Plano Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Collin County, there's a piece of ground that's been holding secrets and stories since before Plano was much more than a hope and a few wagon ruts. This is the Plano Cemetery, and the land it sits on traces back to the Peters Colony grant that came to a man named Joseph Klepper.

Klepper had made his way down from Illinois to Collin County around 1845, which, if you're keepin' score, puts him out here when this country was about as raw as it gets. He'd go on to live until 1884, long enough to see the world around him change considerably. But that ground he held?

It would outlast even him in ways he might not have imagined. Five Peters colonists are buried in that cemetery. Five.

Along with their families, and other early settlers who cast their lot with this corner of Texas. Through the years, many prominent Plano citizens (both white and black) were laid to rest there. And then, as the community grew and lines got drawn the way they so often did, it became the only black burial ground for the whole community.

That's not a small thing. That's the weight of an entire people's grief and memory concentrated in one place. The cemetery carried another thread, too: a strong association with the First Methodist Church, which stood adjacent to the graveyard for several years on property that Klepper himself had deeded over.

One man's land grant. One man's deed. And from it grew a burial ground that holds Peters colonists, founding families, and the generations of Black Plano citizens who had nowhere else to go.

Some places earn their markers. This one earned it several times over.

What the marker says

This graveyard was part of the Peters Colony land grant of Joseph Klepper (d. 1884). He immigrated to Collin county from Illinois about 1845. The burial site contains graves of five Peters colonists, their families, and other early settlers. Through the years many prominent Plano citizens both white and black were interred here. Later it served as the only black burial ground for the community. The cemetery has a strong association with the First Methodist Church. It was adjacent to the graveyard for several years on property deeded by Klepper. (1980)