{"id":4953,"date":"2025-02-27T17:10:32","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/?p=4953"},"modified":"2025-02-27T17:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:10:33","slug":"oakland-cemetery-a-historic-cemetery-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/eternal-4953-oakland-cemetery-a-historic-cemetery-in-dallas","title":{"rendered":"Oakland Cemetery, a historic cemetery in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oakland Cemetery is significantly more than an ordinary city cemetery or historical site. This is the final resting place of many renowned Dallas residents. Military men, politicians, writers, artists and other figures who contributed significantly to the development of the city during their lifetimes are buried on its grounds. Learn more at dallas-future<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cemetery is three miles from downtown Dallas and is visited for purposes other than remembering the deceased. Oakland Cemetery is also recognized for its beautiful landscaping and unique sculptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History of Oakland Cemetery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On March 2, 1836, Oakland Cemetery was built on a tract of land given to Thomas Lagow after he emigrated to Texas. After the man died, ownership transferred to his father-in-law, Armstead Bennett. However, he handed up his inheritance in favor of his children, Daniel and Judith. The Bennetts decided to sell the land as they were likewise uninterested in taking care of the land. Nathaniel C. Floyd became the first person to actually take care of the site. He took over as the official owner in 1854. First and foremost, the man promptly planted the ground with a large number of trees. These included a variety of oaks, ash trees, pecans, mulberries, cherries and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1888, following Floyd’s death, real estate brokers Oliver Perry Bowser and William Henry Lemmon grew interested in the land, which had yet to be used to its full potential. Brokers chose to build a city cemetery on this property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 6, 1891, with approval from the Texas Secretary of State, the Oakland Cemetery Company was established. Many Dallas entrepreneurs engaged in the process of designing a unique cemetery. For example, J. B. Buchanan took on the roles of superintendent and gardener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically for the Oakland Cemetery Company, Louisville cemetery engineer Benjamin Grove designed a project that was modeled after Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston and planned as a rural garden cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is buried at Oakland Cemetery?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Oakland Cemetery has become a final resting place for both notable figures and ordinary people. Some areas of the cemetery bear witness to the devastating effects of the 1911 meningitis outbreak and the 1918 flu pandemic. At the time, many people died as a result of these understudied diseases. Burials were so common throughout those years that they occurred in chronological order, and nearly no tombstones remained on these sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Famous politicians, military men and artists were buried in the cemetery alongside ordinary citizens who died of diseases. Oakland Cemetery is the final resting place of numerous notable individuals, including Dallas mayors<\/a> Winship C. Connor and Louis Blaylock, Senator Barnett “Barney” Gibbs, Dallas Times Herald owner Edwin John Kiest, sculptor Allie Victoria Tennant and others. Santos Rodriguez, a 12-year-old citizen killed by a police officer, is also buried at this cemetery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the deceased’s social standing, every grave in this cemetery represents a piece of the city’s history that is cared for and respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultural significance of the cemetery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Oakland Cemetery is important to Dallas for more than just the fact that many of its citizens are buried there. In addition, this cemetery has become a haven of serenity and tranquility, which is uncommon to find in such a large metropolis. The cemetery is designed in the style of a forest park, therefore there are many paths, trees and sculptures. This allows you to unwind in nature amidst the city’s constant hustle and bustle. Ornithologists have been counting birds on cemetery grounds every year since 1957. Furthermore, in September 2021, the Texas Commission on the Arts included the cemetery on the city’s list of cultural attractions. All of this contributes to Oakland Cemetery’s status as a historical and cultural landmark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oakland Cemetery is significantly more than an ordinary city cemetery or historical site. This is the final resting place of many renowned Dallas residents. Military men, politicians, writers, artists and other figures who contributed significantly to the development of the city during their lifetimes are buried on its grounds. Learn more at dallas-future. The cemetery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":360,"featured_media":4933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1118],"tags":[2088,2083,2091,2082,2090,2086,2081,2084,2078,2087,2089,2079,2080,2085],"motype":[1121],"moformat":[18],"moimportance":[30,33],"class_list":{"0":"post-4953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-architecture","8":"tag-19th-century-cemeteries","9":"tag-cemetery-preservation","10":"tag-civil-war-burials","11":"tag-dallas-cemetery-history","12":"tag-dallas-genealogy","13":"tag-dallas-heritage-sites","14":"tag-famous-graves-dallas","15":"tag-historic-dallas-cemetery","16":"tag-historic-texas-landmarks","17":"tag-notable-burials-texas","18":"tag-oakland-cemetery-archives","19":"tag-oakland-cemetery-dallas","20":"tag-texas-burial-sites","21":"tag-texas-memorial-sites","22":"motype-eternal","23":"moformat-vlasna","24":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","25":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/360"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4954,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions\/4954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dallas-future.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=4953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}