Renewed Effort to Preserve Historic Grand Prairie Cemetery - Dallas, TX
N 32° 45.004 W 097° 00.094
14S E 687225 N 3625346
WFAA (Channel 8) in Dallas, TX, reported in a March 2013 news story that efforts were being made to preserve a small, virtually unknown family cemetery near Grand Prairie High School.
Waymark Code: WMKKT8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/28/2014
Views: 3
by MONIKA DIAZ
WFAA
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 10:29 PM
GRAND PRAIRIE — Behind Grand Prairie High School, near the baseball fields, a fence wraps around a small piece of property that holds a mystery.
"When you come inside here, you really don't know it's a cemetery," said Angela Luckey.
It's an unmarked plot, and it's part of her family history.
"I was overwhelmed," she said. "I didn't know it was here."
She recently found an article featuring her cousin, Randolph Reed, who died this past December. Reed will be posthumously honored at an NAACP banquet next week.
In the article — which was printed 12 years ago — Reed explained that he and others were fighting to preserve the cemetery.
Reed, a former Grand Prairie ISD football coach, believed his relatives — three young men — were buried at the cemetery. They apparently died in a crash between a carriage and an Interurban trolley about 1920.
Not much was known about the crash, but the article mentioned that the victims were Frederick Douglas Reed’s children, Luckey's ancestor.
"It actually collided with the wagon and killed the children," Luckey said.
She found out that that it wasn't young men, but children who died in the accident. Roscoe, Margaret and Bessie were just babies.
With some research and determination, she traced it all back to her family tree.
"Very surprised that 12 years later nothing has been done," she said.
Luckey is now picking up her cousin's mission from 12 years ago. She took her findings to the school district and it responded by launching a project.
A group of students from the high school will soon research and beautify the site. They also plan to petition the state for historical site designation.
Luckey hopes this history lesson will finally honor her family’s deep roots in Grand Prairie.
"Get a state historical marker that they can actually have marked, and put some headstones up in memory of the children that's here," she said.
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The cemetery is located on the north side of Small Hill Dr, with Grand Prairie High School viewable in the distance, just west of the intersection of NE 4th St and Small Hill. Findagrave refers to this location as the "Reed Family Plot."
Type of publication: Television
When was the article reported?: 03/19/2013
Publication: WFAA - Channel 8 (Dallas)
Article Url: [Web Link]
Is Registration Required?: no
How widespread was the article reported?: local
News Category: Society/People
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