Save Austin's Cemeteries

                       P O Box 16411, Austin, Texas 78761

Evergreen/Highland Park

Established in 1926 at 3304 East 12th St @ Airport Blvd, Evergreen is a 30 acre parcel with 12,000+ burials. Historically it has been an African-American cemetery, receiving approximately 230 burials annually.

Highland Park Cemetery was established in 1891 and used for pauper burials. It was closed for paupers in 1893 and was never opened as far as we know for regular interments. In 1926, the southern half of the proposed Highland Park Cemetery that contains over 150 pauper burials was purchased as Evergreen Cemetery.

Evergreen Spoils - a spoils pile which is endangering the old Highland Park section of the cemetery.

Additional Resources

Highland Park - Articles of Incorporation*
Highland Park Cemetery - Watershed Protection*
Evergreen/Highland Park Interment/Gravesite Registry® Searchable Web Page

Highland Park Cemetery
In the late 1880s, the city cemetery (which in 1912 would be named Oakwood) was running out of room for burials, especially for paupers. In 1891, a deal was struck with the city council by offering 10 acres for the use of pauper burials. A group of business men and the Stiles family incorporated and created a new 60-acre cemetery two miles to the east of Oakwood and named it Highland Park Cemetery. Sexton records show this land was used by the city from August 30, 1891 through December 26, 1893. In 1892, the city expanded Oakwood Cemetery, which effectively killed the momentum for Highland Park Cemetery. When Oakwood Cemetery ran out of room again in the early 1900s, the city created Oakwood Cemetery Annex as a new 22-acre cemetery just across the street from Oakwood circa 1914. This action all but closed Highland Park Cemetery.

Evergreen Cemetery
In November 25, 1925, the city purchased 15 acres of land, which was the unused southwest corner of the old Highland Park Cemetery and created Evergreen Cemetery. Many families who had buried loved ones a few blocks away at Bethany and Plummers cemeteries had their loved ones moved to Evergreen, which had perpetual care. By the mid 1950s, the need for further expansion necessitated the purchase of what is now the east half of Evergreen. The purchase is noted in city council minutes dated February 9, 1955, as being part of the old Highland Park Cemetery that was used until 1925, and as best as they could tell held no more than 500 burials.

While a small handful of monuments can be found in what is now Section J that pre-date the 1955 purchase, it is believed that the majority of the unaccounted 500 burials lie in the wooded low lands along Tannehill Branch Creek. This assumption is supported by the 1998 discovery of human remains in the creek bed and the discovery of exposed gravesites in the creek bed wall. The city stablized the creek bed with large limestone blocks to prevent further washout. Only a few headstones remain. Unfortunately, much of this area has been used to dispose of excess soil and debris since the late 1970s. A recent examination of the area by archeologists suggest that very little of the original land surface is still exposed today. Much of the original area has been covered with tons of soil and debris. Much of Highland Park Cemetery is forever lost.

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