Jewish Cemetery

The International & Great Northern Railroad reached the new town of Rockdale in January 1874, and among its early residents were brothers Benjamin and Joseph Lowenstein, who opened a mercantile from a tent before the railroad arrived. They and their families were part of a larger contingent of Jewish settlers in the area, and by 1879 Rockdale had a reported 100 Jewish residents and an active B'nai B'rith Lodge. In August 1877, Benjamin and Carrie Lowenstein's son Arthur died and was buried at this site, and the following November the Hebrew Benevolent Association bought the land for use as a dedicated Jewish burial ground. Those interred here include Henry Goldsticker, a Confederate veteran, and Issac Crown, who died in the disastrous 1888 fire at Rockdale's Mundine Hotel. Isaac Ensheimer, who committed suicide in 1884, was buried in a separate part of the cemetery. The final burial here was Morris Cohn in 1939, and the cemetery remains a reminder of Rockdale's diverse history.

Rockdale, Texas · United States