Pecan Grove Memorial Park stands on land granted by the Republic of Texas to Samuel McFarland in 1845, four years after Dr. William E. Throckmorton of Tennessee and his family began the first permanent settlement in the area. By the 1850s, when the first known burials occurred, R.A. Davis owned the land, and the place took its name from a handsome stand of pecan trees. Public ownership began in 1870, when Isaac F. Graves, I.D. Newsome, G.A. Foote, E.R. Stiff, and Thomas J. Brown purchased a 21.3-acre tract. The Pecan Grove Cemetery Association, Inc., received its original charter in 1889, and additional land was purchased in 1892 and 1960. A new charter in 1964 gave the place the name Pecan Grove Memorial Park, honoring the courageous and compassionate pioneer men and women of the vicinity. Among them was Dr. James Webb Throckmorton, who served as a Texas legislator in the 1850s, became a Confederate brigadier general during the Civil War, was Governor of Texas in 1866-67, and served intermittently in the United States Congress from 1875 to 1888. Pecan Grove Decoration Day is held every spring.