Oakwood Cemetery Historic District | |
Location |
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---|---|
Coordinates | 32°46′10″N97°20′50″W / 32.76944°N 97.34722°W |
Area | 63.726 acres (25.789 ha) |
Built | 1879 |
Built by | J.W. McPherson, Fort Worth Granite and Marble Company |
Architect | Waller & Field, unknown |
Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 100002473 [1] |
RTHL No. | 3659 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 29 May 2018 |
Designated RTHL | 1966 |
Oakwood Cemetery is a historic cemetery in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. Deeded to the city in 1879, it is the burial place of prominent local citizens, pioneers, politicians, and performers.
Located at 701 Grand Avenue, Oakwood is a 62-acre cemetery on the north side of the Trinity River, just across the river from downtown Fort Worth.
The cemetery is actually composed of three historically distinct cemeteries divided along racial and religious lines: New City Cemetery, the oldest section historically limited to white burials; Trinity Cemetery, designated for African-American burials; and Calvary Cemetery, a section specifically for Catholic burials. [2]
The cemetery was designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018 and a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1966. One grave site within the cemetery is also designated separately as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark since 1983.
The original 20 acres that form the City Cemetery were deeded to the City of Fort Worth by local civic leader John Peter Smith in 1879, after the city's oldest cemetery, Pioneers Rest, had rapidly filled. [2] In 1880, a section of the property was partitioned off and limited to Catholic burials at the request of Bishop C.W. Dubois of Galveston. This new Catholic section was named Calvary Cemetery.
The Oakwood Cemetery Association formed in 1908 and a chapel was built on the north end of the property in 1912. In 1926 a new Oakwood Cemetery Association charter was instated requiring a five-member board of directors. The president of the Fort Worth National Bank, the institution that held the association's funds in trust, was required to be a director; of the remaining four members, two had to be women. Among the first board members were Jennie Scott Scheuber, a local civic leader and the city's first librarian, and Major K.M. Van Zandt, longtime president of the Fort Worth National Bank. In 1952, the charter was amended to allow board representation from any bank in Fort Worth with oversight of the association's endowment. [3]
Oakwood Cemetery is home to Bartenders' Row, a section of graves belonging to bartenders from Fort Worth's notorious Hell's Half Acre, [4] and Bricklayers' Row, a section formerly reserved for members of the local bricklayers' union. In 1903, Fort Worth mayor T.J. Powell designated a section of the cemetery, known as Soldiers' Row, for the burial of Confederate Civil War veterans and their wives. [3]
Notable local individuals interred at Oakwood Cemetery include: [2] [3]
In December 2017, the 1,100-year-old remains of a Native American woman found by construction workers digging a trench in downtown Fort Worth were buried at Oakwood Cemetery in accordance with NAGPRA requirements; burial rites were performed by local Native American spiritual leaders. [5]
Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas with a 2020 U.S. census population of 2,110,640, making it the third-most populous county in Texas and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its seat of government is Fort Worth. Tarrant County, one of 26 counties created out of the Peters Colony, was established in 1849 and organized the next year. It is named after Edward H. Tarrant, a lawyer, politician, and militia leader.
Euless is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. Euless is part of the Mid-Cities region between Dallas and Fort Worth. In 2020 Census, the population of Euless was 61,032. The population of the city increased by 19.02% in 10 years. The city's population was 51,277 as of the 2010 census.
Hurst is a city in the U.S. state of Texas located in the densely populated portion of northeastern Tarrant County and is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. It is considered a Dallas and Fort Worth suburb and is part of the Mid-Cities region. It is 13 miles from the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 40,413.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District is a K-12 public school district based in Bedford, Texas (USA). The district serves the city of Bedford, most of the cities of Euless and Hurst, and small parts of North Richland Hills, Colleyville, Fort Worth, and Arlington. The district operates twenty-one elementary schools, five junior high schools, two traditional high schools, and additional specialized facilities.
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Edward H. Tarrant was an American politician and general. He served in the Texas House of Representatives during both periods. Tarrant County, whose county seat is Fort Worth, was named after him.
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The W. T. Waggoner Building is a historical skyscraper in Fort Worth, Texas.
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Jennie Scott Scheuber (1860–1944) was an American librarian who pioneered the public library movement in Texas. A prominent Fort Worth, Texas, civic leader, she was instrumental in the formation of the Fort Worth public library system and the first art museum in Fort Worth.
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The Woman's Club of Fort Worth is one of the city's oldest membership organizations, formed in 1923 by the members of several existing woman's clubs. The Woman's Club complex comprises eight historic buildings on Fort Worth's Near Southside and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. As with many woman's clubs in the United States, the Woman's Club of Fort Worth has its roots in the Progressive Movement, with its original mission of "the cultural and civic advancement of Fort Worth; and the study of literature, history, science, painting, music, and other fine arts."
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Mosier Valley is an area of Fort Worth, Texas, located just south of Euless, Texas. It was the first freedmen's town in Tarrant County.
Frederick Douglass Memorial Park is a historic cemetery for African Americans in the Oakwood neighborhood of Staten Island, New York. It is named for abolitionist, orator, statesman, and author Frederick Douglass (1818–1895), although he is not buried there. It has burial sites for numerous prominent African Americans, including a pioneering journalist, athletes, musicians, performers, political leaders, and business people. The park was designated a New York City designated landmark in June 2024.