Old Letot Cemetery
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established 1870s Historic Texas Cemetery - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Old Letot Cemetery was established in the 1870s, in the Reconstruction era, to serve the rural community of Letot north of Dallas, and it was formally recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2002. Like many small burial grounds of its time, it marks the site of a farming settlement that has since been absorbed into the expanding city.
Why it matters
Modest pioneer cemeteries such as this preserve the last visible trace of rural communities that vanished as Dallas grew.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Union Bower Community
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Drawn by fertile land along the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, settlers reached this area by the mid-19th century, and after William and Virginia Smith arrived in 1879 the families here built what became the Union Bower Community. They hauled cotton, corn, and produce to Dallas markets, organized a Sunday school in 1885 that grew into a Methodist church, and established schools and a community cemetery. When Irving was founded on the railroad in 1903, Union Bower's rural population declined, and by the time Irving annexed it in 1956 little of its farming character remained.
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