Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas)

Oakwood Cemetery NRHP: City Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	16th & Navasota Austin, Texas, USA
Coordinates:	30°16′36″N 97°43′27″W / 30.27667°N 97.72417°W / 30.27667; -97.72417Coordinates: 30°16′36″N 97°43′27″W / 30.27667°N 97.72417°W / 30.27667; -97.72417
Governing body:	Austin Parks and Recreation
MPS:	East Austin MRA
NRHP Reference#:	85002297
Added to NRHP:	September 17, 1985

Oakwood Cemetery, originally called City Cemetery, is the oldest city-owned cemetery in Austin, Texas. Situated on a hill just east of I-35 that overlooks downtown Austin, just north of the Swedish Hill Historic District and south of Disch-Falk Field, the once-isolated site is now in the center of the city.

History

The cemetery dates from the mid-1850s. It may have begun even earlier, as legend states that its first tenants were victims of a Comanche attack whose bodies were laid to rest on the same hill.

The cemetery was renamed Oakwood in 1907 per city ordinance. It spreads over 40 acres (160,000 m²), including an annex across Comal Street to the east, and includes sections historically dedicated to the city's black, Latino, and Jewish populations. Paupers were historically buried in unmarked graves on the cemetery's south side. Graves without permanent markers were subject to reburial after a given period.

The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985; its annex was added on October 30, 2003. Despite its protected status, the cemetery has been subject to crime, vandalism, and decay for decades.

Notable burials

• Wilmer Allison (1904–1977) - Tennis Player
• Richard Bache, Jr. who represented Galveston in the Senate of the Second Texas Legislature in 1847 and assisted in drawing up the Texas Constitution of 1845. He was also the grandson of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, and Deborah Read.
• Albert S. Burleson (1863–1937) - United States Postmaster General (1913–1921)
• Oscar Branch Colquitt (1861–1940) - Governor of Texas (1911–1915)
• Jacob Carl DeGress (1842–1894) - First State Superintendent of Schools (1871) and Mayor of Austin (1877–1880)
• Susanna Dickinson (1814–1883) - Alamo survivor
• John Henry Faulk (1913–1990) - Radio Personality
• Thomas Green (1814–1864) - American Civil War General
• Andrew J. Hamilton (1815–1875) - Governor of Texas (1865–1866)
• Morgan C. Hamilton (1809–1893) - U.S. Senator (1870–1877)
• John Hancock (1824–1893) - Member of the United States House of Representatives (1871–1885)
• Ima Hogg (1882–1975) - Philanthropist
• James S. Hogg (1851–1906) - Governor of Texas (1891–1895)
• Elisha M. Pease (1812–1883) - Governor of Texas (1853—1857, 1867–1869)
• Porter, Infant of W.S Porter; (1888)- Son of writer, O. Henry
• Oran M. Roberts (1815–1898) - Governor of Texas (1879–1883)
• Ben Thompson (1842–1884) - City Marshal of Austin, Texas
• William M. Walton (1832–1915) - Attorney General of Texas (1866–1867)
• Charles S. West (1829–1885) - Texas Supreme Court justice and Secretary of State of Texas
• Dr. Annie Webb Blanton (1870–1945) - First woman elected to statewide office in Texas. Served as State Superintendent for Public Instruction from 1919-1922.

External links

• Austin Chronicle - "City of the Dead"
• Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, TX) at Find A Grave
• Austin History Center, Oakwood Cemetery Database
• Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas) is at coordinates 30°16′36″N 97°43′27″W / 30.2767°N 97.7243°W / 30.2767; -97.7243 (Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas))Coordinates: 30°16′36″N 97°43′27″W / 30.2767°N 97.7243°W / 30.2767; -97.7243 (Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas))