Evergreen Cemetery of Victoria
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The first community cemetery in Victoria, located at present day Memorial Square, was unpopular with local citizens. They preferred home burial despite an 1846 city ordinance prohobiting the practice. In 1849 John McCrabb bought 27 acres of a tract granted to the city by the Republic of Texas. The property already contained the gravesite of Dr. Walter Fosgate, who died in 1848. During the 1850s, part of McCrabb's land became the new public cemetery. Following the Civil War (1861-65), many graves were moved here from the original city cemetery. Other reinterments occurred when old St. Mary's Catholic Church was razed in 1868. Because of city neglect, local women organized the Victoria Ladies' Cemetery Association in 1876 and took over care of the plot. The name "Evergreen Cemetery" was chosen in 1883 because of abundant trees in the area. The Evergreen Cemetery Endowment Association was established in 1912 to manage investment of maintenance funds. Over the years, further land acquistion has enlarged the site to 30 acres. Among the 9,000 graves here are those of Martin de Leon (1765-1833), early empresario and founder of Victoria; and veterans of the Texas Revolution, Mexican War, and Civil War. (1976)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Victoria's earliest citizens resisted a public cemetery, preferring home burials even after an 1846 ordinance banned the practice, so a new burial ground took shape in the 1850s on land John McCrabb bought from a Republic of Texas grant. After the Civil War, graves were relocated here from the old city cemetery and from the razed St. Mary's Church, and in 1876 local women organized the Victoria Ladies' Cemetery Association to rescue the neglected plot, naming it "Evergreen" in 1883. Among its 9,000 graves lies Martín de León, the empresario who founded Victoria, alongside veterans of the Texas Revolution, the Mexican War, and the Civil War.
Why it matters
Evergreen gathers the founders, empresarios, and soldiers of three eras of Texas history into one ground, and its rescue by an all-women's association shows how civic-minded women preserved community heritage.
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Related people
- · Martín de León
- · John McCrabb
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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