Darrouzett Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here on the Texas Panhandle, a town doesn't just appear. It gets built, grave by grave, name by name, and sometimes the cemetery comes last, even when the dying doesn't.

That's the story of Darrouzett. The community got its start in 1917 as a station along the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway. First they called it Lourwood, but the rail company had other ideas.

They renamed the settlement in honor of a Galveston-area legislator and attorney by the name of J.L. Darrouzett. The town took that name and ran with it.

By 1920, the year the rail line was completed and the town officially incorporated, more than four hundred people had already planted themselves there. They had businesses, a school, two churches, a post office. They had everything a proper town needs.

Everything, that is, except a cemetery of their own. For a good while, the early residents of Darrouzett had to carry their dead somewhere else. Family cemeteries, graveyards in neighboring communities, wherever they could find a place.

That went on for years. Then, in 1939, a woman named Anna Frass changed things. She and her family deeded several acres to the trustees of the newly formed Darrouzett Cemetery Association.

And she didn't just give the land. She brought people home. She moved the graves of her late husband, Henry Frass, who had died in 1932, and her granddaughter, Esther Lee Frass, who had died in 1926, relocating both from Lipscomb to this new ground.

Other families did the same, reinterring loved ones here on the edge of their own town. The first burial at the new cemetery was that of David Rush, a local farmer and businessman, laid to rest in January of 1939. Rush was one of the numerous military veterans buried at Darrouzett Cemetery.

Others include two men killed in action in Vietnam. Stand at that cemetery today and every grave marks someone who had a hand in building Darrouzett, from that first rail station in 1917 all the way forward. The town came before the cemetery, but the cemetery is where the town keeps its memory.

What the marker says

The community of Darrouzett began in 1917 as a station along the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway. First named Lourwood, the early settlement was renamed by the rail company in honor of a Galveston-area legislator and attorney, J.L. Darrouzett. When the town incorporated in 1920, the year of the rail line's completion, more than 400 people lived in Darrouzett and supported several businesses, a school, two churches and a post office. Early residents used family cemeteries and graveyards in other communities for burials. In 1939, Anna Frass and her family deeded several acres to the trustees of the newly formed Darrouzett Cemetery Association. She moved the graves of Henry Frass (d. 1932), her late husband, and granddaughter Esther Lee Frass (d. 1926) herre from Lipscomb, and other families also reinterred loved ones here. The first burial at the cemetery was that of David Rush in January 1939. Rush, a local farmer and businessman, is one of the numerous military veterans buried here; others include two men killed in action in Vietnam. Each grave at the cemetery is a reminder of individuals who contributed to Darrouzett history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005