John Whitmire, son-in-law of early settler F. L. Kirtley, is credited with naming Grand View in 1854 after exclaiming, "what a grand view!" Kirtley donated 2.5 acres for a Baptist church and cemetery in 1856, and that same year James F. Scurlock bought about 1400 surrounding acres intending to lay out a town plat. The oldest marked burial is James C., the child of James F. and Rebecca Criner Scurlock, who was born and died on June 4, 1857. By 1860 Grand View had three general stores, a blacksmith shop, a church building, and Lodge No. 266, A. F. & A. M., chartered in 1861 as the first Masonic lodge in Johnson County. After James Scurlock died during the Civil War, his family sold the town site to F. M. Sansom, and as the community grew, several stores, a saloon, and more churches were established. One grave became a local legend after a pair of young travelers arrived one summer evening in 1867 and the young woman was found murdered the next morning with no sign of her companion; community members buried her in a handmade coffin and marked her tombstone "Annie," the name on an embroidered handkerchief she carried. The cemetery's African American section includes the graves of many residents, including the unmarked graves of Scott and Elmira Matlock, among Grand View's earliest settlers. When the railroad passed about a mile southeast of town in 1881, the main section of Grand View moved to it by 1883, and the cemetery gradually occupied the entire original town site while continuing to serve the community, now known as Grandview, as a chronicle of Johnson County's pioneers.