Van Winkle Cemetery has served the residents of Climax since the mid-1800s. The Climax community dates to 1851, when William Warden, a farmer from Missouri, settled there with his family. The rural community grew, and by the 1890s it had two cotton gins, a grain elevator, a school, a church, a blacksmith shop, and a general store. Most residents were farmers who established small, family-owned farms that produced mostly wheat and corn. Climax reached its peak population around 1910, when about 100 residents lived there. Afterwards, the settlement declined, though it continued to serve as a retail point for local farmers into the late 1960s. The cemetery is named for David Van Winkle, who surveyed property lines in the area around Climax and was compensated with land by the Texas government, including a small portion that became the cemetery. The earliest marked grave is that of M.L. Warnburg, an infant who died in 1867, although multiple unmarked graves are also there, and oral tradition holds that the earliest interment was of a slave. Others buried there include Abraham Recer, who died in 1870 and built and operated a toll bridge across Sister Grove Creek, and W.K. Long, who died in 1932 and was a local business owner. The cemetery also contains graves of military veterans, and its features include vertical stones, obelisks, and curbing. In 1974, the Van Winkle Cemetery Foundation organized to care for the burial ground, and additional property was added in 1976 and 2007. Today, Van Winkle Cemetery continues to serve the residents of the Climax community.