Preservation Dallas Wants You to See Dead People on This Tour of Historic Cemeteries

By Donovan Westover
Preservation Dallas

On Halloween weekend, Preservation Dallas will present something different in the spirit of beautiful fall weather and social distancing. We’re heading to some of the most historic cemeteries in this city!

The Cemeteries of Dallas tour will explore the final resting places that have long piqued your curiosity in a one-day showcase.

Hillcrest Mausoleum

The 1937 Anton Korn-designed Hillcrest Mausoleum on Northwest Highway is a perfectly preserved structure of such immense proportion. It looks like a Fair Park building that calved and drifted northwest. Maybe that is the reason for the highway moniker!

In the early days, when horse-drawn carriages would lead the funeral procession from home or church to a nearby cemetery, the funeral home was owned by the George W. Loudermilk Undertaking Company since 1893. Historically the term “undertaker” comes from the concept of one agreeing to undertake a necessary service. Early undertakers were former cabinet makers who were called upon to make coffins for the deceased. To transport coffins to the cemetery, Loudermilk matched teams and beautifully outfitted carriages sporting “the only rubber tires in the city” and became a source of great pride. As the business entered the age of the automobile, hearses were the original ambulances for transporting the sick to hospitals as well as the deceased to the burial ceremony.

Sparkman Hillcrest website

Temple Emanu-El Cemetery

Landry & Landry Architects designed the Mausoleum for Temple Emanu-El Cemetery. Known for their Liturgical Design Consultancy which combines architectural expertise with that of a pastor. The mausoleum, columbarium, and small enclosed chapel are composed of three separate trapezoidal-shaped elements arranged along the boundaries of the site. If you’ve never experienced its serenity, you should.

The building, in plan, is composed of three separate trapezoidal shaped elements arranged along the boundaries of the site, thereby forming a triangular courtyard, held apart at the apexes. thereby forming a triangular courtyard, held apart at the apexes. One apex is broadly open to form the entry. At the other apexes, narrow slit-like openings lead the eye from the chapel and columbarium into the distance. The three elements are lightly joined by curved skylights at the roof. A sheltering colonnade surrounds the open courtyard, giving rhythm to the visitor’s journey and offering respite from the elements, yet allowing the changes of the seasons to be fully felt. Into this courtyard face all 740 crypts.The mausoleum is constructed of poured-in-place, smooth-finished concrete – its gray color matching the existing gravestones of the cemetery. The concrete walls were poured in six lifts, one for each level of crypts. Beautiful,hand-shaped, bronze-glazed tiles set in the rusticated joints between pours enhance the concrete structure. The framework of crypts emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual tomb, yet acknowledges the oneness of those entombed there. The crypts are sealed with bronze-clad concrete covers. The geometry of the structure is contrasted by the flowing pattern of the bronze entry gates and grilles at the apexes of the chapel and the columbarium, An inscription on the wall at the entry of the chapel reads:World and eternity are here one word, both signify the same unendingness.

Courtesy of Landry & Landry Architects

Historic Cemeteries of Uptown

We all drive by the Uptown historic cemeteries in wonderment, peeking through the fences at 40 miles per hour. Give yourself the gift of time and see what you are missing. Knowledgeable wayfinders and docents enhance each cemetery’s experience. We will keep you busy and usher you to significant sites so you’re not walking around aimlessly. That would be boring.

Children are welcome and encouraged on this tour of historic cemeteries. And given the number of private family tributes, they will feel at home amongst the small-scale mausoleums. Tell the kids that the Harry Potter professors live in them. I suspect that will remove any cemetery stigmata.

Freedman’s Cemetery was established as a burial ground for Dallas’ early African-American population in 1861. This is one of the largest Freedman Cemeteries in the country. The site represents the remnants of the once-thriving North Dallas community which from the Civil War to the 1970s was the largest segrerated African American enclave in Dallas and one of the largest in the country. Along with the Oak Cliff settlement, the North Dallas community emerged as the social, cultural, and economic center of black life in Dallas. The memorial was built in late 1990 to commemorate this important site and the significant contributions made by African Americans toward the growth and development of Dallas. 

The City of Dallas website

The beautiful fall weather in Dallas is a catalyst for outdoor activity, and your step counter will thank you for letting us docent you throughout the day’s exploration of historic cemeteries. There are a serious number of structures to see at each cemetery, and we cannot wait to show you. With Halloween candy abound this weekend, you will thank us for the extra steps.

