Lake Grove Community
Iola, Grimes County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Grimes County law partners Ben Goodrich and H. H. Boone (Texas Attorney General 1876-78), donated four acres of land at this location to trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1874 for church, school, and cemetery use by the surrounding loosely-knit farm community of Lake Grove. The community promptly built a church structure that they used for religious and school purposes. 100 students attended the Lake Grove School in 1900. The still active Lake Grove Cemetery, with gravestones dating to 1874, contains the grave of a veteran of the American Civil War.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1874 law partners Ben Goodrich and H. H. Boone—the latter a Texas Attorney General—donated four acres to the Methodist Episcopal Church for the scattered farm community of Lake Grove. Residents quickly raised a building used for both worship and schooling, and by 1900 a hundred students attended the Lake Grove School. The still-active cemetery, with stones dating to 1874, holds the grave of a Civil War veteran.
Why it matters
Lake Grove shows how a rural Texas community organized itself around the shared trinity of church, school, and cemetery in the decades after the Civil War.
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Related people
- · Ben Goodrich
- · H. H. Boone
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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