Texana Thursday: The Arlington of Texas

The Stephen F. Austin gravesite at the Texas State Cemetery (Creative Commons attribution: photo courtesy Diann Bayes)

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, it’s appropriate to remember those who served and sacrificed for our nation. Many are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Some are buried at the Texas State Cemetery, which has been called the “Arlington of Texas.”

The cemetery is in East Austin, at 909 Navasota St. It was created before the Civil War, but did not receive much use until then, when both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried there.

The graves of the Union soldiers were eventually moved to another cemetery. Perhaps the most prominent Confederate gravesite is that of the general Albert Sidney Johnston, whose site features a recumbent statue of him created by the sculptor Elizabeth Ney.

Two gravesites are of Revolutionary War veterans who resettled in Texas. One is of Robert Rankin (1753-1837) and Stephen Williams (1760-1839).

In 1936, to celebrate the Texas Centennial, gravesites of some prominent Texans were relocated to the cemetery, including Rankin and Williams. Stephen F. Austin was another Texan whose remains were moved to the cemetery. He died in 1836 West Columbia, which is about 55 miles southwest of Houston. He was buried in Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Jones Creek, which is to the southeast of West Columbia. His remains were moved in 1910 to the cemetery.

In 1994, Bob Bullock, who was lieutenant governor at the time, led efforts to spruce up and refurbish the cemetery. Included in these efforts were fixing fences, roads, and sidewalks within the cemetery grounds.

The cemetery today has the gravesites of many prominent Texans. Included among these are the gravesites of 13 governors, the most recent of which is Ann Richards.

To qualify for burial at the state cemetery, one must be a member or former member of the Texas Legislature, an elected state or former state official, or an official who has been appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate.

Some exceptions have been made to this policy by special permission of the governor and vote of the legislature. For example, the folklorist and historian J. Frank Dobie and his widow, Bertha, were both buried at the cemetery. Today, a state cemetery committee approves applications for gravesites.

Others prominent Texans, such as former Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry, writer James A. Michener, and U.S. Rep. Charles Wilson, have cenotaphs in the cemetery but are buried elsewhere.