DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Evergreen Cemetery tells it, and I'll carry that story the rest of the way. Now, you might think a cemetery is where stories end. But Evergreen Cemetery, right here in east Austin, is where a whole community refused to let that be the final word.
Let's back up to around the turn of the 20th century. The City of Austin had a segregated section in the city cemetery for African American burials — and that section had simply run out of room. Black Austinites had no municipal space left to bury their deceased.
None. The city that was supposed to serve them had left them, in the most literal sense, without a place to rest. That situation held for years.
Then, in 1925, the City of Austin recognized that need — their word on the marker, recognized — and purchased a 15-acre tract from D.V. Pickle. They called it Evergreen Cemetery.
The very next year, 1926, the first section was platted and lots became available for purchase. Now here's where you want to pay attention, because the marker doesn't let you look away. In 1928, the City of Austin adopted its very first city plan.
And what that plan did was codify — put into official policy, in writing — the Jim Crow-era doctrine of separate but equal. The city would offer municipal services and schools to African Americans only in east Austin. The marker notes plainly that the establishment of Evergreen Cemetery was likely an early part of that very effort.
The land given was never separate from the policy that shaped it. The ground itself carries older history, too. In 1955, Evergreen expanded by 16 acres through the purchase of property owned by the Stiles family.
That Stiles tract included a portion of a former burial ground called Highland Park Cemetery — 60 acres, established back in 1891 by a Dr. Edmund Stiles. The only surviving burial records from Highland Park cover 1891 to 1893, and they tell us something worth noting: of the 163 burials recorded in those years, over half were African Americans.
By 1907, Dr. Stiles had moved to Houston, and by 1925, the cemetery had ceased operations entirely. The ground was quiet.
Then Evergreen absorbed it. And what grew in that ground? People.
Remarkable ones. Those interred at Evergreen include Civil Rights activists Juanita Craft and Willie Mae Kirk. A religious leader named Maud A.B.
Fuller. A sports figure the world knew as Dick "Night Train" Lane. And a prestigious educator by the name of John Q.T.
King. These were respected members of the original segregated neighborhoods of east Austin — people who shaped this city even when this city was doing its level best to confine them to one corner of it. Evergreen Cemetery was born out of a painful chapter — no sugarcoating that, the marker doesn't try to.
But it stands now as a significant chronicle of the east Austin community, and really, for all of Austin. The stories didn't end here. They were kept.
What the marker says
The City of Austin reached capacity for African Americans" burial spaces in the segregated section of the city cemetery around the turn of the 20th century, leaving black Austinites with no municipal space to bury their deceased. Recognizing this need in 1925, the city purchased a 15-acre tract from D.V. Pickle for Evergreen Cemetery. In 1926, the first section of the cemetery was platted and lots became available for purchase. In 1928, the City of Austin adopted its first city plan which codified the Jim Crow-era "separate but equal" policy of racial segregation. The city only offered municipal services and schools to African Americans in east Austin. It is likely that the establishment of Evergreen Cemetery was an early part of that effort. In 1955, Evergreen Cemetery expanded by 16 acres through the purchase of property owned by the Stiles family. The Stiles tract included a portion of the former Highland Park Cemetery, a 60-acre burial ground established in 1891 by Dr. Edmund Stiles. The only existing Highland Park Cemetery burial records are from 1891-1893 and indicate over half of the 163 burials were African Americans. However, by 1907, Dr. Stiles had moved to Houston, and the cemetery ceased operations by 1925. Those interred in Evergreen Cemetery include many respected members of the original segregated neighborhoods of east Austin. Some notable graves found here are those of Civil Rights activists Juanita Craft and Willie Mae Kirk, religious leader Maud A.B. Fuller, sports figure Dick "Night Train" Lane, and prestigious educator John Q.T. King. Although this cemetery was established during a painful time of racial segregation, it stands as a significant chronicle of the east Austin community and for all of Austin. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY - 2019