Rankin Cemetery

The families who used this ground arrived late to an empty county. Dr. George W. Elliott, one of the earliest settlers, came in 1881 and drilled the first well, striking water at thirty feet. The land stayed open range until the 1890s, when sheepmen crossed the Pecos to compete with cattlemen. The census counted fifty-two people in 1890 and forty-eight in 1900, mostly the Schnaubert, Inghram and O'Bryan families and their hands. By 1910 there were 501 people and 105 ranches or farms, but poor soil and droughts drove farmers off, and by 1920 the county had 253 people.

What the plaque says

Rankin Cemetery This cemetery was established in 1915. Soon after the founding of Rankin, by civic leaders Ira Yates, J. H. Felps, Tom F. Hickox, and Dr. J. H. Johnson. Johnson's niece, Mary Evelyn Johnson, was the first to be buried here in 1916. Many burials occurred during the 1920s. When population in the area increased greatly after oil was discovered in Upton and Pecos counties. Rankin Cemetery is known to contain the unmarked graves of two bank robbers. The graveyard is a good reflection of the heritage of this area of the state. 1985

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rankin Museum (Yates Hotel) — 0.9 mi
  The fireproof hotel Ira Yates built beside the Orient railway depot months after oil came in on his ranch in 1926, kept as it was down to the wicker lobby furniture.
• Mendoza Trail Museum — 18 mi
  A 1966 museum in a 1925 oil town, named for the Spanish officer who crossed this country in 1683 at the invitation of the Jumano, with a 1915 bungalow beside it.
• Alley Oop Park and Iraan Museum — 21 mi
  An oil-boom town named for Ira and Ann Yates, where the creator of the caveman comic Alley Oop once worked, and a park of giant cartoon figures beside the town museum.

More markers nearby

• John C. Upton and His Brother, W. F. Upton — 1.0 mi
• Upland First Upton County Seat — 1.0 mi
• First State Bank of Rankin — 1.1 mi
• Site of First Church in Upton County — 1.2 mi