Historical Marker

Hillcrest Cemetery

Marker installed: 1998

After the community of Brooklyn was relocated and renamed Forney when the Texas and Pacific Railroad was built through here in 1873, its early burial ground was no longer convenient to the town. In 1878, a committee of civic leaders organized the Forney Graveyard Company and purchased a 5-acre tract of land. The earliest documented burials are those of Blanch Ivey and Isaac Sorey, both of whom died in 1879. The problem of irregular maintenance was first addressed in 1911, about the same time it became known as "Hill Crest Cemetery." A perpetual care endowment was established in 1976. Many veterans of U.S. and foreign wars are interred here, including more than 46 veterans of the Civil War. The cemetery continues to be a chronicle of Forney settlers. (1998).