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Heart Cemetery has served the community of Booker since 1929. The town was platted in 1917 and named for B.F. Booker, a civil engineer for the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway, which extended their line through this area. The community consisted of residents from La Kemp, Oklahoma, who relocated here to the new railroad town. A local cemetery became necessary as the community grew. In 1925, Harry Herbert and Mary Agnes (Mullinex) Mitchell donated land to the town for use as a graveyard. In 1929, the City of Booker dedicated the land as Heart Cemetery; the name comes from its heart-shaped design. Historically, the burial ground has also been known as Booker Cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of Y.E. Winn (d. 1911), reinterred here from his original burial site in Missouri. Notable gravesites include those of the town's first physician, Dr. I.T. Smith; businessman William Vernon Shouse, who was involved in oil, real estate and manufacturing; and the property donors, the Mitchells. Community doctors, teachers, ministers, farmers, ranchers and other residents are also buried here. Other graves include veterans of military conflicts dating from World War I. In 1966, a park and cemetery board formed to oversee the property. The board dissolved in 1975, leaving the operation under the direction of the City of Booker, which still cares for the burial ground. Heart Cemetery continues to serve the community of Booker and the surrounding area, chronicling the lives of residents dating to the pioneer days of settlement. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2006 |
