Wallis Cemetery
Austin County, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Also known as the Protestant Cemetery, this burial ground has served the Wallis community and surrounding area since the 1890s. The earliest settlers in the area were William and Lydia Ann (English) Guyler, Kentucky natives who arrived here in 1859. William Guyler built a grist mill, cotton gin and saw mill in the community which was known as Bovine Bend; he was also the settlement’s postmaster. In 1880, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway constructed a spur through the area. Guyler sold his land to the railroad company and moved his residence and trading post to the new town, named Wallis Station after chief engineer and vice president of the railroad, Joseph Edmund Wallis. The community was later renamed Wallis. In 1895, N.P. Ward sold four acres of land for cemetery use. The oldest known burial in Wallis cemetery is of Virginia Pennington (d. 1892). Others buried here include the Guylers and the Rev. Theo Kubricht, M.D., who was both a local physician and minister of Wallis Presbyterian Church. Community leaders, farmers, ranchers, railroad workers, merchants, teachers and veterans of conflicts dating to the Civil War are also among those interred. Cemetery features include interior fencing and obelisks. The Wallis Cemetery Association, formed with the establishment of the burial ground, continues to maintain the property. Today, Wallis Cemetery serves as a permanent reminder of the struggles, successes and contributions of the early area pioneers.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This burial ground, also called the Protestant Cemetery, has served the Wallis area since the 1890s. The community began as Bovine Bend, founded by Kentucky settlers William and Lydia Guyler in 1859; when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway ran a spur through in 1880, Guyler sold his land, moved to the new town, and it was renamed for the railroad's chief engineer, Joseph Wallis. Farmers, merchants, railroad workers, a physician-minister, and veterans dating to the Civil War rest here beneath obelisks and interior fencing.
Why it matters
The cemetery captures how the railroad remade rural Texas—renaming towns, relocating settlers, and drawing new communities along its tracks.
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Related people
- · William Guyler
- · Lydia Ann (English) Guyler
- · Joseph Edmund Wallis
- · Theo Kubricht
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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