City Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. It's July 19, 1889, and the Hallettsville town council has a problem on its hands. The small cemeteries scattered around the city have fallen into poor condition, and something has to be done.

Mayor Fritz Lindenberg doesn't waste any time. He appoints three men, Volney Ellis, W.H. Turk, and E.H.

Mitchel, to go find suitable land for burials outside the city limits. That's a charge with some weight to it. You're not just picking a plot of ground.

You're deciding where the town will keep its dead. The committee got to work, and by May of 1890 they had their answer. The city cemetery trustees purchased four and a half acres from a woman named Antonia Kuhn, and just like that, Hallettsville had a new home for its departed.

Now here's where it gets interesting, because this wasn't going to be one community's ground alone. The town's Odd Fellows Lodge established a graveyard on an adjacent field. Catholic and Jewish citizens did the same on their own adjacent parcels.

And part of the land belonging to Clairborn and Martha Moore, southwest of the city, became an African American cemetery. A whole ring of communities, each claiming a piece of ground near the others, each tending to their own. The existing burials from those old, poorly kept cemeteries around town were reinterred at this new location, which people sometimes called the Protestant Cemetery.

The old city cemetery back on South Dowling Street eventually became Memorial Park, in 1952. Walk through the City Cemetery today and the tombstones themselves tell you who built Hallettsville. Inscriptions in Czech, in German, in English.

The generations are right there in the stone. One notable burial is Confederate Major General Arthur Pendleton Bagby, born in 1833, died in 1921. Over the decades the cemetery kept growing.

In 1945 it took in the Odd Fellows' site. In 1957 it added more acreage to the east. The City Cemetery Association of Hallettsville manages the ground today, and they call it what it is: sacred ground.

Four and a half acres bought from Antonia Kuhn in 1890, and look what it became. The whole story of a town, written in stone.

What the marker says

On July 19, 1889, the Hallettsville town council met to discuss the poor condition of various small cemeteries in the city. Mayor Fritz Lindenberg appointed Volney Ellis, W.H. Turk and E.H. Mitchel to find suitable land for burials outside the city limits. The committee completed its work in May 1890, when city cemetery trustees bought 4.5 acres from Antonia Kuhn for a new city cemetery. The town's Odd Fellows Lodge, Catholic and Jewish citizens established graveyards on adjacent fields, and part of Clairborn and Martha Moore's land southwest of the city became an African American cemetery. Existing burials were reinterred at this location, sometimes referred to as the Protestant Cemetery. The old city cemetery, located on South Dowling Street, was renamed Memorial Park in 1952. This burial ground, with tombstones inscribed in Czech and German as well as English, is a rich resource of the city's history. Confederate Maj. Gen. Arthur Pendleton Bagby (1833-1921) is one notable burial. City Cemetery has expanded over the years, taking in the Odd Fellows' site in 1945 and additional acreage to the east in 1957. The City Cemetery Association of Hallettsville manages the sacred ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005