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On July 19, 1889, the Hallettsville town council met to discuss the poor condition of various small cemeteries in the city. Mayor Fritz Lindenberg appointed Volney Ellis, W.H. Turk and E.H. Mitchel to find suitable land for burials outside the city limits. The committee completed its work in May 1890, when city cemetery trustees bought 4.5 acres from Antonia Kuhn for a new city cemetery. The town's Odd Fellows Lodge, Catholic and Jewish citizens established graveyards on adjacent fields, and part of Clairborn and Martha Moore's land southwest of the city became an African American cemetery. Existing burials were reinterred at this location, sometimes referred to as the Protestant Cemetery. The old city cemetery, located on South Dowling Street, was renamed Memorial Park in 1952. This burial ground, with tombstones inscribed in Czech and German as well as English, is a rich resource of the city's history. Confederate Maj. Gen. Arthur Pendleton Bagby (1833-1921) is one notable burial. City Cemetery has expanded over the years, taking in the Odd Fellows' site in 1945 and additional acreage to the east in 1957. The City Cemetery Association of Hallettsville manages the sacred ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2005 |
