Spring Creek Cemetery

The town the cemetery outlived started out called Spring Creek in the early 1880s. Its post office opened in 1893 under the name Avo. When the Texas Central Railroad came through, J. L. Crostwaite moved his general store three miles to the tracks and had the new post office named Avoca. The town peaked at about 500 people in 1908. Drought, the Depression, new roads and the pull of larger towns took their toll, and it settled into a shipping point for livestock and cotton, with 150 people in 1940 and 121 in 2000.

What the plaque says

Located near Spring Creek, this cemetery began in 1891 on two acres of land donated by the Methodist church in the community known as Avo. The first recorded burial was that of Elender Cannon in February 1891. The Methodist church deeded two additional acres to the cemetery in 1892. When the railroad was extended into this area in 1902, businesses began to grow east of Spring Creek about three miles. Avo was renamed Avoca when the town moved to this location., Spring Creek cemetery is one of the only remaining landmarks left from the original townsite. The cemetery contains more than 1,000 burials, including Confederate Civil War veteran Patrick White, who was buried in February 1928. Veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam are also buried here. Additional land was donated in 1950 by the Avoca school system and by the Methodist church in 1971. Maintenance of the cemetery and its grounds began in the late 1890s with donations and an annual community workday organzied by H.E. Culwell. Still a source of pride, the cemetery continues to serve as a burial site for Avoca and local area towns. (1996)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Phantom Hill — 16 mi
  A field of lone stone chimneys north of Abilene, left by the fire after the Army left in 1854, later a stage stop and a buffalo-hide town of more than 500 people.
• Old Jail Art Center — 28 mi
  An art museum in Albany's 1878 stone jail, where the masons carved their initials to be sure of pay, now holding Chinese tomb figures and works by Picasso and Klee.

More markers nearby

• Bethel Lutheran Church — 5.9 mi
• Swenson Land and Cattle Company Headquarters — 6.3 mi
• Stamford — 6.6 mi
• Texas Cowboy Reunion Oldtimers' Association — 6.7 mi