Old City Greenwood Cemetery
Weatherford, Parker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery was formally established by the Weatherford town council in 1863 when lots were surveyed and the exact cemetery location was staked. Previous interments were made in the unmarked streets of the town. The mayor directed those remains be moved to the new cemetery. Historian H. Smythe noted in 1877 that the cemetery was a "sadly neglected spot," without a fence. By 1925 the civic league and cemetery association had been formed. The accomplishments of its women members were many. In addition to site beautification, the driveways were widened and graveled. A water well and windmill were installed, and a sexton was employed to secure the grounds. Cemetery care declined in the 1930's and later. Among the estimated 1,000 graves are Civil War medal of honor recipient Chester Bowen; trail drivers Oliver Loving and Boze Ikard; cattleman and founder of the Citizens National Bank J.R. Couts; Governor of Texas (1902-06) S.W.T. Lanham and his son, congressman Fritz G. Lanham; veterans of many wars; and pioneers of early Texas history. Restoration of the cemetery began in the late 1980's. The site continues to serve the area. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Formally established by Weatherford's town council in 1863, this cemetery gathered earlier burials that had been scattered in the town's unmarked streets. By the 1920s a civic league and cemetery association—led notably by its women members—had beautified and secured the neglected grounds. Among its estimated thousand graves rest Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Chester Bowen, famed trail drivers Oliver Loving and Bose Ikard, and Texas Governor S. W. T. Lanham.
Why it matters
The cemetery gathers in one place the cattle-drive pioneers, soldiers, and statesmen who built North Texas, making it a quiet register of the frontier's most storied figures.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Weatherford grew up on the edge of the Texas frontier in the 1850s. At that time Parker County was contested ground, where settlers, cattlemen, and Native nations such as the Comanche and Kiowa all laid claim to the land. Life there was often precarious. For a young town's early settlers, even a proper burial ground was an afterthought, and the first dead were laid to rest in unmarked spots along the town's streets.
In 1863, in the middle of the Civil War, the town council formally set aside and surveyed this cemetery. The mayor ordered earlier remains moved here. It was an act of order and permanence at a time of war and uncertainty on the frontier.
In the decades after the war, Weatherford became a hub of the North Texas cattle country. Herds, trail drivers, and ranching money flowed through the region. Many of the people who shaped that era, from cowboys to governors, ended up resting on this hill.
People & events
The cemetery's most famous story belongs to two trail drivers. Oliver Loving was a pioneering cattleman who, with Charles Goodnight, opened a cattle trail west and north toward New Mexico. In 1867 Loving was badly wounded in a fight with Comanches and later died. Goodnight kept a promise to bring his partner home to Texas: he carried Loving's body back to Weatherford for burial. That journey became one of the great legends of the cattle trail.
Bose Ikard (spelled "Boze" on the marker) also rests here. He was an African American cowboy who rode with Goodnight and Loving, and Goodnight trusted and admired him deeply. Goodnight later honored him with a heartfelt tribute on his headstone. Ikard's life is a reminder that the real cattle trails were far more diverse than old Western movies suggested.
Others here represent the town's growth and public life. They include Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Chester Bowen; cattleman J. R. Couts, who founded the Citizens National Bank; S. W. T. Lanham, who served as governor of Texas in the early 1900s; and his son Fritz G. Lanham, a congressman. For a long time the grounds were neglected. An 1877 observer called the cemetery a "sadly neglected spot" with no fence. In the 1920s a civic league and cemetery association, driven largely by its women members, widened and graveled the drives, dug a well, raised a windmill, and hired a sexton. Care slipped again in later decades, and restoration began in the late 1980s.
Its place in the American story
Few places capture the cattle-drive era as directly as a cemetery where its legends are buried. The story of Goodnight carrying Loving home became part of American Western lore and helped shape how later generations imagined the trail, its hardships, and the loyalty between partners.
Bose Ikard's grave matters just as much. Historians estimate that many of the cowboys on the postwar Texas trails were Black, Mexican, or Mexican American, yet popular culture largely erased them. Ikard's presence here, and the respect Goodnight paid him, helps restore a more accurate picture of who actually worked the range.
The cemetery's own history follows a common American pattern: frontier improvisation, then civic organization, then neglect and revival. The women of the 1920s cemetery association were part of a nationwide movement of women's clubs that took responsibility for public spaces, beautification, and historical memory, often before they held much formal political power.
If you visit
Come to Old City Greenwood Cemetery ready to wander. With an estimated thousand graves, part of the pleasure is finding the names. Look for the graves of Oliver Loving and Bose Ikard. They are the reason many trail-history fans make the trip, and reading Ikard's headstone in person can be moving.
As you walk, notice the older stones and the different eras of memorials: frontier pioneers, veterans of several wars, and prominent townspeople. Keep in mind that this ground was once described as neglected and unfenced, and that decades of volunteer work brought it back.
Weatherford is an easy drive west of Fort Worth, so the cemetery fits well into a day exploring the historic town or a longer road trip through North Texas cattle country. Please be respectful. It's an active cemetery that still serves the community.
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
- · Chester Bowen
- · Oliver Loving
- · Bose Ikard
- · S. W. T. Lanham
- · Fritz G. Lanham
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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