Whitehead Cemetery remains a significant reminder of the African American community that occupied the Thurber townsite in the early 20th century. After the Texas and Pacific Coal and Oil Company relocated its offices to Fort Worth in 1933, several families stayed in their company-owned homes. Albert Whitehead and other black residents established this burial plot south of the former town square for friends and relatives as a convenient alternative to Thurber Cemetery. The first documented burial was Sarah Grant in 1943. Tarleton State University maintains the cemetery as part of the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas Grounds.