Established as a 10-acre community burial ground in the town plat on Jan. 6, 1838, by Moses Herrin, this cemetery began in a frontier settlement where the earliest graves probably never had stone markers because of primitive living conditions. Late in 1838, Indian hostilities drove 12 families out of Springfield and materially halted the town's growth until 1846. The oldest tombstone is for an infant who died Oct. 3, 1849, and another early marker is for a native of New York State "Slain in 1854 violence for his gold." Open to surrounding areas, the burial ground became the final resting place of many strangers as well as veterans of the Texas War for Independence, the Mexican War, and other conflicts. While Springfield served as the county seat of Limestone County from 1846 to 1873, housed Springfield College until it closed in the 1860's, and functioned as a center for church and business affairs, it attracted persons of distinction, some of whom were buried here. After the Houston & Texas Central Railroad bypassed the town in 1870 and a devastating fire struck in 1873, Springfield lost its means of growth, yet families of old residents often returned to bury their dead in established lots beside pioneer forefathers.