Bethany Cemetery - Plano, TX
N 33° 04.574 W 096° 44.219
14S E 711242 N 3662015
Once abandoned, Bethany Cemetery was cleaned up and restored in 2014, and an interpretive sign placed by the Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation provides some cemetery history.
Waymark Code: WMZ12D
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/23/2018
Views: 2
The cemetery itself probably has more than the 132 burials listed on Findagrave, but it is still active, presumably open to descendants of those buried here. The sign itself is at the southern end of the cemetery, and it reads:
Bethany Cemetery
(1877 – Present)
Bethany Cemetery is historically associated with the Bethany Christian Church and public school. The church supported Add Ran College, now Texas Christian University, for several years. R.W. Carpenter (1832-1898), and early Plano settler and Confederate Civil War veteran, founded the church, school, and cemetery. The first burial here was for an infant named Walter Clark who died January 4, 1877. Carpenter’s own young daughter, Mary Katie, died March 14, 1878, and was the second burial. Several other members of the Carpenter family, including R.W. Carpenter himself, are interred in this cemetery, as are many early area residents.
The northern one-third of the property contains several marked burials. Elaborate marble spire or scroll monuments, some with decorative curbing, mark many graves, particularly those of early members of the Carpenter family. Others are marked by more modest marble or granite monuments, although a few are marked only by cinder blocks mounted in the ground. The church, school, and a teacher’s dormitory once stood in the southern portion of the cemetery, and evidence of these structures is still visible on the ground. Although this part of the cemetery exhibits no markers, unmarked burials are reported to be present in this area.
The church was founded in 1876 and enjoyed a sizable membership at the turn of the twentieth century. However, as later improvements to roads provided better access to town, membership dwindles. The church disbanded ca. 1933, and the abandoned church building, school, and neighboring structures were eventually razed.
There are several inset photos with captions:
[Photo of the old church]
Bethany Christian Church 1916.
Gravestones are visible in the background.
[Carpenter family in front of their home]
1880 photograph of the home and family of
Bethany Cemetery founder R.W. Carpenter.
[Class photo]
Early photograph of students
of Bethany School, that once stood along
with the Bethany Christian Church,
on property shared with Bethany Cemetery.
[Interior photo of the E.A. Carpenter Pharmacy in Plano]
E.A. Carpenter Pharmacy. In addition
to founding Bethany Christian Church,
school and cemetery, members of the
Carpenter family owned some of Plano’s
early businesses.
Funded by a grant from the City of Plano, TX
Photographs courtesy of Plano Public Library, Plano, TX
Group that erected the marker: City of Plano/Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
1313 Custer Rd
Plano, TX USA
75025
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