Hico Cemetery - Siloam Springs, AR
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 36° 11.333 W 094° 32.264
15S E 361733 N 4005994
Town was first named "Hico", the changed to Siloam Springs
Waymark Code: WM10CJ0
Location: Arkansas, United States
Date Posted: 04/14/2019
Views: 5
County of marker: Benton County
Location of marker: Siloam Place & E. Tahlequah St., Siloam Springs
Number of graves: 137
Cemetery opened: 1834
Marker erected by: Hico Cemetery Association, The Jaycees and Friends
Date marker erected: 1976
Marker text:
HICO CEMETERY
Dedicated as an expression of
appreciation to the devotion and
sound principles upon which
Hico and Siloam City were founded
1976
"It is laid out with the cemetery sign in the center and all the headstones in a circle around it. Very much like a rock garden. It sits next to an empty field that still has a few field stones visible here and there. The grave markers are dated from the mid 1840s to the early 1900s. From the ones I can read 1843 is the earliest burial and 1908 was the latest burial. Sadly the stones are in pretty rough shape.
"At Hico Cemetery the grave stones are in a circle, but the graves are still in the yard surrounding the circle. Foot stones and the bases for the headstones are still visible in some places. As I understand it, in the early 1970s the city moved the grave stones from Hico Cemetery to Oak Hill Cemetery in order to reduce vandalism. Outraged citizens then formed the Hico Cemetery Association to raise funds to bring the stones back, but there was no way to know which grave each stone should mark, so they were placed in a circle around the memorial monument." ~ Escape to the Silent Cities: Tammi Thiele
A detailed account of the cemetery cn be read at Still as Stone
""The first settlement was called Hico, and in 1884 Caldeen D. Gunter settled there. At about this time the Hico Post Office was established. This was later moved to Siloam City (Siloam Springs). Hico was a prominent trading post with the Cherokee nation and consisted of two stores and a mill." ~ Chamber of Commerce