Maypearl Cemetery

The cemetery's town grew up fast and then held steady. The Handbook of Texas says Maypearl incorporated in 1910 and had 417 people by 1920, when its schools served 300 students from the town and surrounding country. In 1914 it had two banks, a weekly paper, four churches and twenty-five businesses. Between 1925 and the mid-1960s the number of businesses fell from twenty-eight to twelve while the population held between 350 and 400. In November 1988 federal officials selected Ellis County as the intended site of the Superconducting Super Collider.

What the plaque says

Maypearl Cemetery The community of Maypearl was established on the International and Great Northern Railroad line in 1903. The 1907 death of landowner William P. Wilemon and subsequent burial on his farm led Maypearl citizens to discuss the establishment of a cemetery for the community. Wilemon's widow, Minnie, sold four acres of land, including the burial site of her husband, to trustees J. P. Claunch, A. W. Dowd and Isaac Griffith for that purpose. The Maypearl Cemetery stands as a testament to the people who lived and worked in the community, including doctors, business owners, teachers and farmers. Members of various fraternal organizations rest here as well. Tombstones mark the graves of military veterans, including those who served in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean conflict and Vietnam. In the latter part of the 20th century, the descendants of William and Minnie Wilemon and Betha Jackson donated additional land for the graveyard. As a reflection of the community's heritage, the Maypearl Cemetery is a significant reminder of the history of this part of Ellis County. (2001)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ellis County Courthouse — 11 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.
• Cedar Ridge Preserve — 22 mi
  A 633-acre Audubon Dallas preserve at the western edge of Dallas County, with about nine miles of trails through prairie, woodland and escarpment hills.
• Hill County Courthouse — 22 mi
  Wesley C. Dodson's limestone Second Empire courthouse of 1890 on the Hillsboro square, gutted by fire on New Year's Day 1993 and rededicated in 1999 after a rebuilding that two Willie Nelson concerts helped pay for.

More markers nearby

• Ozro Cemetery — 2.6 mi
• Auburn Cemetery — 3.3 mi
• Greathouse Community, Church, and Cemetery — 4.2 mi
• Bethel Methodist Church — 6.2 mi