Founded in 1875 as the Trinity Cemetery, the first burial was a Mrs. Susan Bradford that March. At the time, the cemetery was out of town and surrounded by farmland. By 1896, the cemetery had fallen into disrepair with one local noting: “The fence is down in twenty places, cattle roam all over the graves and wagons use the main street as a common thoroughfare.” This prompted the formation of the Greenwood Cemetery Association which took over the maintenance and operation of the cemetery and gave it its current name.

Wikipedia

McCree Cemetery

McCree Cemetery was officially deeded in 1866 and contains the graves of Peters Colonists, pioneer settlers, war veterans, freedmen from the surrounding hamlets of Audelia, Rodgers, and Egypt (a.k.a. Little Egypt), and members of the early area Methodist and Baptist churches. The original owners were E. H. McCree and Mahulda Bonner McCree, who had purchased several acres of land from the Hustead Survey.  Mahulda granted 1 ½ acres to William McCullough and James E. Jackson in June 1866 for a public graveyard.  In June 1896, J. E. Griffin sold one acre of land, adjacent to the cemetery on the east, to three African-American men (Jeff Hill, George John, and Monroe Parker) for the establishment of an African-American cemetery.  The cemetery was used by decedents of the original settlers up until the 1980s, and the last burial was in 1982.  McCree Cemetery is no longer active or in use. 

City of Dallas website

Oak Cliff Cemetery

Oak Cliff Cemetery is a movie scene to me. Approaching and entering through the gates conjures an image of Tom Hanks doing the same. Our tour guests will experience the same vicariousness on our self-driving tour as they approach and enter each tour stop. Historic cemeteries are like a box of chocolate. Is that a thing?

The Oak Cliff Cemetery is generally considered the oldest public cemetery in Dallas County, dating back to the 1830s when William Beaty settled here in a vast wilderness with the Trinity River only a short distance away. Today, the Cemetery sits in the shadow of the downtown Dallas skyline. The oldest marked grave is that of the infant Martha Wright, who died on July 16, 1844.

Oak Cliff Cemetery website

Oakland Cemetery

Oakland Cemetery has some of the most beautiful historic tributes in Dallas. Period.  Families that purchased at the cemetery were elected officials, commerce leaders, and developers of the city. The massive selection of their superbly crafted mausoleums and grave markers await your oohs and ahs.

Along with loved ones, gardens, history, art, and architecture lie hidden in Dallas’ historic Oakland Cemetery. Today graves are overgrown, names are faded by weather and time, and important historical context is being lost. Oakland Cemetery is home to names we know, Belo, Bookhout, Minyard, Kiest, Janelli, Ervay, Thornton, Akard, Grauwyler, Armstrong, Zang, Santos and Bartos. It is also home to names we must learn. From 1891 through the late 1960s, African Americans were buried in a segregated section at Oakland Cemetery. A portion of the African American grounds were tragically demolished to make way for a city park. Today, while Opportunity Park is home to public art installations that celebrate the rich history of South Dallas and inspiring African American leaders, more history is being lost.

Oakland Cemetery website

Western Heights Cemetery

And, who can forget one of Dallas’ most coveted gravesites that has its own label on Google Maps, that of Clyde Barrow? Good ol’ Clyde packs this smaller cemetery with a huge punch. A Dallas historic cemeteries tour would be incomplete without a stop at this cemetery. A Texas Historical Marker facing Fort Worth Avenue denotes the importance of this historical site.

The Western Heights Cemetery in the 1600 block of Fort Worth Avenue is about three and one-half miles west of the Dallas County Courthouse. The three acre cemetery is on a portion of the William Coombs 640 acre Survey Number 290. This cemetery was on the trail heading west and it is believed that several strangers who died along the way were buried here in the 1840-1860s. 

Dallas County Pioneer Association

Tour day will begin at the Hillcrest Mausoleum with a lighthearted discussion highlighting cemetery evolution and the built environment. Don’t worry. There is not a test following the discussion!

Our speakers will enhance your tour with a prelude and make you really smart. This entire day will be filled with beautiful structures and stories and the great outdoors, and you do not want to miss it. And you do not want to miss the opportunity to take so, so many pictures.

The Fall Cemeteries of Dallas tour starts at 9 a.m. on Oct. 30. Purchase tickets here.