Weslaco City Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The city of Weslaco, named for the W. E.

Stewart Land Company, came into being in December of 1919. Brand new town, fresh surveyed, full of promise out there in Hidalgo County. And like any town worth its salt, it didn't take long before the people doing the founding had to reckon with the other end of things.

By 1921, the city established a cemetery, set out here beyond the original townsite, a little separate, the way such places tend to be. The first grave belongs to Reuben W. Warren, who died in 1921.

First man laid to rest in ground that would eventually hold more than six thousand souls. That is a number worth sitting with for a moment. Six thousand.

Out here in the brush country of the Rio Grande Valley. Also resting in this cemetery are two of the men who built the town they now sleep in. Edmond Cooper Couch, born 1876, died 1944, a city founder.

And Robert Lee Reeves, born 1871, died 1938, another founder. The very men who helped lay out streets and a future now lie within the city limits of the thing they made. A fellow named H.

E. Bennett platted the burial ground in 1922, then came back and platted an addition in 1926, because a growing town needs room on both ends. Walk through the grounds today and the grave markers speak in layers, military service, fraternal organization memberships, whole lives compressed into stone.

The City of Weslaco still maintains this place. More than six thousand gravesites. Started with one man in 1921, and the town just kept on keeping on.

What the marker says

The City of Weslaco, named for the W.E. Stewart Land Company, was founded in December 1919. In 1921, the city established a cemetery here, outside the original townsite. The first grave is that of Reuben W. Warren (d. 1921). Also buried here are Weslaco city founders Edmond Cooper Couch (1876-1944) and Robert Lee Reeves (1871-1938). H.E. Bennett platted the burial ground in 1922, and he platted an addition in 1926. Throughout the cemetery, grave markers indicate military service and fraternal organization membership. The City of Weslaco maintains the burial ground of more than 6,000 gravesites. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003