ONLY Cemetery to Have Served the Community - Osage, TX
N 31° 31.024 W 097° 34.328
14R E 635577 N 3487791
A 1992 Texas Historical Marker at the front of Osage Cemetery on FM 185 indicates that this cemetery is the only cemetery to have served this community.
Waymark Code: WM16A3P
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 06/11/2022
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Given that
Osage is today a small rural community that saw its best days by 1936, when fire claimed its businesses, there's really no need to mention that the town had only one cemetery. It was big enough to warrant a school, though, and the Baptist church is still active. For whatever reason, though, the superlative was part of the narrative, which reads:
Residents of the Osage community began using this site as a burial place about the mid-1870s, soon after area settlement began. Though the presence of unmarked burials indicates possible earlier usage, the first marked burial, that of R.P. Doherty, dates to 1874.
Although used by the community, the graveyard was privately owned by real estate surveyor and investor Luther Kimbell and his sister Josephine Kimbell during its early years, and was not legally designated a cemetery until 1885. That year, Josephine Kimbell had a cemetery platted around the existing graves and began commercial operation of the cemetery. In 1892, Luther Kimbell assumed responsibility for the graveyard, which he operated for the rest of his life.
The Osage Cemetery contains over 800 marked and unmarked graves, including those of Osage's earliest settlers and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. It has been maintained by the Osage Cemetery Association since 1970. The only cemetery to have served this community, the historic burial ground is a tangible reminder of the area's pioneer heritage.
Still active, with at least a thousand burials, the cemetery also serves Oglesby and the other small communities here in Coryell County, and there are probably contributions from Crawford and Gatesville as well.