Prairie Lea Cemetery

Graves in Prairie Lea Cemetery date from the 1840s, though the trustees of the Brenham Cemetery Association did not formally set aside the property until 1871. The cemetery came into operation after concern that the earlier Masonic Cemetery would soon reach capacity because of the large number of yellow fever victims in the late 1860s, and trustees purchased the initial 22.77 acres from J.D. Giddings. Those buried here include veterans of military conflicts dating to the Texas Revolution, brothers Jabez Demming and Dewitt Clinton Giddings, prominent local lawyers, bankers, railroad promoters, and politicians, Carl A. Urbantke, an Austrian-born Methodist minister instrumental in the formation of what became Blinn College, Robert Alexander, a Methodist preacher and founder of Georgetown's Texas University, forerunner of Southwestern University, Thomas B. Dwyer, a native of Ireland who aided Catholic missionaries, helped establish St. Mary's Parish, and started a reading room and Free Library Association that led to the Brenham Public Library, U.S. Congressman James Paul Buchanan, for whom Lake Buchanan on the Colorado River in central Texas is named, and Confederate General John David McAdoo, a Texas Supreme Court Justice. Tombstones with German inscriptions, reflecting the area's early heritage, and Rest Chapel, built in 1897, contribute to the cemetery's significance as a valued historical landmark.

Brenham, Texas · United States