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 Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery
N 31° 03.605 W 097° 49.122
14R E 612707 N 3436860
I had been by here quite a few times, but only recently found this cemetery by sheer accident.
Waymark Code: WM67E7
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2009
Views: 13
This is a small cemetery, located just outside the southeast fence of Killeen-Fort Hood Regional Airport. If approaching from Killeen, take S. Clear Creek Rd. just past the airport and turn west on Reese Creek Rd. If approaching from TX Hwy 195, follow Reese Creek Rd. and turn west to stay on Reese Creek Rd. just before the airport. When the road curves to the right and heads north, it becomes S. Clear Creek Rd. There is a gate to the cemetery, though it is not locked.
Marker Number: 13433
Marker Text:
Elisha Ivy, for whom Ivy Mountain Road was named, established a home and store in this vicinity in the 1860s. In the 1870s, a community known as Liberty Hill developed northwest of his property. In 1896, when the rural settlement applied for a post office, its name was changed to Okay. Area residents supported churches, a school and businesses, and Samuel Marion and Mary Elizabeth (Evans) Brown set aside land for a community burial ground, formally deeding it in 1907. As military installations in the area grew, the community of Okay was displaced and ceased to exist in the early 1940s. In 1953, the U.S. Government decided to extend the runway at Gray Air Force Base, where the Brown (Okay Community) Cemetery was located, approximately 1,600 feet southwest of this site. The Army Corps of Engineers moved 70 graves, 30 of which were for unidentified individuals, to this location and aligned the burials similarly to original positions. The earliest marked grave dates to 1882 and is that of infant David Davis. Today, the cemetery is a reminder of the Okay community and the families who lived there.
Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
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