Oakwood Cemetery

Comanche grew into the political center of a vast region. By the 1870s, the Handbook says, it served some fifty counties, organized and unorganized, to the west and northwest. The town was incorporated in 1873, the year the Comanche Chief began printing, and was a supply base for Texas ranches. By 1892 it had 2,500 residents, the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway and a daily stage. By 1915 the population was 4,500. The Handbook has John Duncan offering the county 240 acres in 1858; the plaque gives 200 acres in 1859.

What the plaque says

Oakwood Cemetery Reconfiguration of Comanche County by the state in 1858 led to a relocation of its county seat. In 1859 local land developer Captain John Duncan donated 200 acres here for a townsite to served as Comanche County seat. Duncan's deed specified that sufficient portions of the donated acreage be set aside for a graveyard, churches, and schools. A cemetery consisting of about 5.5 acres was established and named Oakwood for the impressive oak trees which graced the site. The earliest marked grave is that of one-year-old John Neely, who died in January 1861. Since its establishment the cemetery has been the property of the City of Comanche and has served as a community graveyard. Parcels of land originally owned by John Duncan and conveyed to William and Sue (Shortridge) Martin in 1895 were added to the interments of numerous veterans of conflicts ranging from the Republic of Texas era to the present, including both Union and Confederate soldiers from the Civil War. Also buried here are pioneers of this area and their descendants, state and national politicians, local civic leaders, and members of various fraternal organizations. (1994)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dublin Bottling Works — 19 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.
• Lake Brownwood State Park — 25 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Central Christian Church of Comanche — 0.5 mi
• The Comanche Chief — 0.7 mi
• Old Cora Courthouse — 0.7 mi
• General Ashbel Smith, C.S.A. — 0.7 mi