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Also known as the Protestant Cemetery, this burial ground has served the Wallis community and surrounding area since the 1890s. The earliest settlers in the area were William and Lydia Ann (English) Guyler, Kentucky natives who arrived here in 1859. William Guyler built a grist mill, cotton gin and saw mill in the community which was known as Bovine Bend; he was also the settlement’s postmaster. In 1880, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway constructed a spur through the area. Guyler sold his land to the railroad company and moved his residence and trading post to the new town, named Wallis Station after chief engineer and vice president of the railroad, Joseph Edmund Wallis. The community was later renamed Wallis. In 1895, N.P. Ward sold four acres of land for cemetery use. The oldest known burial in Wallis cemetery is of Virginia Pennington (d. 1892). Others buried here include the Guylers and the Rev. Theo Kubricht, M.D., who was both a local physician and minister of Wallis Presbyterian Church. Community leaders, farmers, ranchers, railroad workers, merchants, teachers and veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War are also among those interred. Cemetery features include interior fencing and obelisks. The Wallis Cemetery Association, formed with the establishment of the burial ground, continues to maintain the property. Today, Wallis Cemetery serves as a permanent reminder of the struggles, successes and contributions of the early area pioneers. |
