Oakwood Cemetery
Austin's oldest municipal cemetery, established in 1839
Oakwood Cemetery
Past
Originally named Waterloo, Austin was established in 1839 as the capital city of the Republic of Texas. Early Austin was a frontier town, and people of diverse ethnicities, races, religious beliefs and classes came from all over the world to start a new life here.
During the mid-1800s, it was not uncommon for a southern town like Austin to establish a public cemetery independent and separate from church grounds. These cemeteries also functioned as public parks, and families in town tended to their landscaping and upkeep. In this period, public cemeteries were not considered “sanctified religious spaces,” rather, they were seen as versatile spaces of reflection and unity. Like Oakwood Cemetery, most were sites high on hilltops away from the very real possibility of flooding. Originally 10 acres, Oakwood Cemetery was established in 1839, and at that time, was simply called “City Cemetery.”
1873 Bird's Eye View of Austin Map, Detail of Oakwood Cemetery, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Present
Public cemeteries are often the most direct and deeply personal link to a community’s past. They include many people from all walks of life. Being the final resting place of laborers, politicians, community leaders, musicians, business owners, and educators, these spaces provide a place to recall and reflect upon those who had an impact on their respective communities. Oakwood Cemetery evolved alongside the City of Austin and the State of Texas.
Gate from Downtown
Oakwood Cemetery was situated just northeast of the city limits. After decades of city expansion, the cemetery is now in the heart of Austin. This cemetery holds the namesakes of many Austin buildings, streets, and beloved parks so as you walk around you may see familiar names such as Zilker, Pease, and Anderson. As the final resting place for more than 23,000 people, Oakwood Cemetery remains a testament to the communities, cultures, and life stories of the people who built the great city of Austin.
The Chapel
In 1914, 75 years after the cemetery was founded, the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel was constructed to host on-site funeral and memorial services. The Chapel is evidence of the changing city and the past century’s shifting attitudes on mortuary services. When funeral homes began taking over the majority of burial operations around the 1930s, onsite buildings such as the Chapel, transitioned into other uses. In 1944, the Chapel was used as an office space but eventually became a groundskeepers facility when the municipal cemeteries were operated by an outside contractor. By the 1990s, the Chapel was no longer in use and in deep disrepair. In 2015, the City of Austin approved an award-winning cemetery vision plan , allowing the 2012 Bond and Hotel Occupancy Tax Revenue Bond to fund the historic Chapel's restoration and preservation.
Restoration
During the rehabilitation of the building in 2016, a painful discovery was made: the Chapel had been constructed upon grave sites. The City of Austin engaged with the community to find a path forward and worked with archaeologists to examine the site. This exhibit shows the archaeological examination process and what the evidence reveals about the people buried there before the Chapel was built.
Historic Colored Grounds
Oakwood Cemetery Records of Burials for People of Color. Video by Greg Farrar, Chapel staff and cemetery descendant
19th Century Perspective
Oakwood Cemetery, like many in the American South, originally segregated burials based on race, ethnicity, and class. Over a century ago, north of the Old Grounds and adjacent to the present day Oakwood Chapel, an area of Section 4 (A & B) was set aside for burials of people of color, strangers, and impoverished people buried at the City’s expense. Records show that a majority of interments within this area were African American individuals and families. Other people of Mexican American and European American heritage also share this resting place. Cemetery interment records list burials in the “Colored Grounds,” “Negro Grounds,” “Stranger’s Grounds,” “Mexican Grounds,” and “Pauper Grounds.” This language and these labels clearly illustrates that the socioeconomic and racial segregation that followed people in life also followed them in death.
First Ledger 1859
The exact locations of 4,000+ graves are unknown within the Historic Colored Grounds due to the lack of accurate and detailed records and documentation. Many of the people buried there do not have their names included in the Cemetery’s handwritten ledgers. The area has no known or surviving platted map and few headstones, with temporary grave markers such as wood, stones, flowers and memory being lost to time or actively erased. Grave diggers in the 1900s relied on the word of descendants to locate family spaces and would inter people accordingly. There are contemporary headstones in this section as well.
