Magnolia Cemetery

The cemetery began as a family graveyard. A local-history account says William McFaddin buried his own on the highest knoll in Beaumont, overlooking Brakes Bayou, in the 1840s, and that the first recorded burial was John D. Gilbert in 1847. The first trustees of the 1887 corporation were Valentine Wiess, Edward L. Wilson, A. S. John, H. W. Smith and John L. Keith. From 1903 to 1906 the corporation repurchased its stock and became nonprofit. In 1905 the board gave a lot to the Albert Sydney Johnson Camp of United Confederate Veterans, and twelve indigent veterans lie there.

What the plaque says

Magnolia Cemetery The Magnolia Cemetery Company was granted a charter by the State of Texas on August 3, 1887. The following month the company's five trustees purchased thirteen acres of land on which to locate the graveyard, and burials were soon taking place in the cemetery. Land acquisitions and expansions over the years have surrounded the Hebrew Rest Cemetery just north of the original thirteen acres, as well as two other burial grounds -- the I.O.O.F (Odd Fellows) Cemetery and a plot deeded in 1876 to "white citizens of Beaumont" (later known as the Public Grounds.) Adjacent to Magnolia Cemetery, but separately held, are the Knights of Pythias and St. Michael's Orthodox cemeteries. Many early settlers and residents of Beaumont are interred here, including two veterans of the Texas Revolution. The oldest grave markers pre-date the official founding of Magnolia Cemetery and are representative of burials which were moved here from private family cemeteries. a variety of grave markers can be seen here, from simple stones to elaborately sculpted angels and family mausoleums. (Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• McFaddin-Ward House — 1.4 mi
  A Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1906 and lived in by one family for 75 years, with free guided tours of three furnished floors, the carriage house and gardens.
• Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum — 5.0 mi
  A re-created oil boomtown on the Lamar University campus, with a derrick, period shops, a 1941 granite monument and an optional re-enactment of the January 1901 Lucas gusher.
• Village Creek State Park — 11 mi
  A 2,466-acre state park on one of the few free-flowing creeks in Texas, with a launch for the Village Creek Paddling Trail, boat rentals and sandy-upland trails in the Big Thicket.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast — 19 mi
  Port Arthur's regional museum in a former bank building: fossils, Native Americans, the petroleum story, a 125-foot history mural and Halls of Fame for musicians, athletes and artists.

More markers nearby

• Aubrey Wilson "Moon" Mullican — steps away
• William McFaddin — steps away
• Andrew F. Smyth — steps away
• Police Chief Reid Tevis — steps away