Pioneer Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, out here in Dallas, there's a place where the city keeps its oldest memories pressed into stone — a stretch of ground called Pioneer Cemetery. But here's the thing: Pioneer Cemetery isn't really one cemetery at all.

It's four of them, stitched together over time like a quilt sewn from the earliest chapters of this city's life. The graves go back to the 1850s — back when Dallas was just findin' its footing — and the people resting here include some of the city's earliest settlers and civic leaders. Four separate graveyards, each with its own story, each eventually folding into this one hallowed piece of ground.

Two of those four sections belonged to fraternal organizations. The first was the Tannehill Lodge No. 52 Masonic Cemetery. In that section, the earliest marked grave belongs to a woman named Elizabeth McPherson, who died in 1853.

She is the oldest named soul we can point to in that ground. Then there was the section that once belonged to Dallas Lodge No. 44 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Its oldest known interment is R.

P. Rogers, who died in 1852 — a year before Elizabeth McPherson, making his the deeper root between those two. A third piece of land nearby was once used as a cemetery by the Hebrew Benevolent Association.

That property was deeded to Congregation Emanuel in 1912, and then — more than four decades later, in 1956 — those graves were moved to Emanuel Cemetery. A community that had once buried its people here saw to it that they were carried to a new resting place. And then there's the fourth section: Old City Cemetery.

Formally deeded to the city of Dallas in 1871, its oldest marked grave belongs to John Henry Long, dated 1870. That grave was already in the ground before the city even held the deed to the land above it. The last burials in what we now call Pioneer Cemetery took place in the latter part of the 1920s.

After that — silence. The seasons kept turning, the city kept growing up and out and tall around it, but the monuments stayed. And that's really the point, isn't it.

Those stones that have remained over time — through decades of a city reinventin' itself over and over again — they are, as the marker puts it, significant reminders of the history of Dallas. Four graveyards that became one. Settlers and civic leaders and lodge members and a community's beloved, all gathered together under a single name.

Pioneer Cemetery. The whole city started somewhere, and some of it started right here.

What the marker says

The area now known as Pioneer Cemetery is composed of the remnants of four early graveyards. The graves, dating from the 1850s, include many of Dallas' early settlers and civic leaders. Two of the graveyards that now make up Pioneer Cemetery were associated with early Dallas fraternal organizations. The earliest marked grave in the section once known as the Tannehill Lodge No. 52 Masonic Cemetery is that of Elizabeth McPherson, who died in 1853. R. P. Rogers (d. 1852) is the oldest known interment in the section once belonging to Dallas Lodge No. 44 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Some of the land nearby was once used as a cemetery by the Hebrew Benevolent Association. The property was deeded to Congregation Emanuel in 1912, and in 1956, the graves were moved to the Emanuel Cemetery. The fourth section, known as Old City Cemetery, was formally deeded to the city of Dallas in 1871. Its oldest marked grave, that of John Henry Long, is dated 1870. The last burials in what is now called Pioneer Cemetery took place in the latter part of the 1920s. The monuments that have remained over time are significant reminders of the history of the city of Dallas. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986