Citizens Memorial Garden Cemetery
Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Referred to historically as Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown Negro Cemetery, Colored Cemetery, Georgetown Citizens Cemetery, and Masonic Cemetery, Citizens Memorial Garden Cemetery is a historic burial ground in Georgetown. Due to the common racial segregation of public spaces and resources, the cemetery was set aside for African American and Hispanic residents, paupers and any others who wished to be buried here. The site was then west of the city limits on the Liberty Hill Road. In 1906, Mayor R.E. Ward appointed Zenie Henley, George Davis, Henry Smith, Anthony Price and Esau Beard as the first trustees. Some of the individuals buried here were formerly enslaved and lived to experience post-Civil War Emancipation and Reconstruction. Hundreds of individuals have been laid to rest here. Issues such as headstone degradation and unmarked graves make it difficult to complete a full assessment of the exact number of burials. African Americans have historically been a significant portion of Williamson County’s demographics, representing 10 percent of the county’s population in 1850 and 19 percent of the population in 1860. Although Citizens Memorial Garden Cemetery is most often recognized as an African American cemetery, dozens of Hispanics are also interred here. Formerly, a barbed wire fence separated the African American and Hispanic sections of the cemetery. Records indicate that the City of Georgetown conveyed the cemetery to the African American community in 1906 for grounds maintenance. A local masonic lodge maintained the cemetery for many years until 1980, when the Citizens Memorial Association assumed responsibility for its care. HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2023
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Known over the years as Oak Hill, the Georgetown Negro Cemetery, the Colored Cemetery, and the Masonic Cemetery, this burial ground was set aside under segregation for Georgetown's African American and Hispanic residents, paupers, and others. In 1906 Mayor R. E. Ward appointed its first Black trustees, and the city conveyed the grounds to the African American community for upkeep. Some interred here had been enslaved and lived to see Emancipation and Reconstruction; a barbed-wire fence once divided the African American and Hispanic sections.
Why it matters
The cemetery is a physical record of segregation's reach into even the resting places of the dead, and of the substantial African American and Hispanic communities who built Williamson County.
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Related people
- · R. E. Ward
- · Zenie Henley
- · Esau Beard
Related events
- · Emancipation and Reconstruction
Themes & tags
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