City of Austin VR
Oakwood Cemetery
Austin Parks and Recreation
Present
Public cemeteries are among the most enduring links to a community’s past. Originally named Waterloo, Austin was established in 1839 as the capital city of the Republic of Texas. Early Austin was a frontier town. People of many diverse ethnicities, races, religious beliefs, and class structures came from all over the world starting a new life here.
Past
During the mid-1800s, it was not uncommon for a southern town like Austin to establish a public cemetery separate from church grounds. These public cemeteries were not necessarily considered sanctified religious spaces and were seen as versatile spaces of reflection and unity. Like Oakwood Cemetery, most were sited high on hilltops away from the very real possibility of flooding. Originally 10 acres, Oakwood Cemetery was established in 1839, and at that time, was simply called “City Cemetery.”
Link to Downtown
Oakwood Cemetery was situated just northeast of the city limits. Now, after almost two centuries of city expansion, the cemetery is in the heart of Austin. The cemetery holds the namesakes of many Austin buildings, streets, and beloved parks. The final resting place for more than 23,000 people, Oakwood Cemetery provides a pathway to the community, cultures, and life stories that built the great city just beyond its gates.
A Segregated Landscape: Discrimination in the Afterlife
Oakwood Cemetery, like many historic municipal cemeteries in the United States, originally segregated burials based on race, ethnicity, and class. In 1859, The City of Austin set aside most of Section 4 for burials of people of color, out-of-town visitors, and impoverished people buried at the City’s expense.
Despite appearance, this area of Section 4 is not empty. Records show there are thousands of burials in this section, and most interments within this area were of African American descent, as well as people of Mexican and European descent. Indigenous peoples may also be represented, but the widespread genocide of the Native American population coupled with racism toward non-white residents in Texas at this time resulted in poor records. Interment records list burials in this area as taking place in the “Colored Grounds,” “Negro Grounds,” “Stranger’s Grounds,” “Mexican Grounds,” and “Pauper Grounds.” This language is a clear reminder that the segregation by race and by socioeconomic class that defined people in life, also defined them in death. It is possible that the markers for these burials were constructed of less durable materials, such as wood or small stones, and that many of the markers have degraded over time.
Oakwood Cemetery is also the final resting site of people, including prominent statewide figures, who participated in the enslavement of people, supported practices to uphold chattel slavery, and reinforced racial segregation and white supremacy throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Slavery and the Jim Crow era of racial segregation are shameful parts of Texas history. The City of Austin strives to acknowledge and shed light on the difficult and fraught histories of individuals buried in Oakwood Cemetery and supports continued research, engagement, and interpretation.
The Chapel
In 1914, 75 years after the cemetery was founded, the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel was constructed to host funeral and memorial services on site. Over time, the Chapel fell into disrepair.
During the rehabilitation of the Chapel in 2016, a painful discovery was made: the building had been constructed over grave sites. The City of Austin engaged with the community to find a path and worked with archaeologists to examine the site. 36 men, women and children’s burials were exhumed and reburied on the west side of the Chapel. The Parks and Recreation Department continue to research information about these individuals that we share with the public for the purpose of healing and accountability.
The Oakwood Cemetery Chapel provides a place to connect, heal and reflect, that is open to all. The people who made Austin are at Oakwood Cemetery. We are united here in search of love, life and meaning.
The Chapel is a visitor center where we can, as an act of remembrance, learn about our cultural heritage through the people who were buried in the surrounding cemetery. Genealogy reveals our forebears' influence on the past and future. We share and collect individual narratives to create a framework for the collective human story. Established in 1839, the Oakwood Cemetery is a City of Austin Historic Landmark, a Historic Texas Cemetery, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
We are grateful for cemetery research and advocacy by Save Austin's Cemeteries. Consider joining as a member to receive news and invitations to events.
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This project was created in collaboration with the City of Austin Parks and Recreation and Communications and Technology Management (CTM) Departments.
Oakwood Cemetery VR Team:
Jennifer Chenoweth (PARD)
Trent Atkins (WPD)
Marbenn Cayetano (CTM)