DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. The town of Lueders sits along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, and the land beneath it has a story worth knowin'. That land was given by the State of Texas to the heirs of Frederick Luders — a German immigrant who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto.
That's the kind of origin that carries some weight before you even say another word. Early area settlers included U.S. Indian Agent Jess Stem, who homesteaded a few miles south of where we're talkin' about, back in 1852.
Ranching took hold and held on through the latter part of the nineteenth century, the way ranching tends to do out here — quiet, stubborn, enduring. Then came 1900, and things started movin'. The Webb and Hill Land and Cattle Company bought the Goethe and Fuchs Ranch on the Clear Fork and developed the town of Lueders that same year.
Also in 1900, limestone rock quarries opened up, and the Texas Central Railroad extended their tracks here from Albany. A new community rose up with some purpose behind it — a school, a post office, cotton gins, businesses. The kind of things that tell you people intend to stay.
Now, a growin' community needs a place to put its dead. And so a graveyard in a pasture near Rhomberg Street served Lueders citizens from about 1902 to 1906. But here's where the land itself pushed back.
Hand digging graves at that site became impractical — because sitting just beneath the surface were thick layers of limestone. The very rock that built the town wouldn't yield for the graves of the people who built it. So in 1907, three people did something generous and lasting.
John M. Roberts, Clark Henry King, and Mrs. E.V.
Risley donated land for a new Lueders Cemetery — also known in later years as Clear Fork Cemetery. It abutted the tracks of the Texas Central Railroad, which would later become the MKT. And for many years, pallbearers carried caskets up that railroad embankment and down the other side to the burial plots.
Think on that a moment. That's the kind of physical act of devotion that doesn't get recorded much, but it happened here, again and again, for years. On the north side of the cemetery stood an open-sided tabernacle, used in the early years for memorial services.
A place to gather under open sky and say the things that needed saying. The earliest burial in this cemetery is an unnamed infant daughter of George and Cate Risley. No name recorded — just a life, and a loss, and a place in the ground.
Hundreds of pioneer settlers, area residents, and veterans of conflicts dating all the way back to the Civil War are buried here. The gravestones are granite, marble, concrete, and wood — and prominently, Lueders limestone. That same stone that once made digging impossible became the marker of choice for the people who stayed.
The Lueders Cemetery remains a chronicle of the past and an important part of the community. Some places hold memory the way limestone holds a town — layer by layer, unmovable, and shaped by everything that came before.
What the marker says
The town of Lueders lies along the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, on land given by the State of Texas to heirs of Frederick Luders, a German immigrant who fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. Early area settlers included U.S. Indian Agent Jess Stem, who homesteaded a few miles south of here in 1852. Ranching was the dominant activity in the latter 19th century. In 1900, the Webb and Hill Land and Cattle Company bought the Goethe & Fuchs Ranch on the Clear Fork and developed the town of Lueders. In the same year, limestone rock quarries opened and the Texas Central Railroad extended their tracks here from Albany. The new community soon had a school, post office, cotton gins and businesses. A graveyard in a pasture near Rhomberg Street served Lueders citizens from about 1902-06. Hand digging graves at that site became impractical because of thick layers of limestone. In 1907, John M. Roberts, Clark Henry King and Mrs. E.V. Risley donated land for a new Lueders Cemetery, also later known as Clear Fork Cemetery. The site abutted the railroad tracks of the Texas Central (later the MKT). For many years, pallbearers carried caskets up the railroad embankment and down the other side to the burial plots. An open-sided tabernacle on the north side of the cemetery was used for memorial services in the early years. The earliest burial is the unnamed infant daughter of George and Cate Risley. Hundreds of pioneer settlers, area residents and veterans of conflicts dating from the Civil War are buried here. Cemetery features include granite, marble, concrete, and wooden gravestones, with Lueders limestone grave markers also prominent. Lueders Cemetery remains a chronicle of the past and an important part of the community. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010