Crossroads Cemetery
Celina, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The local Baptist community built a church in 1882 approximately three miles east of Celina, just north of the present Crossroads Cemetery. The property, encompassing 1 1/2 acres, had been jointly owned by brothers Abiel D. and Edmond Stelzer. The resulting Crossroads Baptist Church was moved in 1902 to the new town of Celina to be near the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas Railway. The church's name was changed to First Baptist Church of Celina, and in 1930, a quitclaim deed was filed by the church for the Crossroads Cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of an infant girl who died in 1875. Today, Crossroads Cemetery continues to serve residents of the area. Historic Texas Cemetery-2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
East of Celina, a Baptist congregation gathered in 1882 on a acre-and-a-half tract that brothers Abiel and Edmond Stelzer had held in common, and the burial ground beside it already held graves reaching back to 1875. When the railroad arrived, the congregation followed it into the new town and became First Baptist Church of Celina, but the cemetery stayed put and remains in use today. Its official 2006 designation preserves one of the quiet fixtures of Collin County's farming country.
Why it matters
The marker shows how a rail line could pull a whole community's institutions toward itself while the cemetery — rooted to its ground — endured as the truest record of who settled the land.
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Related people
- · Abiel D. Stelzer
- · Edmond Stelzer
Themes & tags
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