Greater Riverside Cemetery has served the African-American community in Hearne and the old town of Hearne since 1894. The area was originally settled by farmers, many of whom brought slaves with them when they immigrated to Texas. Hearne, named for Christopher Columbus Hearne, was platted in 1868 and developed as a crossroads for rail traffic. The burial ground was originally named the New Colored Cemetery and was known by a variety of names over the years, most commonly St. Mark's Cemetery until 1933, when it became known as Riverside Cemetery. The original burial ground consisted of twenty acres purchased by the Colored Cemetery Association. The Primitive Baptist Church donated an acre when it relocated from the site in 1906, and St. Manuel Baptist Church added three more acres in 1948. The first known interment was Chaney Delila Henderson in 1896, and since then hundreds of burials have taken place there. The grounds contain an especially large number of military veterans, including people who fought in conflicts dating to the Spanish-American War, and they also include markers for members of the Mosaic Templars of American, a black fraternal association with few known chapters in Texas. The Greater Riverside Association formed in 1982, maintains the twenty-four-acre cemetery, and renamed the burial ground. Today it remains a testament to the rich African-American legacy in the Hearne community.