Ruth Cemetery
Coryell County, Coryell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Ruth community was about midway between Stovall Valley and Henson Creek at the foot of Henson Mountain, on the Gatesville to Killeen Public Road. Settlement dates to 1853 with the abandonment of Fort Gates by the U.S. Army. Settlers moved out of Fort Gates and formed small settlements for self-protection. South Carolina native J. J. Stovall settled in the area in the 1850s. The Ruth Cemetery is on part of his land. The Ruth community had a cotton gin, general stores, blacksmith shop and a post office established in 1885 with J. C. Black as postmaster. A one-room school operated on the east side of farmers branch, on 1/2 acre donated by the George “Juber” Brown and William “Bill” Brown families. The schoolhouse was also used for Methodist, Baptist, Primitive Baptist and Church of Christ services. Ruth school consolidated with Ewing in 1910. Ruth Cemetery was established on land the Jud Jones family dedicated. The oldest dated gravestone is that of J. J. Stovall, who died April 27, 1878. A 1978 cemetery survey recorded 87 graves. The general landscape of Ruth Cemetery is traditional in nature, with burials oriented east-west and grave markers of granite, limestone, field stone, concrete and metal. A few plots are curbed. Three burials were permitted after Fort Hood was established in 1942, since spouses were already buried here. Interments are no longer permitted. The Ruth Cemetery is now in the Fort Hood military reservation live fire area, and is only accessible to the public on the Sunday before Memorial Day. Fort Hood provides maintenance with two mowings scheduled annually. There is no cemetery association. The cemetery is the last remaining vestige of the Ruth community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Gates in 1853, its soldiers and neighboring families spread out into small settlements for mutual protection, and one became Ruth. Along the Gatesville-to-Killeen road it gathered a cotton gin, stores, a blacksmith, a post office, and a one-room schoolhouse that doubled as a church for four denominations. Today the community is gone, swallowed by the Fort Hood live-fire area, and its cemetery—open to the public just once a year—is all that remains.
Why it matters
Ruth captures a common Texas story: a frontier community born from a frontier fort, then erased when the modern military reclaimed the land its founders had settled.
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Related people
- · J. J. Stovall
Related events
- · Abandonment of Fort Gates
Themes & tags
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