Crowley Cemetery
Crowley, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground originally served the early settlers of the Deer Creek area who began moving here about 1848. The earliest marked grave is that of Thomas D. Stephenson (1848-57), the eight-year-old son of I.N. Stephenson (d. 1883) who came to Tarrant County in the 1850s. The property was deeded for use as a public burial site in 1879 by Sarah J. "Sallie" Dunn. Originallly known as Deer Creek Cemetery, the name was changed about 1880, shortly after the settlement of Crowley was organized along the route of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground began serving the settlers of the Deer Creek area soon after they arrived around 1848, its earliest marked grave that of an eight-year-old boy who died in 1857. Sarah "Sallie" Dunn deeded the land as a public cemetery in 1879, and when the town of Crowley organized along the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad about 1880, the old Deer Creek Cemetery took the new town's name. The grounds hold the pioneers who settled this corner of Tarrant County.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery renamed for the railroad town that grew up beside it captures how the coming of the rails reshaped the map and identity of frontier Texas communities.
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Related people
- · Sarah J. Dunn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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