Hebrew Rest

The burial society that bought this ground in 1869 became the seed of Waco's Jewish institutions. The Institute of Southern Jewish Life says its twenty founders were mostly young immigrants from Prussia and Poland, and most ran dry goods stores. They held services in a rented room, and in 1878 used the county courthouse for the High Holidays. In 1879 members of the B'nai B'rith lodge organized Congregation Rodeph Sholom, and the society gave it its Torah. Newer arrivals from Eastern Europe founded the Orthodox Agudath Jacob in 1888, so the city's Jewish life had two congregations.

What the plaque says

Hebrew Rest Jews settled in Waco in the 1850s. In 1869 the Hebrew Benevolent Association (HBA) was formed to assist the needy and provide interment in accordance with the laws and rites of Judaism. That year, the HBA acquired this property as a Jewish burial ground. It was named Hebrews' Rest. The first burial was of an 18-month old infant, Bessee Lyans, in July 1869. Hebrew Rest Cemetery was enlarged with purchases of additional land in 1893 and 1922. Many early leaders of Waco's Jewish community and prominent Wacoans are interred here. (1986)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum — steps away
  The official state repository of Texas Ranger memorabilia, opened in 1968 in Fort Fisher Park on the Brazos, named for a Ranger post of 1837 whose site no one has located.
• Dr Pepper Museum — 0.5 mi
  The 1906 bottling plant of the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, built where Dr Pepper outgrew a Waco drugstore soda fountain, now the Dr Pepper Museum.
• Armstrong Browning Library — 0.7 mi
  A three-story Italian Renaissance library on the Baylor campus built to hold A. J. Armstrong's Browning collection, dedicated in December 1951 and now, by its own account, the world's largest of Browning material.
• Waco Suspension Bridge — 0.7 mi
  A Brazos crossing opened in January 1870 as the longest single-span suspension bridge west of the Mississippi, tolled until 1889, closed to vehicles in 1971 and now walked.

More markers nearby

• William McKendree Lambdin — steps away
• Thomas Hudson Barron — steps away
• Samuel Johan Forsgard — steps away
• Waco, County Seat of McLennan County — steps away