Corsicana Hebrew Cemetery
Corsicana, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground has served the Jewish residents in Corsicana since the late 1800s. The first Jewish settlers in the community came here in 1871, when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad extended it’s line from Houston to Corsicana en route to Dallas. The first Jewish settlers, many of whom traced their origins to Eastern Europe or Alsace Lorraine, were merchants who made use of the railroads. Soon, the Jewish population was well established in Corsicana and needed a cemetery. In 1881, the Hebrew Cemetery Association purchased this property for use as a burial ground. However, the land had been used for Jewish internments prior to this time; the earliest known burial dates to 1877. In 1887, the Ladies Hebrew Cemetery Association formed to raise funds for cemetery upkeep. In 1951, additional property was purchased. Cemetery features included obelisks, statuary and curbing. Noted individuals interred here include civic leader, businessman and 14 term president of the Temple Beth El, Sidney Marks; entrepreneur and philanthropist, Kalman Wolens; Civil War veteran Max London; an anonymous rope walker, who in 1884 fatally fell from a tightrope, leading to a search for his identity which gripped the community; and Ernest Joseph, who served as Rabbi for both the reform and orthodox congregations until his death in 1999. Today, there are over 400 individuals buried here. Corsicana Hebrew Cemetery remains a hallowed ground which chronicles the history of Corsicana’s Jewish residents, who since the 1800’s have played a vital role in the community’s civic, cultural and economic development. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2008
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Jewish settlers—many of Eastern European or Alsace-Lorraine origin—came to Corsicana in 1871 as the Houston and Texas Central Railroad pushed through toward Dallas, and they soon needed a burial ground. The earliest known interment dates to 1877, and in 1881 the Hebrew Cemetery Association bought this land, with a Ladies' association forming in 1887 to maintain it. Marked by obelisks and statuary, the cemetery holds more than 400 graves, among them merchants, civic leaders, a rabbi, and an unidentified 1884 tightrope walker whose fatal fall gripped the town.
Why it matters
The cemetery chronicles a thriving Jewish immigrant community that helped build a Texas railroad town's civic and commercial life.
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Related people
- · Sidney Marks
- · Kalman Wolens
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rosenberg Family
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Ben Rosenberg left Poland around 1882 and, after a few years in Waco, put down roots in Corsicana at the turn of the boomtown's cotton-and-oil prosperity. He ran the Cotton Exchange Saloon and later founded an implement company, becoming a generous fixture of the town's sizeable Jewish community. This house, built for his wife Rachel and their son, stayed in the family for more than half a century.
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Corsicana's first Jewish settlers arrived in 1871, the year the railroad reached town, and by 1898 a group of Reform Jews had established Temple Beth-El. Two years later they raised this striking sanctuary, crowned with two octagonal towers and onion-shaped domes. The building stands as a monument to a community whose members helped drive the city's growth.
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Collin Street Bakery opened in Corsicana in 1896 when German immigrant baker August Weidmann partnered with local cotton buyer W. T. McElwee, pairing baking skill with showmanship. Weidmann's secret recipe became the famous "DeLuxe" fruitcake, eventually shipped worldwide. McElwee's rooming house above the bakery drew visiting ballplayers, circus troupes, and celebrities—from Will Rogers to John Ringling—who mailed the cakes to friends far and wide.
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