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This cemetery began as a family graveyard on the farm of R.F. (1868-1927) and Addie (1872-1956) Hargrove, when their infant son died in April 1898. The Hargroves gave 2.5 acres of land surrounding their son's grave to the Spade Community for cemetery and school purposes. The community schoolhouse, originally called Liberty School, was used for numerous purposes, including funerals, grange meetings, church services, and community events. According to available oral history, the school building was located in the northeast corner of the cemetery property. The Ellwood-Renderbrook Spade Ranch, from which the community takes its name, adjoins the rural settlement on its southern boundary. From 1902 until 1912 a U.S. Post Office served the community; other businesses in the area included a cotton gin, a store, and a blacksmith shop. Since 1898 this graveyard has served as the sole burial ground for the farming and ranching community of Spade. Among the interments here are Hargrove family members; victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic; and veterans of the Civil War and World War II, including a member of the Women's Army Corps. (1992) |
