Hockley County Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker tells this one, and I'm just Duane — passing it along the way it was recorded. Hockley County has been on the Texas map since 1876, when the Legislature created it. But creating a county and actually running one are two different things, and Hockley County sat without formal organization for a good long while.

It wasn't until 1921 that the county finally got itself together — and a small settlement called Hockley City, which folks would eventually know as Levelland, was named the county seat that same year. Now, in 1920, the whole county held just 137 people. That number is almost hard to say out loud.

But then came the Santa Fe railroad in 1925, and if you know anything about railroads and the Texas plains, you know what follows. By 1930, the county's population had climbed to 9,298. The railroad didn't just bring people — it encouraged the expansion of agricultural activity, and agriculture meant the county needed laborers.

Lots of them. So people came. Families came.

And that included minority residents, arriving into a place and a time when segregation was widely practiced. In the fall of 1927, the Hockley County commissioners court set aside two acres of land to establish a segregated cemetery — for the burial of indigent and minority residents. It was called the Hockley County Cemetery, or sometimes the north side cemetery.

County death records tell us the first burial at the site was that of Jerry McHenry, an African American man interred in April of 1930. And the cemetery continued receiving the dead for decades. The last burial recorded there was that of Nora Robertson, in 1975.

Within those years, the ground took in veterans — men who had served in both World Wars. It took in more than one hundred people whose graves were never marked. Today, fourteen marked graves stand there.

Over a hundred souls rest beneath ground that carries no stone, no name, no date. The cemetery has seen little use since the 1960s — and the marker doesn't let that fact pass quietly. It was in the 1960s that the city of Levelland Cemetery was desegregated.

That's the reason the north side cemetery went still. The need for a separate place had, at last, been formally ended. The Hockley County Cemetery remains open for interment to this day.

And what it holds isn't just the departed — it holds the record of who built this county during its years of greatest growth, and what those people were told about where they belonged. That's worth stopping for.

What the marker says

The Texas Legislature created Hockley County in 1876 but the county did not formally organize until 1921; the small settlement of Hockley City (now Levelland) was named the county seat in that year. The arrival of the Santa Fe railroad in 1925 caused tremendous population growth in the county, from 137 in 1920 to 9,298 in 1930. The railroad also encouraged the expansion of agricultural activities in the county, which required additional laborers to work the land. The growing economy brought the migration of many people, including minorities, to the area in a time when segregation was widely practiced. Hockley County commissioners court set aside two acres of land in fall 1927 for the establishment of a segregated cemetery for the burial of indigent and minority residents; it was known as the Hockley County Cemetery or north side cemetery. County death records indicate that the first burial at the site was that of Jerry McHenry, an African American who was interred in April 1930. In 1975, the burial of Nora Robertson was the last one recorded at the site. The cemetery contains fourteen marked graves and over 100 unmarked burials. Veterans of both World Wars are buried here. Although the cemetery remains open for interment, it has seen little use since the 1960s, when the city of Levelland Cemetery was desegregated. Today, Hockley County Cemetery serves as a reminder of an important group of people who worked hard to build Hockley County. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2007