Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On December 8, 1873, the Texas and Pacific Railroad founded a brand new town called Texarkana. Now, when they opened up the lots for sale, two men didn't wait around.

Anthony Ghio and Colonel R.W. Rodgers were there on the very first day, planting their stakes in what was still raw, unsettled ground. They and several other residents wasted no time putting down roots of a deeper kind, too.

Together they formed Sacred Heart Catholic Church, guided by Father Theodore Buffard, a priest out of Galveston who was already serving much of the region's Catholic population. That's a man who knew how to cover territory. The next year, that young congregation gathered on Christmas Eve and celebrated mass in their very first sanctuary.

You have to imagine what that felt like. A brand new town, a brand new church, a holiday full of candlelight and promise. But life in a new place has a way of mixing the joyful with the sorrowful, sometimes in the same breath.

Two years after that Christmas Eve mass, Colonel Rodgers donated a parcel of land to serve as the church cemetery. The reason he gave that land, the marker doesn't say outright, but it does tell us this: his young daughter, Agnes Bernard Rodgers, had already been buried there the year before. The congregation kept growing.

Over the years, Sacred Heart sponsored a sister church in the city, established a school, developed a second burial ground, and built new church facilities. And the cemetery itself became something remarkable. The ironwork you see there was crafted by the local LeGrand family.

The sculpture came from Raffl Studios, all the way from Paris, France. And the people resting in that ground? Immigrants from sixteen different countries.

Sixteen. The inscriptions on the monuments vary greatly in style, and in that variety, you can read the whole diverse history of a congregation that took root on the very first day Texarkana opened for business. One railroad, one town, one cold December morning, and all of that followed.

What the marker says

The Texas and Pacific Railroad founded Texarkana on December 8, 1873. Anthony Ghio and Col. R.W. Rodgers purchased town lots on the first day of sale. They and several other residents formed Sacred Heart Catholic Church under the leadership of Father Theodore Buffard, a priest from Galveston who served much of the region's Catholic population. The next year, the congregation celebrated Christmas Eve mass in their first sanctuary. Two years later, Col. Rodgers donated land for this church cemetery; his young daughter, Agnes Bernard Rodgers, had been buried here the previous year. Over the years, the congregation grew and also sponsored a sister church in the city. Sacred Heart Catholic Church established a school, and later developed a second burial ground and new church facilities. Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery features ironwork by the local LeGrand family, as well as sculpture by Raffl Studios of Paris, France. Immigrants from sixteen countries are buried here; inscriptions on the monuments, which vary greatly in style, indicate the diverse history of the congregation. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004