Inside cover and first page from earliest burial ledger 1859. Book 21 - Alexander Eanes Cemetery (City/Oakwood), October 3, 1859 - May 6, 1866. Austin (Tex.). Parks and Recreation Department, Cemeteries Division Records (AR.2001.003). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Burial ledger page from November 1866 - February 1867. Book 8 - Oakwood Cemetery interments, July 24, 1866 - December 19, 1880. Austin (Tex.). Parks and Recreation Department, Cemeteries Division Records (AR.2001.003). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Burial ledger page from January 1884. Book 9 - Cemetery Record, March 17, 1874 - December 30, 1900. Austin (Tex.). Parks and Recreation Department, Cemeteries Division Records (AR.2001.003). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Section 4, Historic Colored Grounds
The grounds appear to have open space because there are few headstones, yet the area is entirely full, serving as the final resting place for many of the citizens of Austin's past. We ask visitors to treat this area, as with the rest of the cemetery grounds, with honor and respect.
Additional space was added to expand the cemetery between 1866 and 1895, encompassing approximately 40 acres of land, with new areas designated as "Pauper's Grounds," along the fence line. Family lots at Oakwood Cemetery were all sold by 1914.
In 1915, the Oakwood Cemetery Annex with its unusual "bowtie" shape opened on the East side of Comal Street.
Oakwood Cemetery, Section 4 A&B, "Historic Colored Grounds" Tour
Oakwood Chapel
Designed to hold the deceased before burial, the original structure built in the cemetery was known as the “Dead House,” and was located near the west gates.
This hand drawn map of the cemetery predates the Chapel in its current place. It shows this structure close to the Navasota Street gate.
Detail of Oakwood Cemetery Section 4 Map, M-0045, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library
Texas Historical Commission. Oakwood Cemetery - Entrance Building, photograph, Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas Historical Commission.
Morrison & Fourmy Directory Co. Directory of the City of Austin, 1912-1913, book, 1912; Texas. ( https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46835/m1/396/: accessed October 13, 2022 ), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
As the city and cemetery expanded, a women’s auxiliary group, the Cemetery Association, advocated for a new and more formal building for mortuary and funeral services. They donated some of the funds to build the structure, and the City paid for the remainder. The building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by architect Charles Page and built by contractor James Waterson. The Chapel has one main room with Gothic arched doors and windows, and is built of rusticated ashlar limestone masonry.
Morrison & Fourmy Directory Co. Directory of the City of Austin, 1912-1913, book, 1912; Texas. ( https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46835/m1/396/: accessed October 13, 2022 ), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
C04860, Chalberg Collection of Prints and Negatives, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Photo by Ellison Photo Co., 11/17/1937.
In 1914, the Chapel was constructed within the 3-acre segregated section of the cemetery that holds over 2,700 burials of African Americans, many of whom were enslaved or descendants of the enslaved, as well as hundreds of Mexican Americans and European Americans. This section also includes economically impoverished people and those who died in Austin while visiting or passing through.
Texas Historical Commission. Cemetery - Gate, photograph, Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, crediting Texas Historical Commission.
In 2016, during the rehabilitation of the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, archaeologists monitoring construction discovered human remains beneath the foundations of the Chapel.
Since the discovery, the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Austin has engaged in a multi-year process of community conversations, research, and commemoration to properly honor these individuals.
Chapel rehabilitation architect renderings that include elevation and plan views
After completing the renovations, the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel opened to the public as a heritage and visitor center in May 2019. The Chapel has become a starting point for learning and reflection, including digital history exhibits and related arts and culture programs.
Historic Photos
A 1914 burial along the north fence line, looking across what is now Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard. The house in the background is where the UFCU Disch-Falk Field is now. Photo courtesy of the Peterson Family.
C04863, Chalberg Collection of Prints and Negatives, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Photo by Ellison Photo Co., 11/17/1937.
Handmade concrete grave covers in Section 1 using seashells. PICA 34691, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. Photo by Pat Toth, December 2003.
Oakwood Cemetery Annex, PICA 03146, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library. December 1938.
Pease Monument, C00404, Chalberg Collection of Prints and Negatives, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Cast iron grave cover in Section 4, ordered from catalog for monument. PICA 24948, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
After a 1940s remodel, the Chapel became a sales and management office operated by the municipal cemeteries' contractor, rather than a place for memorials and funerals. PICA 24948, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Photo of inside the Chapel when it was used as a grounds office.
