In 1841, W. S. Peters received contracts for North Central Texas and founded the Peters Colony. Settlers arriving from the east agreed to conditions including building a cabin, fencing at least 5 acres, and remaining for at least three years. This large burial ground, sometimes known as the Pioneer Cemetery, was designated for use in 1848 and was associated with Plano’s earliest Methodist Church, where worshippers gathered until 1894. Five Peters Colonists, among the original Plano pioneers, are buried here: Robert H. Brown, Joseph Klepper, Fountain J. Vance, William Beverly, and his son Rev. John Beverly. Joseph Klepper, who established the cemetery, was born in Tennessee in 1804, came to the Plano area in the 1840's as one of the original Peters Colonists, and married Naricy Beverly in Granger County, Tennessee in 1829. Six members of the Klepper family are buried in Old City Cemetery: Joseph and Nancy, Andrew, Daniel Boone, Isaac, the son of Joseph Klepper, and Isaac’s wife Rachel. Over the years, the original Peters Colony neighborhood for which the cemetery was built evolved into an African American community, and Old City Cemetery became one of the first integrated cemeteries in the State of Texas.