Gomez Cemetery
Brownfield, Terry County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in 1902 in Gomez (then 0.5 mi. W of here), first settlement in Terry County. Original 4-acre tract was deeded to Gomez School trustees in 1906 by pioneer settler H. F. Adams. Some of earliest settlers are buried here. Many graves were moved to Brownfield in 1918. (1970)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in 1902, this cemetery served Gomez, the first settlement in Terry County, which then stood a half-mile to the west. Pioneer settler H. F. Adams deeded the original four-acre tract to the Gomez School trustees in 1906, and some of the area's earliest homesteaders were buried here. When the county seat shifted, many graves were moved to Brownfield in 1918.
Why it matters
The graveyard is nearly all that remains of the South Plains' first foothold, marking where the settlement of a raw frontier county began.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
At the start of the twentieth century, the South Plains of West Texas were among the last parts of the state to be settled by farm families. For decades the high, flat grasslands had been mostly ranch country, and settlers came only slowly. Water was scarce, winters could be harsh, and the nearest railroad might be many miles away.
Around 1900, new settlers began arriving to homestead and farm, and small communities appeared on the open prairie. Most had little more than a store, a post office, a school, and a burial ground. Many of these early settlements did not last. They lost out to rivals as county governments were organized and railroads were built.
Gomez was the first settlement in Terry County. This cemetery, established in 1902, dates from the very beginning of that settlement.
People & events
The cemetery was established in 1902 to serve Gomez, which then stood about half a mile west of here. Some of the earliest settlers in Terry County were buried on this ground. They were the people who first tried to make a permanent home on the South Plains.
In 1906, pioneer settler H. F. Adams deeded the original four-acre tract to the trustees of the Gomez School. The deed is revealing. On the frontier the school was often the most important institution a community had, and putting the cemetery in the school trustees' care tied the town's graves to its most lasting public body.
That did not keep Gomez from fading. In 1918, many of the graves were moved to Brownfield, the town that became Terry County's center. What remains here is part of the original burial ground, one of the last physical traces of the county's first settlement.
Its place in the American story
Gomez belongs to the last chapter of American homesteading. By the early 1900s, the classic frontier was often said to have closed, yet in places like the Texas South Plains families were still starting from scratch on open land. Their story is part of the long westward movement that shaped the nation.
The fate of Gomez is also typical. Across the Plains and the West, many first settlements were outgrown by later towns that won the county seat, the railroad, or both. Moving graves from a fading town to a thriving one is a vivid sign of that shift. Even the dead followed the population.
Markers for places like Gomez keep the record honest. The towns that survived are easy to find on a map. The first footholds that made them possible can be lost completely unless someone marks where they stood.
If you visit
The cemetery is in the Brownfield area of Terry County, on the wide, flat country of the South Plains. The settlement it served once stood about half a mile to the west. When you stand here, notice how open the land is, and imagine it with only a few scattered homesteads and a schoolhouse in sight.
Keep in mind that many graves were moved away in 1918, so the stones here are not the full story of who was once buried at Gomez. Walk respectfully and leave everything undisturbed.
This is an easy stop on a drive through West Texas, especially paired with a visit to Brownfield itself, where many of Gomez's dead were reburied. Seeing both places helps you follow the whole story: the first settlement, and the town that replaced it.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · H. F. Adams
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
A Half-Mile South of this marker Stood Town of Gomez
Brownfield, TX
In 1903, landowners platted Gomez in the center of then-unorganized Terry County, secured a post office named for Cuban independence patriot Máximo Gómez, dug a public well, and lured settlers and merchants. It was the county's first inhabited townsite and hoped to become the county seat—an honor that went instead to nearby Brownfield in 1904. The post office closed in 1926 and the school in 1941, leaving a church, a few businesses, and the old cemetery to carry the name.
Gomez Baptist Church
Brownfield, TX
On August 3, 1903, nine worshippers gathered under a wagon-sheet tent to organize this Baptist church, led by the Rev. J. R. Miller and meeting monthly in the Gomez schoolhouse. A one-room sanctuary built in 1909 was later moved when the town of Gomez itself was relocated for highway construction, and a larger church rose in 1936. The congregation gained its first full-time pastor by 1942 but was disbanded in 1992, its fortunes tied to the fading town of Gomez.
Brownfield Cemetery
Brownfield, TX
Brownfield's first public burial ground began in 1904 with the death of 19-year-old Jessie Hill, on land that soon belonged to M. V. Brownfield. Through two world wars and the Great Depression the cemetery fell into neglect, then reflected a new chapter as Hispanic farm workers settled the area in the 1940s and 1950s. A 1980 reorganization revived it, and by 1999 it held more than 2,000 graves.
City of Brownfield
Brownfield, TX
Brownfield began in 1903 as a promoter's gamble on the open plains of Terry County, laid out by developers W. G. Hardin and A. F. Small—famously using only a hundred feet of wire to measure a townsite out of raw pasture. To draw settlers they offered a free lot to every voter in the county, and a store, hotel, and school quickly followed. In 1904 the fledgling town narrowly beat neighboring Gomez for the county seat, securing its future.