Old City Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old City Cemetery in Brazoria County. Now settle in, because some places hold more history than you'd ever guess just driving past. This one sure does.

The Old City Cemetery was the first cemetery in Alvin. The first. Every town has a beginning, and sometimes that beginning is marked not by a ribbon cutting or a grand celebration, but by a plot of ground set aside for the ones who won't be seeing tomorrow.

The city acquired this cemetery in 1892, and from that point forward it became the quiet keeper of Alvin's story. The oldest legible inscription still readable on any stone out there dates to 1889, and it marks the grave of a pioneer and Civil War veteran by the name of G. W.

Durant. Think about that. A man who lived through the Civil War, made his way to this stretch of Texas, built a life, and wound up as the earliest voice the cemetery can still speak aloud.

Many early settlers rest here too, folks who carved something out of the coastal prairie and left their names behind in stone. And then there are the others. Several victims of the 1900 hurricane are buried in this ground.

The 1900 hurricane. If you know anything about Texas, you know that's not a small sentence. Those souls found their final rest right here, in Alvin's first cemetery.

Now, the name of this place changed over time. In 1953, it was renamed Oak Park. But whatever you call it, the ground remembers what it holds, and G.

W. Durant's stone is still out there sayin so.

What the marker says

First cemetery in Alvin. Acquired by city in 1892. Oldest legible inscription (1889) marks grave of pioneer and Civil War veteran G. W. Durant. Many early settlers are buried here, as are several victims of 1900 hurricane. Name changed to Oak Park in 1953. (1966)