Lane Cemetery

LANE CEMETERY

ROBERT W. LANE OPENED A GENERAL STORE NEAR THIS SITE IN 1866. THE SURROUNDING AREA PROSPERED AS MORE PEOPLE SETTLED AND TOOK UP FARMING. IN 1878 THE U. S. GOVERNMENT APPROVED A PETITION FOR A POST OFFICE TO OFFICIALLY PUT THE LANE COMMUNITY ON THE MAP. IN 1884, THOMAS AND HETTIE MARSHALL DEEDED LAND FOR A METHODIST CHURCH, WHICH LATER BUILT A TABERNACLE FOR OPEN-AIR SUMMER REVIVALS. A ONE-ROOM SCHOOL OPENED, REPLACED IN 1910 BY A TWO-STORY SCHOOL BUILDING FOR EIGHT GRADES. A BAPTIST CHURCH ORGANIZED IN 1905 BUT DISBANDED IN 1930. LANE GIN COMPANY SERVED THE COTTON PRODUCTION NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY FROM 1912 UNTIL A 1932 FIRE. DURING ITS HEYDAY, THE DISPERSED AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT ALSO INCLUDED A SECOND GENERAL STORE, BARBER SHOP, BLACKSMITH AND GRIST MILL. THE SCHOOL MERGED WITH CELESTE IN 1949, AND THE METHODIST CHURCH DISBANDED IN 1959.

SEVERAL BURIALS HAD ALREADY TAKEN PLACE ON THIS LAND BEFORE J. R. AND MAT METHVIN AND J. R. AND MARY NOLAND DEDICATED A COMMUNITY CEMETERY IN AUG. 1882. THE FIRST BURIAL FOLLOWING ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CEMETERY WAS FOR EARL CLYMER IN JUL. 1883. THERE ARE NEARLY 200 DOCUMENTED BURIALS, PLUS MANY UNMARKED GRAVES. GRANITE, LIMESTONE AND MARBLE GRAVESTONES ARE PROMINENT, AND ELM AND HACKBERRY TREES SURROUND THE CEMETERY PERIMETER. BURIALS INCLUDE MILITARY VETERANS FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO WORLD WAR II. JIM CLYMER, BURIED HERE, USED WEALTH AMASSED IN THE 1849 CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH TO BUY MUCH NORTH TEXAS LAND. TODAY THE NEARBY CLYMER MEADOW PRESERVE IS ONE OF THE LARGEST REMNANTS OF UNPLOWED BLACKLAND PRAIRIE. THE LANE CEMETERY ASSOCIATION FORMED IN 1983 TO OVERSEE THE APPROXIMATELY SIX ACRE BURIAL GROUND. LANE CEMETERY REMAINS THE PRIMARY SURVIVING RESOURCE OF THIS HISTORIC RURAL COMMUNITY.

HISTORIC TEXAS CEMETERY – 2010.