Fairmount Cemetery
San Angelo, Tom Green County, Texas
Marker Inscription
San Angelo established the "New City Cemetery" here in 1893 on 22.5 acres. The first recorded burial was that of city alderman George Bond's wife, Elise, in 1893. A cemetery association, formed in 1897, organized a volunteer women's auxiliary to manage the graveyard. The auxiliary was headed by Mrs. C. A. Broome for 38 years. Early auxiliary member Leila Hill is credited with naming the cemetery "Fairmount". Although the association deeded the cemetery to the city in 1927, a perpetual care fund was created and the women's auxiliary continued to oversee operations. Fairmount Cemetery's 52 acres contain more than 33,000 burials, some of which were transferred from other area graveyards. Interred here are former slaves; African American Buffalo Soldiers; pioneer ranchers and oilmen; civic leaders; and veterans of wars ranging from the Texas Revolution to the Vietnam conflict including Lt. Jack Mathis, recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in the European Theater in World War II. Members of a local Greek Orthodox Church are buried in a separate section. Among the cemetery's outstanding statuary is the statue of Tom McCloskey by noted sculptor Frank Teich and one of St. Francis shaped by Italian artisans. (1994)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
San Angelo laid out its "New City Cemetery" here in 1893, and within a few years a volunteer women's auxiliary — led for 38 years by Mrs. C.A. Broome — took charge of the graveyard and renamed it Fairmount. Its 52 acres now hold more than 33,000 burials that read like a cross-section of West Texas history: former slaves, African American Buffalo Soldiers, pioneer ranchers and oilmen, and veterans of every conflict from the Texas Revolution through Vietnam, among them WWII Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Jack Mathis. Fine statuary, a Greek Orthodox section, and decades of women's stewardship make it a civic landmark.
Why it matters
Fairmount gathers the full sweep of the region's people — enslaved and free, soldier and settler, native-born and immigrant — into a single ground, and honors the women whose volunteer labor preserved it.
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Related people
- · Jack Mathis
- · C.A. Broome
- · Leila Hill
- · Frank Teich
Themes & tags
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