Old Cleburne Memorial Cemetery - Cleburne, TX - Out of Place Graves on Waymarking.com

This was once the site of Cleburne High School, now used by the local courts, and this cemetery was covered in the 1920s by their football field, Rhome Field. As a plaque here mentions, the original cemetery grounds became overcrowded, and it didn't help that the locals had a hang-up, peculiar to the times, to having their loved ones buried with the native Anadarkos who had been buried here previously. Cleburne Memorial Park was established, and the transfers began. The Anadarko remain, along with countless others whose remains are outside the confines of this brick enclosure. The two burials listed at Findagrave could be spurious, as one (Nora Fay Lackey) occurred long after this cemetery had been replaced, but the other occurred in 1895, and Annie Laura (Fairly) Dial could still be here somewhere, maybe even with the baby she died delivering.

There are three modern headstones to be found inside the enclosure. One is for William "Will" Hix, for whom a memorial can be found over in Cleburne Memorial Park. You'll find his mother and other family members buried there, numbering among those who were removed from this location. With him is a cousin, Lucy Gee, whose parents are buried in Union Hill Cemetery not far from here in Joshua, and there is a marker for an unknown between them. Whether that person is "unknown" by today's standards, versus "unknown" when they were put into the ground, is ... unknown.

The bronze plaque mounted on a brick base in front of the enclosure provides some background:

Cemeteries are open history books whose pages are tablets of stone.

They reveal the culture of the past, often the only clues available about people. Once destroyed they can never be recovered.

The Johnson County Historical Commission thanks those that honor and respect the sacred ground of Cleburne's first recorded cemetery once the final resting place for the early Indians and many of our founding fathers.

As the cemetery became overcrowded and learning it was once the Anadarko Tribe's burial ground, many of the Anglo settlers were reinterred to the new 1874 Cleburne Memorial Cemetery on the east side of town. However, some still remain under this historic athletic "Rhome Field" dedicated to a Cleburne school student Oct. 22, 1922.

First Name: Multiple Last Name: Interments Born: Not listed Died: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/14/2020 WalksfarTX visited it