Ebony Grove Cemetery
Mercedes, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery, named for the land's clusters of ebony trees, began in 1922. The American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company developed Mercedes and about 200 square miles of adjacent farmlands, also deeding nearly nine acres to the Mercedes Cemetery Association, which still cares for the burial ground. Among the earliest marked graves are those of siblings Maude Evans (d. 1876) and Eugene E. Evans, Jr. (d. 1881), whose remains were reinterred from another cemetery. Ebony Grove Cemetery is shaped like a shield, bounded by the Arroyo Colorado on three sides with an ordered plot layout. Notable landscape features include stone slab covers and fraternal organization gravestones. Historic Texas Cemetery – 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Named for the clusters of ebony trees on its grounds, this shield-shaped cemetery began in 1922 when the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company—developer of Mercedes and some 200 square miles of surrounding farmland—deeded nearly nine acres to the local cemetery association. Bounded on three sides by the Arroyo Colorado, it holds early reinterred graves of the Evans siblings and features stone slab covers and fraternal gravestones.
Why it matters
It marks the irrigation-driven land boom that turned the Lower Rio Grande Valley into productive farmland and drew the settlers who built its towns.
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Related people
- · Maude Evans
- · Eugene E. Evans, Jr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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