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Czech-Texans and members of the Lodge Texasky Mir No. 10 Shiner established this cemetery on April 14, 1906 to provide a burial place for SPJST (Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas) members and their families. Local and regional SPJST ministers provided funeral and burial services to its members in the Czech language. The SPJST Shiner Cemetery contains over 200 burials, many of them Catholic and Protestant. Czech names are found on the headstones and over forty are inscribed in the Czech language. Gravestone materials include granite, marble and funeral company markers. Prior to 1970, a metal arch sign marked the entrance of the cemetery with the Czech words, “Narodni Hrbitov” (National Cemetery). All of the graves are oriented in an feet-to-east position, a tradition in the Czech culture. None of the SPJST charter members are buried here, but several charter members from SPJST lodges outside of Shiner are buried in the cemetery. This includes Jakub Vackar, a charter member of Lodge No. 19, Velehrad, president of the Congregation of Freethinkers in Lavaca and Fayette Counties and president of other lodges in the area. Some members of the Odbocka C.N.S. of Shiner, a branch of the Czech National Association that helped raise funds for the new, struggling nation of Czechoslovakia, are also buried in the SPJST Shiner Cemetery. In addition, many veterans of World War I, World War II and the Korean War are buried here. The cemetery is a reminder of the strong fraternal bonds of the Czech community. The SPJST District VI Cemetery Organization, established in 2002, maintains this historic cemetery. |
