Fairview Church and Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Franklin County, there's a patch of ground that's seen about as many chapters as a well-worn Bible, and it all started with one man's generosity and five acres of land. Julian N.

Kimberlin, born in Kentucky in 1848, made his way to Texas and built a life as a cattleman. In 1880, he donated those five acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The idea was ambitious: a Grange hall, a church, a school, and a place to bury the dead, all on the same ground.

Now, that Grange chapter evidently never got organized. But don't let that detail fool you into thinking the land sat idle. A building went up by 1885, and it pulled double duty, serving the Fairview community as both a school and a sanctuary.

That's the kind of practical thinking Texas frontier life demanded. The first recorded burial on those acres was Wilson B. Westerman, laid to rest in 1881, before that building even stood.

He was the first, but he would be far from the last. Then came 1913, and a storm took the church building down. By that point, the Fairview Methodist Church had already gone quiet, no longer active.

But the community wasn't done. They raised a new building, several miles south of the cemetery, near the community of Oak Dale. They called it Oak Dale Church, and it housed Fairview School and opened its doors as a non-denominational house of worship.

The story didn't stop there either. In 1928 and 1929, Fairview citizens built again, this time a new chapel right next to the cemetery. That building became the gathering place for religious services, funeral services, and special events, welcoming a number of denominations from across the area.

Today, the Perpetual Care Fairview Cemetery holds more than three hundred burials. Among those resting there are pioneer settlers of the area, their descendants, and Civil War veteran C. C.

Choate. Julian Kimberlin himself lived until 1932, long enough to see that five-acre donation grow into something no single deed of land could have fully promised. Five acres.

Three hundred souls. One community that just kept building.

What the marker says

Kentucky native and cattleman Julian N. Kimberlin (1848-1932) donated five acres of land here in 1880 to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for Grange hall, church, school, and burial purposes. The first recorded burial was that of Wilson B. Westerman in 1881. Although a local Grange chapter evidently never was organized, a building was erected by 1885 that served as a school and sanctuary for the Fairview community. By the time the church building was destroyed by a storm in 1913 the Fairview Methodist Church was no longer active. the community erected a new building several miles south of the cemetery near the community of Oak Dale. The new structure, known as Oak Dale Church, housed Fairview School and served as a non-denominational church building. In 1928-29 Fairview citizens erected a new chapel adjacent to the cemetery. The building became the site for religious and funeral services and special events for a number of denominations in the area. The Perpetual Care Fairview Cemetery presently contains more than 300 burials. Among the people interred here are many of the pioneer settlers of the area and their descendants and Civil War veteran C. C. Choate. (1995) Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995