Palava Cemetery
Roby vicinity, Fisher County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally named Center Point, the town of Palava traces its history to early settlement in this area in the late 1870s. It was renamed when the U.S. Government granted a request to establish a post office here in 1900. Stella A. Daniel, member of a pioneer Fisher County family, served as the town's first postmaster. As more settlers arrived in the early 1900s, the town grew into a cotton marketing center. At its peak Palava boasted homes, four churches, a school, and such businesses as a cotton gin, retail stores, blacksmith shop, barber shop, and cafe. Although the oldest documented burials in the Palava Cemetery date to 1893, it is believed there are unmarked graves from as early as 1855. Interments include those of veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. Also buried here is Charles Byrd (d. 1912), who served as a Texas Ranger in the Frontier Battalion in the 1870s. After the Palava School was consolidated with the Sweetwater School District in 1954, the community began to decline. The Palava Cemetery is now the only physical reminder of a once thriving town. It serves as a memorial to the area's pioneers. (1990)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded as Center Point in the late 1870s and renamed Palava when it won a post office in 1900, this Fisher County town grew into a cotton-marketing center with homes, four churches, a school, a gin, and a string of shops. Its cemetery holds burials dated as early as 1893—and perhaps unmarked ones from the 1850s—including veterans of the Civil War through Vietnam and Texas Ranger Charles Byrd of the 1870s Frontier Battalion. After the school consolidated away in 1954 the town faded, leaving the cemetery as its last trace.
Why it matters
Palava's rise and disappearance is the classic arc of a West Texas farm town, and its cemetery preserves the memory of the pioneers and soldiers of a community that has otherwise vanished.
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Related people
- · Stella A. Daniel
- · Charles Byrd
Themes & tags
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