Old City Greenwood Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old City Greenwood Cemetery in Parker County. Now settle in, because this piece of ground has been holding stories since before it even had a proper fence to call its own. We're talking about Weatherford, Texas, and a place that started (and I want you to really hear this) in the unmarked streets of the town itself.

Before 1863, before anybody surveyed a single lot or drove a single stake, the dead were being laid to rest right there in the unpaved roads. When the Weatherford town council formally established the cemetery that year, the mayor had to direct that those earlier remains be moved to the new location. Think about that for a moment.

The town was so young, so raw, that its first cemetery was literally underfoot. When 1877 rolled around, a historian named H. Smythe came through and recorded what he found.

His words were not kind. He called it a "sadly neglected spot"; no fence, nothing to mark its boundaries from the surrounding world. That description apparently stung nobody into action right away, because it took until 1925 for a civic league and cemetery association to finally organize.

And when they did, it was the women members who did the heavy liftin'. They widened and graveled the driveways. They had a water well and windmill installed.

They brought in a sexton to secure the grounds. They turned a sadly neglected spot into something the town could stand behind. Then the 1930s came along, and cemetery care declined, and kept on declining for a good while after that.

But the ground kept its secrets and its people regardless. Among an estimated one thousand graves, you've got Chester Bowen, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. You've got trail driver Oliver Loving.

You've got Boze Ikard, another trail driver buried in that same soil. Cattleman J.R. Couts, founder of the Citizens National Bank, rests there too.

And then there's S.W.T. Lanham, who served as Governor of Texas from 1902 to 1906, lying not far from his own son, Congressman Fritz G. Lanham.

Veterans of many wars. Pioneers of early Texas history. One thousand souls, give or take, all gathered in a place that started out as a street corner nobody thought to mark.

Restoration finally began in the late 1980s, and the site continues to serve the area to this day. Some places earn their ground slowly. Old City Greenwood Cemetery earned every inch of it.

What the marker says

This cemetery was formally established by the Weatherford town council in 1863 when lots were surveyed and the exact cemetery location was staked. Previous interments were made in the unmarked streets of the town. The mayor directed those remains be moved to the new cemetery. Historian H. Smythe noted in 1877 that the cemetery was a "sadly neglected spot," without a fence. By 1925 the civic league and cemetery association had been formed. The accomplishments of its women members were many. In addition to site beautification, the driveways were widened and graveled. A water well and windmill were installed, and a sexton was employed to secure the grounds. Cemetery care declined in the 1930's and later. Among the estimated 1,000 graves are Civil War medal of honor recipient Chester Bowen; trail drivers Oliver Loving and Boze Ikard; cattleman and founder of the Citizens National Bank J.R. Couts; Governor of Texas (1902-06) S.W.T. Lanham and his son, congressman Fritz G. Lanham; veterans of many wars; and pioneers of early Texas history. Restoration of the cemetery began in the late 1980's. The site continues to serve the area. (1996)