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Encompassing almost 130 acres, the Mount Olivet Cemetery was founded in 1907 by Flavious G. McPeak (1858-1933) and his wife, Johnnie Clara Lester McPeak (1858-1936), who arrived in Fort Worth in 1894 from Tennessee. The land on which the cemetery is located was purchased by Mrs. McPeak in 1895, and the family built a two-story home in 1896. The parents of ten children, the McPeaks moved to a home on Lake Street when they founded this cemetery. Flavious McPeak, a respected Fort Worth businessman, had visited the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee, and was so impressed with its design that many of its features were incorporated here. A mausoleum was completed in 1909, but only served as a temporary receiving vault. It was torn down when a new mausoleum was built in 1983. A variety of free-standing and relief sculpture can be seen throughout the grounds. Containing over 47,000 burials, this was the first perpetual care cemetery in the county. The oldest marked grave is that of Zenas Ewin Kerr, buried April 11, 1907. Also interred here are 594 victims of the flu epidemic of 1918, the McPeaks and members of their family, and many Tarrant County pioneers. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986. |
