the thing worth remembering: the influences of those pioneer English settlers are still evident.

The cemetery still receives the dead. The community still carries the name of a London street. Some roots, it turns out, go deep enough that even time can't pull them loose.

What the marker says

Pioneer area settlers, many of English descent, acquired land at this site in 1876 for the establishment of a community church, school, and burial ground. A 2-story Woodmen of the World Lodge was also located nearby. Still used, Bellevue Cemetery has served residents of the Cheapside community (1.5 miles north). Named for a well-known street in London, Cheapside was once the site of a cotton gin, grist mill, hotel, grocery stores, saloons, and a variety of other businesses. Despite the town's later decline, influences of the pioneer English settlers are still evident.