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Submitted: 9/26/14 • Approved: 9/26/14 • Last Updated: 3/25/18 • R23994-G0-S3
Located on the east side of H Avenue between 11 Street and 12 Street in Plano, Collin County, Texas.
GPS Coordinates: 33deg 00min 54.74sec N, 96deg 42min 12.56sec W
OLD CITY CEMETERY
(1881 - Present)
Joseph K. Klepper obtained his Peters Colony land grant and designated a portion of the property as a cemetery prior to 1848. Later, Klepper and his wife, Nancy, deeded a portion of their land adjacent to the Methodist Episcopal Church, the earliest Methodist church in Plano, which existed from 1874 until 1894.
After the Methodist church moved, the area in which this cemetery is located evolved into an African American neighborhood, and the African American community has utilized the cemetery since the 1920s.
Many early Plano pioneers and their descendants are buried in the Old City Cemetery. The earliest death date on the gravestones of individuals known to have been interred in the cemetery is 1881. Five Peters Colony settlers are interred here, as are several other early settlers. In addition, black pioneers - including Andy Drake (d. 1934), the first free African American to reside in Plano - and several African American community leaders are buried in the cemetery.
Although some burials have been relocated to other cemeteries, Old City Cemetery still contains approximately 200 burials. Grave markers include both professionally manufactured marble and granite monuments, as well as homemade markers. Rows of unmarked burial depressions are also evident. Concrete or wood curbs distinguish a few family lots. Old European American burials occupy the northeast portion for the cemetery, while the more recent African American burials occupy the northwest and southern sections of the cemetery.
Funded by a grant from the City of Plano, TX.
Photographs courtesy of Plano Public Library, Plano, TX.
Contributed on 9/26/14 by gasirek
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Record #: 23994