DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth tellin'. Back in 1872, a man named Hartwell Fountain sold ten acres of land to the City of Lampasas. Ten acres.
Just enough ground to give a town somewhere to remember itself. That land became a cemetery — called, simply enough, City Cemetery in those early days. It wouldn't get its more poetic name, Oak Hill Cemetery, until 1908.
But the name was the easy part. Keepin' the place up — that was another matter entirely. For fifty-seven years, from 1891 all the way to 1948, it wasn't the city that tended these grounds.
It was the Ladies Cemetery Association — a group of concerned Lampasas women who took it upon themselves to make sure the dead were treated with dignity. Fifty-seven years of work, of upkeep, of showing up. Then in 1948, the city finally assumed responsibility.
Now, who's out there under those oak-shaded acres? Local pioneers. Prominent business people.
Veterans — not just of one war, but of wars plural — including the Texas Revolution and the Civil War. And their descendants, carrying those family lines forward into Lampasas history. Ten acres.
One man's decision to sell. And the quiet determination of women who refused to let a community forget where it came from.
What the marker says
Hartwell Fountain sold ten acres of land to the City of Lampasas in 1872 to establish this cemetery. Originally known as City Cemetery, it was renamed Oak Hill Cemetery in 1908. The Ladies Cemetery Association, a group of concerned Lampasas women, maintained the cemetery from 1891 to 1948, when the city assumed responsibility. Among those buried here are local pioneers, prominent business people, veterans of wars including the Texas Revolution and the Civil War, and their descendants.