Glen Rest Cemetery
Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
ON OCTOBER 15, 1894, A GROUP OF KERRVILLE CITIZENS ESTABLISHED GLEN REST AS A COMMUNITY CEMETERY NEAR THE GUADALUPE RIVER. S.H. REMSCHEL SOLD A TEN-ACRE TRACT TO DIRECTORS A.C. SCHREINER, H. REMSCHEL, W.G. GARRETT, B.H. ROSS AND ED SMALLWOOD. BURIALS NOW NUMBER IN THE THOUSANDS. SOME FAMILIES HAVE AS MANY AS FIVE GENERATIONS BURIED HERE. PROMINENT NAMES WITH MORE THAN TEN FAMILY MEMBERS INCLUDE PETERSON, DIETERT, HEIMANN, REES, MOORE, SCHREINER, BUTT, GARRETT AND LEINWEBER. SOME SOURCES INDICATE THAT THE LOW ROCK WALL OF NATIVE LIMESTONE, DATING FROM THE 1920s, USES MATERIALS FROM THE DEMOLISHED 1886 KERR COUNTY COURTHOUSE. GLEN REST CEMETERY IS THE FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR MANY PIONEER AND HISTORIC FAMILIES OF KERRVILLE AND THE SURROUNDING HILL COUNTRY.HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2018
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On October 15, 1894, a group of Kerrville citizens set aside a ten-acre tract near the Guadalupe River as Glen Rest, a community burial ground. Its directors and the thousands laid to rest here — some families reaching five generations deep, bearing names like Schreiner, Dietert, and Butt — read like a roll call of the Hill Country's founding families. A low native-limestone wall from the 1920s is said to reuse stone from the demolished 1886 Kerr County courthouse, binding one landmark's remains into another.
Why it matters
A pioneer cemetery like Glen Rest is a community's memory made visible, preserving the names and family lines that built Kerrville and the surrounding Hill Country.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related events
- · Establishment of Glen Rest Cemetery (1894)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville
Kerrville, TX
Presbyterians in the Hill Country town of Kerrville first worshipped in a shared Union Church before organizing their own congregation in 1888. A modest wooden church gave way in 1923 to the present Beaux Arts sanctuary, distinguished by a two-story entry with Doric columns, a classical pediment, and tall arched stained-glass windows. The building reflects the growing prosperity and architectural ambition of small Texas towns in the early twentieth century.
Kerrville
Kerrville, TX
Formally created in 1856 and named for Republic of Texas soldier James Kerr, Kerr County drew its first settlers — among them San Jacinto veteran Joshua D. Brown, who donated land for the public square and helped name the seat Kerrsville (the "s" later dropped). Anglo-American pioneers and German immigrants built the town into an important cattle-raising and shipping point by the 1870s. Incorporated in 1889 with Joseph A. Tivy as its first mayor, Kerrville soon added waterworks, electricity, and a fire department, growing into a hub of ranching, medicine, and tourism.
James Kerr
Kerrville, TX
James Kerr, a Kentucky-born veteran of the War of 1812 and former Missouri legislator, came to Texas in 1825 as surveyor general of Green DeWitt's colony and a member of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred." He selected the site of Gonzales and named it for the governor of Coahuila, endured the deaths of his first wife and children, and spent decades as a surveyor, Texas Ranger major, and delegate to the conventions that steered Texas toward independence. In 1856 pioneer Joshua Brown gave land here so that Kerr County would bear his old friend's name.
Kerr County
Kerrville, TX
Carved from sprawling Bexar County and organized in the spring of 1856, Kerr County took its name from James Kerr (1790–1850), a pivotal figure in early Anglo-Texas settlement. Kerr was the first American settler on the Guadalupe River, general manager of DeWitt's Colony, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, and a congressman of the young republic. The county seat bounced between Kerrsville, Comfort, and finally Kerrville as the region took shape.