Englewood Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker at Englewood Cemetery has to say, and it's a story that starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a land deal and a railroad man. April 15, 1911. A fellow named W.B.

Storey, Jr., representing the Santa Fe Railroad, bought the future townsite of Slaton. Just like that, the ground had a destiny. The railroad wasn't thinking small, either.

The plans called for a roundhouse, switch lines, a depot, and a Harvey House. They were building Slaton to be a center for area rail transport, a hub out there on the South Plains where trains would come and go and workers would need a place to live. And they came.

Rail employees and others moved in fast, and the city incorporated in October 1912. A town rising up out of nothing, full of people with plans and futures ahead of them. But here's the thing about towns.

Even the newest ones carry grief from the very beginning. Before that incorporation date, before the paperwork was signed and the city was official, the people of Slaton had already established this cemetery. The burial that marked its beginning was that of an infant, J.W.

Ohrion, earlier in that same year. That's how it goes. A town plants its roots in hope and in loss, often at the same time.

Thousands of graves fill Englewood Cemetery now. Among them, several unmarked burials in a potter's field, souls whose names time did not preserve. And among them too, veterans of military conflicts dating all the way back to the Civil War, men who carried histories longer than Slaton itself.

A roundhouse and a Harvey House brought this city to life. And this quiet ground has kept its memory ever since.

What the marker says

Representing the Santa Fe Railroad, W.B. Storey, Jr. bought the future townsite of Slaton on April 15, 1911. The railroad's plans included a roundhouse, switch lines, depot and Harvey House, making Slaton a center for area rail transport. Rail employees and others quickly populated the city, which incorporated in October 1912. By that time, residents had established this cemetery with the burial of infant J.W. Ohrion earlier in the year. Among the thousands of graves here are several unmarked burials in a potter's field and veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004