Rose Hill Cemetery
Tulia, Swisher County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The history of this community cemetery dates to October 1890, just three months after Swisher County was organized and Tulia was named county seat. The first recorded burial here is that of 18-year old Louis H. Harral, who died on October 17, 1890. His parents, L. J. & N. J. Harral, obtained permission from landowner T. W. Adams to bury their son on this hillside south of the Middle Tule Creek. Twelve days later, 4-year old Robert Alonzo Hutchinson, son of W.B. & Virginia Hutchinson, died and was buried on the hill near Louis. In 1906 five acres of land surrounding the graves were officially set aside for a community cemetery. A cemetery association was formed in 1916 under the leadership of Lula B. Tomlinson, who named the cemetery Rose Hill. The association was officially chartered by the state in 1937, and continues to maintain the site. Among those interred here are numerous city and county elected officials, including two law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty: John Mosley (d. 1933) and Robert (Bob) Potter (d. Christmas Day, 1960). Also buried here are veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. (1994)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This hillside burial ground began in October 1890, just months after Swisher County organized and Tulia became county seat, when the family of 18-year-old Louis Harral won permission to bury him above Middle Tule Creek. A four-year-old boy joined him twelve days later, and by 1906 five acres were set aside as a community cemetery, formally named Rose Hill by a cemetery association in 1916. Among those interred are county officials, two lawmen killed in the line of duty, and veterans of every American war from the Civil War through Vietnam.
Why it matters
Rose Hill traces the full arc of a Panhandle community, from its first frontier graves to generations of citizens and soldiers who built and defended it.
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Related people
- · Louis H. Harral
- · Lula B. Tomlinson
Themes & tags
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