DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, out on the east side of Dallas, there's a place called L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park, and if you drive past it without knowin' what's underneath those grounds, you'd be missin' one of the deepest stories this city has to tell.
The park holds two historic cemeteries side by side, and the older of the two didn't even have a name for a long stretch of time. No name — just the quiet of the buried. The earliest marked grave dates to 1896, and it belongs to a woman named Cherry Lawler, eighty-five years old, somebody's grandmother.
That's where the record begins. Time moves on, as it does. In 1911, three men — William B.
West, John P. Starks, and William E. Ewing of Peoples Undertaking Company — purchased that cemetery and gave it a name: Woodland, sometimes written Woodlawn.
Ten years after that, a veterinarian by the name of Dr. G. W.
Brock created a second cemetery, Hillside, on the land right next door. Two cemeteries, side by side, growing quietly into the decades. Now here's where a particular man walks into the story.
The Reverend L. Butler Nelson came to Dallas in 1954, and he saw these grounds for what they were — not just burial plots, but a responsibility. He worked to bring the African American community into the business of caring for these cemeteries, tending what others had left behind.
Then in 1964, a woman named Lillie Belle Dandridge took up similar work, carrying that effort forward with her own hands and her own conviction. In the early 1970s, the City of Dallas acquired the property. They established a memorial park and they put Nelson's name on it — a recognition, plain and lasting, of what his work had meant.
But here's the thing that'll stay with you. Among those buried in this park are business owners, civil rights activists, pastors, doctors, educators — four of whom have local schools named in their honor — and military veterans of conflicts reaching all the way back to the Spanish-American War. And many of the African Americans interred here came to Dallas before 1865.
Before 1865. Let that settle for a moment. Their names may not all be on roadside signs.
But they are in the ground of this park, and the park bears witness. Cherry Lawler, eighty-five years old in 1896, and every soul who followed her — they are all commemorated here, in the soil of L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park, in Dallas, Texas.
Some stories don't shout. They endure.
What the marker says
L. Butler Nelson Memorial Park includes two historic cemeteries, the oldest of which was previously unnamed. Its earliest marked grave (1896) is that of Cherry Lawler, an 85-year-old grandmother. In 1911, William B. West, John P. Starks and William E. Ewing of Peoples Undertaking Co. purchased the cemetery and named it Woodland (or Woodlawn). Ten years later, Dr. G. W. Brock, a veterinarian, created Hillside Cemetery on adjacent land. The Rev. L. Butler Nelson came to Dallas in 1954 and worked to involve the African American community in caring for the cemeteries. In 1964, Lillie Belle Dandridge began similar efforts. In the early 1970s, the City of Dallas acquired the property and established the memorial park in Nelson's name to recognize his work. Today, the park is a link to local African Americans, many of whom came to Dallas before 1865. Among those buried here are: business owners; civil rights activists; pastors; doctors; educators, four for whom local schools are named; and military veterans of conflicts dating to the Spanish-American War. Their lives and the history of all interred here are commemorated in this park. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004