Cemeteries

Cemeteries owned and maintained by the City of Henderson cover approximately 25 acres. These cemeteries are Flanagan Cemetery, Graham-Hall Cemetery, Lakewood Memorial Park, Old City Cemetery and Smith Memorial Park.

History of Old City Cemetery

Five acres of land were sold by Thomas M. Likens to the Town Commissioners' of Henderson for the purpose of establishing a public cemetery. This transaction was recorded in the first Commissioners Minute Book, dated December 14, 1855. The selling price was fifty dollars.

Beneath the shade of its' pines, oaks, magnolias and crepe myrtles rest many pioneers from Rusk County's past. Judges, clerks, military men, preachers, civic leaders and politicians all lie among the farmers and merchants who were the heart and soul of the community.

Two former presidents of Texas A. & M. University are buried here; Thomas S. Gathwright, who also served as the second president of the Henderson Male and Female College and R.T. Milner, who also represented Rusk County in the State House and was Speaker of the House in 1890. Milner operated "The Henderson Times" newspaper for twenty-five years.

Timothy Pilsbury, member of the family which founded the Pillsbury Baking Company, also rests in Old City Cemetery. Pilsbury served as Senator in the Republic of Texas, and representative to the U.S. Congress.

Other notables buried within the confines of the cemetery's wrought iron fence include Mrs. Susan C. Camp, who died in 1855. She was cousin to former U.S. President John Tyler. Former District Judge William Clark Buford and former County Judge Seaborn J. Hendricks are here, as are former County Clerk Josiah Napoleon Still and Civil War Colonel Jiles Sanford. John R. Arnold, past Grandmaster of the Masons of Texas in 1918, and Archie A. Beall, one of the founders of the Beall's Department Store chain which originated in Henderson.