Atkinson Cemetery was established on March 11, 1875, by James Atkinson, who granted the land as a community burial ground. The first recorded burial, in 1843, was Sarah A. Short, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Martha "Patsy" (Maddux) Short. The first cemetery committee members were William Brookman, Charles Gowler, C.B. Atkinson, Alfred Short, and Huston Atkinson. Those buried there include early pioneer immigrants from Kansas, Kentucky, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, as well as England, France, Germany, and Ireland, including members of the Angle, Atkinson, Bates, Brookman, Gordon, Gowler, Green, Lisenby, Shelton, Short, Sledge, Smith, Williams, and Young families. Veterans of the War of 1812, Civil War, Black Hills War, Spanish American and World Wars I and II are buried there.