DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and friend, it is a story worth slowing down for. April 8, 1840. The City of Houston cuts a check for seven hundred and fifty dollars, hands it to brothers Henry R. and Samuel L.
Allen, and walks away with five acres in the First Ward. The whole transaction is clean, simple, unremarkable on its face. But what Houston intended to do with that land — that's where things get complicated.
This was going to be the city's first owned cemetery. And right away, somebody sat down and drafted an ordinance carving those five acres into four very deliberate sections. First, a potter's field — for criminals, suicides, and persons killed in duels.
Second, the negroes burying ground. Third, something they called the commons, for, and I'm reading this close, 'all others not otherwise provided for.' And fourth, family plots available for sale to the highest bidder. Even in death, Houston in 1840 had its hierarchies drawn in ink.
Later, two more sections were added — one for members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and one for the Masons. The ground kept filling. For forty years, this was the only city cemetery in use.
Forty years. So everyone who died in Houston during that stretch — citizens of the Republic of Texas, veterans of the Civil War — a great many of them ended up right here. And then there were the yellow fever epidemics.
Houston was visited by them more than once, and the victims of those outbreaks were laid to rest here too. The last of those epidemics came in 1867. After that, mercifully, the fevers stopped returning.
Around 1879, a new cemetery opened on Allen Parkway, and the city quietly stepped away from this one. Only burials in existing family plots were still permitted. The old ground had served its purpose, or so they thought.
Then 1893 arrives, and the City Council makes an announcement that must have struck a good number of Houstonians like a cold wind: they were planning to move all the remains to a new location and put a schoolhouse on the site. Now, you can imagine the response. The public outcry was loud enough to prompt a legal injunction — an actual court order prohibiting the city from going through with it.
The dead, for the moment, held their ground. But time has a way of winning arguments that courts cannot settle. By 1923, the cemetery was neglected, overgrown, and very few grave markers were still visible.
The following year, 1924, Jefferson Davis Hospital was built directly on the site. And then in 1968, a Houston Fire Department facility was added to it. Thousands of people remain buried there to this day.
The marker tells us that plainly — thousands. And above ground, the evidence has been reduced to two things: a concrete curbing surrounding the Super family plot in front of the hospital, and a small Confederate section inside the Fire Department facility. Seven hundred and fifty dollars, five acres, forty years of the dead, and it comes down to a patch of concrete curbing and a corner inside a fire station.
Houston has built itself right on top of its own beginning, and most people drive past without ever knowing who's still down there.
What the marker says
On April 8, 1840, the City of Houston purchased five acres in the First Ward from brothers Henry R. And Samuel L. Allen for $750, in order to establish Houston’s first city owned cemetery. A city ordinance passed later that year divided the cemetery into four sections: (1) a "potters field" for criminals, suicides, and persons killed in duels, (2) the "negroes burying ground," (3) the "commons" for "all others not otherwise provided for," and (4) family plots "for sale to the highest bidder." Later sections were created for members of the independent order of odd fellows (I.O.O.F.) and the Masons. As the only city cemetery in use during a forty-year period, it became the final resting place of many citizens of the Republic of Texas and veterans of the Civil War. Also buried in the cemetery were many victims of Houston’s recurring yellow fever epidemics, the last of which occurred in 1867. The city discontinued use of the 1840 cemetery when a new cemetery opened on Allen Parkway ca. 1879, and thereafter only burials in existing family plots were allowed. In 1893, the City Council announced plans to move all remains to a new location and build a schoolhouse on the site. However, public outcry prompted an injunction prohibiting the action. By 1923, this cemetery was neglected and overgrown and very few grave markers were still visible. Jefferson Davis Hospital was built on the site in 1924 and the Houston Fire Department facility was added in 1968. While thousands remain buried here, the only above-ground evidence of the cemetery today is the concrete curbing surrounding the Super family plot in front of the hospital and a small confederate section inside the Fire Department facility. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006