Higgins Cemetery
Higgins, Lipscomb County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This burial ground has served residents of the Higgins Community since the late 1800s. Higgins was platted in 1887 on land owned by E.C. Gray, who purchased area property along with his brother-in-law George Patton, and Jim Patton. The three bought land presuming that the Santa Fe Railroad, who planned on expanding to the Texas Panhandle, would build through this area. The railroad would cross Gray’s section, and Higgins would grow into an agricultural, ranching and oil community. The town was named for G.H. Higgins, a stockholder in the Santa Fe Railroad. Gray deeded this property as a cemetery in 1900, though residents used it before that time. The earliest marked graves are of Ellen M. Patton and Howard F. Peugh, two children who died in 1889. Earlier unmarked burials may also exist here. Others interred include Dr. Rudolf Goettsche, a pioneer dentist and county sheriff; Frank Ewing and George Sennett, friends of and early influences on noted humorist Will Rogers; and the victims of the April 9, 1947 tornado which destroyed many of town’s residences and its business district, claiming the lives of 45 townspeople. The burial ground also holds community leaders, early pioneers and veterans of military conflicts dating to the Civil War. The burial ground features vertical stones, curbing, statuary and grave slabs. Still used today, Higgins Cemetery remains as a testament to the pioneering men and women who lived and worked in the Higgins Community. Historic texas cemetery – 2006
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Higgins was platted in 1887 by E. C. Gray and the Patton brothers, who had bought land betting the Santa Fe Railroad would build through it—and it did, growing the town into a farming, ranching, and oil community named for a railroad stockholder. Gray deeded its cemetery in 1900, though burials had begun earlier, the oldest marked graves those of two children who died in 1889. Among the interred are a pioneer dentist-sheriff, early friends of humorist Will Rogers, and the forty-five townspeople killed when a tornado destroyed much of Higgins on April 9, 1947.
Why it matters
Higgins Cemetery holds both the hopeful gamble that founded a railroad town and the sudden catastrophe of one of the deadliest tornadoes in Panhandle history.
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Related people
- · E. C. Gray
- · G. H. Higgins
- · Dr. Rudolf Goettsche
- · Will Rogers
Related events
- · April 9, 1947 Higgins tornado
Themes & tags
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