Bourland Cemetery
Keller, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Aurelius Delphus Bourland (1840-1904), a North Carolina native and a veteran of the Civil War, bought land here in 1873. A farmer and Primitive Baptist preacher, he first used this site as a family cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of his grandson A. Delphus White, who died in 1886. In 1899 Bourland sold 2.5 acres, including the grave sites, to the residents of Keller (1.5 mi SW) for use as a public burial ground. Additional land was given by the families of Bourland in 1947 and A.B. Harmonson (1891-1967) in 1977. The gateway was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. (1981)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Aurelius Delphus Bourland, a North Carolina native and Civil War veteran who was also a Primitive Baptist preacher, bought land here in 1873 and began a family cemetery, its earliest marked grave that of his grandson in 1886. In 1899 he sold the burial ground to the residents of Keller for use as a public cemetery, and later families added more land. The Works Progress Administration built its gateway in 1935.
Why it matters
From private family plot to public burial ground, Bourland Cemetery records how a frontier family's land became a shared civic space, right down to a New Deal-built gate.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the years after the Civil War, North Texas filled up fast. Veterans and families from the war-torn South headed west looking for cheap land and a fresh start, and the prairies of Tarrant County drew many of them. Fort Worth was growing from a frontier outpost into a cattle and railroad town, and small farm communities sprang up in the countryside around it.
There were no undertakers or town cemeteries in much of that rural landscape. Families buried their own dead on their own land, often on a rise near the house. Many cemeteries across Texas began exactly that way: one family's plot that slowly became the burial ground for a whole community.
By the early 1900s, nearby towns like Keller were taking shape, and they needed shared places for public life: churches, schools and cemeteries. Decades later, the Great Depression brought another kind of change, when federal New Deal programs put unemployed Texans to work building roads, schools, parks and stonework that still stand today.
People & events
Aurelius Delphus Bourland was a North Carolinian who fought in the Civil War and later made his way to Texas. In 1873 he bought land here. He farmed it, and he also preached as a Primitive Baptist, a strict, plain-living Baptist tradition known for simple worship. In many rural areas, preachers like him served congregations while still working their own fields.
The first marked grave on this hillside is a sad one. It belongs to Bourland's grandson, A. Delphus White, who died in 1886. In those days child deaths were heartbreakingly common, and many family cemeteries began with the loss of a little one. From that first burial, the plot grew as the family grew and aged.
In 1899 Bourland sold two and a half acres, graves included, to the people of Keller so the town could have a public cemetery. Later generations kept it growing. The Bourland family gave more land in 1947, and the family of A.B. Harmonson added more in 1977. In 1935, at the depth of the Depression, Works Progress Administration crews built the gateway that still marks the entrance.
Its place in the American story
Bourland Cemetery tells a small version of a story that played out across America: private land becoming common ground. On the frontier, families had to provide for themselves, even in death. As communities formed, those private plots often passed into public hands so neighbors could rest side by side. The sale here in 1899 was a step from homestead to town.
The cemetery also carries the mark of the Civil War generation that settled the West. Many veterans, from both sides, moved into Texas and the plains after 1865 to rebuild their lives. Bourland's path from North Carolina to Tarrant County was typical of many thousands of others.
Then there is the gate. The Works Progress Administration was one of the New Deal's largest programs, putting millions of Americans to work on public projects during the Depression. Many WPA projects were grand, such as dams and big buildings. Many more were modest ones like this gateway, built to last by people who badly needed the work. You can find their handiwork in small towns everywhere.
If you visit
Come here in a quiet, respectful frame of mind. This is still a burial ground where families visit their loved ones. Start at the WPA gateway and take a close look at the craftsmanship, then remember that it was built by local workers during some of the hardest years the country has known.
Inside, walk slowly and read the stones. You can trace the cemetery's history in them: older markers from the late 1800s, then the twentieth-century graves of a growing town. See if you can find the oldest section, where this place first served the Bourland family. Weathered stones can be hard to read, so go easy on them and don't do rubbings that could damage them.
The cemetery sits a short way outside Keller, in the fast-growing suburbs north of Fort Worth. That makes it an easy detour on a Dallas-Fort Worth trip. It is a peaceful spot for anyone curious about how the region's farm communities began, before the subdivisions arrived.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Aurelius Delphus Bourland
Themes & tags
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