DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Oakwood Cemetery has to say — and friends, this ground has got a story worth slowing down for. Way back in 1839, Austin was just being opened up — a site being considered for the capital of the Republic of Texas. And even then, even at the very beginning, somebody had to think about the end.
A regular burial place was established in what is now the southwest part of Oakwood Cemetery. Someone — the marker calls them a decedent, which is about as understated as Texas gets — was buried on this hill, at a spot to the right of what is now Oakwood's main entrance, northwest of the Hebrew ground within the enclosure. The city hadn't even fully decided what it was yet, and already this hill was keeping watch over the dead.
Now here's where it gets interesting. That ground held the departed for years — decades — before anyone got around to making it official. It was not until September 1, 1856, that the land legally became city property.
On that day, the Legislature of Texas transferred the burial tract from the public lands to the corporate city of Austin. The hill had been doing its job all along. The paperwork just took a while to catch up.
And the name — oh, the name has wandered over the years like a traveler who hasn't quite settled. In 1866 it was called City Cemetery. By 1903, Austin City Cemetery.
Then in 1912, it finally became Oakwood. Simple. Steady.
The kind of name that sticks. Across those decades and the ones that followed, this place received Austin's own — pioneers and builders, national and state personalities, cabinet members, governors, high state officials, mayors, business and professional leaders, and solid citizens from every walk of life. The whole long parade of a city's becoming, resting on this one hill.
The two Jewish sections of Oakwood have been given perpetual care by Temple Beth Israel since 1876. And in 1970, the Austin city government accepted responsibility for the permanent care of Oakwood Cemetery as a whole. Permanent care.
There's something right about that phrase for a place that's been quietly doing its part since before Austin was even fully Austin. This hill was here at the beginning. It's still here now.
Some places earn their permanence.
What the marker says
In 1839, when Austin was being opened as a site favored for the capital of the Republic of Texas, a regular burial place was established in what is now the southwest part of Oakwood Cemetery. A decedent was buried on this hill at a spot to the right of Oakwood's present main entrance and northwest of the Hebrew ground within the enclosure. It was not until Sept. 1, 1856, however, that the land legally became city property. On that day the Legislature of Texas transferred the burial tract from the public lands to the corporate city of Austin. Across the decades, the name has changed: in 1866 it was "City Cemetery"; 1903, "Austin City Cemetery"; 1912, "Oakwood". Here lie the mortal remains of many pioneers and builders of Austin, and their successors: among them national and state personalities; cabinet members, governors and other high state officials, mayors, business and professional leaders, and solid citizens from all walks of life. The two Jewish sections of Oakwood have been given perpetual care by Temple Beth Israel since 1876. The Austin city government accepted responsibility for permanent care of Oakwood Cemetery in 1970. (1973)