The Hallsville Cemetery
Hallsville, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
After the establishment of Hallsville in 1869 by railroad developers, land was secured here for a cemetery. In 1875 the James F. Taylor Masonic Lodge No. 169 acquired from the railroad (by then named the Texas & Pacific) three acres of land near the rail line and dedicated it as a community burial ground. The earliest marked burial is that of Mrs. G. C. Russell in 1875, taking place while the land transaction was in progress. Some burials from the older communities of Ash Springs (2 mi. NE) and Fort Crawford (2 mi. SW) were transferred here, as most of their settlers moved to Hallsville and the railhead. Since the 1920s cemetery cleaning days during May served as community gatherings. Children were encouraged to take part and learn about their ancestors while helping to maintain family plots. Politicians spoke to the crowds before spring primary elections, and veterans were honored on war memorial days. A cemetery association was formed in 1947 to ensure perpetual care and acquire more land. Several additions were made through the generosity of the railroad. Formal entrance gates, landscaping and other improvements have been sponsored by the association. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When railroad developers laid out Hallsville in 1869, they set aside ground for a burial place, and in 1875 the local Masonic lodge acquired three acres from the Texas & Pacific Railway and dedicated it as a community cemetery. Graves were even moved here from the older, fading settlements of Ash Springs and Fort Crawford as families followed the railhead. For generations, spring cleaning days doubled as community reunions where politicians stumped, veterans were honored, and children learned their family history among the headstones.
Why it matters
The cemetery captures how the railroad reshaped East Texas settlement and how a burial ground became the living center of a community's shared memory.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hallsville
Hallsville, TX
Successor to the 1840s pioneer settlements of Fort Crawford and Ash Springs, Hallsville sprang up where the Texas & Pacific Railway's first train arrived on August 17, 1869. As a temporary western terminus and site of the railroad's shops, it drew ox-wagon freighters hauling wool, cotton, and buffalo hides in from the West. Named for the Kentucky brothers Elijah and Volney Hall, it was chartered in 1870.
Site of Earpville
Longview, TX
Earpville was settled in the late 1840s by James Earp and his relatives from Alabama, growing along a stagecoach line into a hub with a post office, stage stop, Methodist church, and stores that served the region's farmers. When part of Earp's homesite was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1870, the new town of Longview rose beside the tracks and Earpville faded away. Its disappearance is a classic case of the railroad choosing a town's fate.
O. H. Methvin
Longview, TX
Georgia-born O. H. Methvin came to Texas around 1848 with his wife Margaret and his father, settling on land in what was then Upshur County. In 1870 he gave 100 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad, an act that founded the city of Longview; three years later it became the seat of the newly organized Gregg County. Methvin's land gift turned a railroad stop into a county town.
O. H. Methvin, Sr., Founder of Longview
Longview, TX
O. H. Methvin (1815–1882) came to Texas from Georgia around 1848 and bought some 1,200 acres of East Texas, including a cornfield on this site. In 1870 he deeded 100 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the town that grew along the line was named Longview for the sweeping view surveyors admired from nearby Rock Hill. When Gregg County formed in 1873, Longview became its county seat, a city born from one landowner's gift to the railroad.