Cooper Creek Cemetery
Denton, Denton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground is one of the last remaining remnants of a small rural community that dates back to before the Civil War. Settlers, including the Farris and Skaggs families, came to northeast Denton County in the 1860s. Like many rural areas, as the number of farms grew, the community found the need to establish a cemetery, school, and churches. A deed from 1878 evidences the establishment of the Cooper Creek Cemetery on this site. The graves in Cooper Creek Cemetery chronicle the history of the community. The earliest marked grave is of Richard Kale, who died February 9, 1872. Local residents, civic leaders and early settlers are buried in the cemetery. Cooper Creek School’s first trustees, James Farris, J.A. Templeton, and David Argo, are buried here. The cemetery also includes veterans of war. David Payne, who served in the 29th Texas Cavalry during the Civil War, and Lieutenant L.H. Owen, an Air Medal and Oak Cluster recipient of World War II, are both honored here. Unlike many cemeteries, the Cooper Creek Cemetery is not segregated by race or religion. The graves of Hispanic residents, such as Tiburcio Menchaca and the Villanueva family, lie close to their Anglo neighbors. Cooper Creek Community has taken much pride in overseeing the cemetery for more than a hundred years. Residents have preserved important features of the cemetery, such as fencing and concrete curbing around family plots, through decoration days and fundraisers. Today, the Cooper Creek Cemetery Association cares for and maintains the cemetery, which continues to serve area residents.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Begun by settlers such as the Farris and Skaggs families who reached northeast Denton County in the 1860s, Cooper Creek Cemetery was formally deeded in 1878 and is one of the last traces of a vanished rural community. Its earliest marked grave dates to 1872, and it holds early trustees, a Confederate cavalryman, and a decorated World War II airman. Notably, the burial ground was never segregated by race or religion — Hispanic families like the Menchacas and Villanuevas rest beside their Anglo neighbors.
Why it matters
An unsegregated frontier cemetery is a quiet, unusual record of a rural Texas community that buried its dead together across the color line it lived on.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Cooper Creek Baptist Church
Denton, TX
Baptists in the Cooper Creek community were gathering to worship as early as 1872, near where the church stands today. In 1916 L.F. "Tom" Collins donated land for a sanctuary completed the next year; a new steeple and entrance came in 1961, and the present sanctuary rose in 2000 on the original site. For well over a century the congregation — which still counts descendants of the founding families — has anchored the community.
Pioneer Woman
Denton, TX
This tribute honors the anonymous pioneer women who followed their families into the Texas frontier, meeting hardship and isolation with courage and quiet resourcefulness. Rather than commemorating one named figure, it celebrates the domestic and cultural labor — carrying homeland traditions into a raw new country — that sustained frontier settlement. The verse is credited to Jessie H. Humphries.
Oakwood Cemetery
Denton, TX
Oakwood Cemetery took shape soon after Denton was chosen as the county seat in 1857, on land donated by pioneer settler Hiram Cisco, who had also given ground for the townsite. Its earliest grave belongs to a Mrs. Wilson, who died in childbirth crossing the area by covered wagon. Among those resting here are town founder Jesse M. Blount and other early leaders—along with two men hanged for murder in 1879 whose stones simply read "Executed."
North Texas State Fair and Rodeo
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Denton County's fair tradition dates to 1885, when the Denton County Blooded Stock and Fair first celebrated local livestock and crops. The modern North Texas State Fair grew from the Denton County Fair chartered in 1930, settling at its present grounds in 1949 and adding permanent buildings — including Fair Hall, moved from a World War II German POW camp near Gainesville. From cowboy contests to the arrival of professional PRCA rodeo, the fair has long showcased the ranching and farming heritage of rural North Texas.