Chamberlain Cemetery
Kingsville, Kleberg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In order to better market and transport cattle from area ranches at the turn of the twentieth century, Henrietta King, owner of the King Ranch, and other ranchers joined to bring the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway through the area to Brownsville in 1904. Railway headquarters were established in the new town of Kingsville. Mrs. King and her son-in-law, Robert J. Kleberg, formed the Kingsville Town and Improvement Company to sell ranch land in and around the new townsite. In 1908, the Kingsville Cemetery Association purchased a forty-acre tract from the company, including a portion of property that was the location of many earlier burials. In April 1909, a cemetery was opened and named for Henrietta King's father, Hiram Chamberlain, a noted minister who organized the first Protestant church on the southern Rio Grande. Cemetery Association president Charles H. Flato sold lots from his business, the Kingsville Hardware Company. Clyde M. Allen, a Kingsville merchant, served as a non-paid manager of the cemetery for the next fifty years. Mrs. King was buried in the cemetery upon her death in 1925. Captain King and a son and daughter were moved later that year from their original burial places in San Antonio to the King family plot. Also buried in Chamberlain Cemetery are Uriah Lott, a visionary builder of railroads throughout central and south Texas, Robert Bartow Cousins, the first president of South Texas State Teachers College (later Texas A&I University) and H. H. Kendall, the engineer of the first St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway train to pull through Kingsville. Chamberlain Cemetery reflects the history of the community and continues to serve Kingsville and the surrounding area. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
At the turn of the 20th century, King Ranch owner Henrietta King and neighboring ranchers backed the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway to move cattle to market, and the new railroad town of Kingsville rose around its headquarters. In 1908 a cemetery association bought forty acres and opened Chamberlain Cemetery the next year, naming it for Henrietta's father, pioneer minister Hiram Chamberlain. It became the resting place of Henrietta and Captain King, railroad visionary Uriah Lott, and other builders of South Texas.
Why it matters
The cemetery ties together the King Ranch, the railroads, and the founders of Kingsville, telling the story of how ranching capital and rail lines built the modern South Texas coast.
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Related people
- · Henrietta King
- · Robert J. Kleberg
- · Hiram Chamberlain
- · Uriah Lott
Themes & tags
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