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SOME HISTORY OF SAN MARCOS CITY CEMETERY CHAPEL
By TULA TOWNSEND WYATT
The San Marcos Cemetery is situated on land that shorter hall has two smaller arches on each side,
was originally in a grant made to Thomas Jefferson four additional arches. Wall framing is minimal, of bo d
Chamb , early Texas surveyor and entrepreneur, by and batten construction. A very sharply-pitched sh t-
the Repu ic of Texas in 1836. The Chambers Estate sold iron roof covers the structure. The total effect is ght,
this partic ar tract on May 3, 1866, to Judy Camp, later airy, open. There is so little walling in the structur that
Mrs. Shadra k Dickson. On April 5, 1876, Judy Dickson it is virtually an updated version of the well-know brush
and husband hadrach Dickson, for the consideration of arbor of early Texas. The chapel stands in th. manner
"$300.00 in sil r coin" sold this land to the City of San of a rustic country shrine, unpretentious and seful.
Marcos Cemete Association Board. This board con- After 1850, builders throughout Americ are said to
sisted of Major ward Burleson (1826-1877), L. W. Mit- have desired to adopt immateriality i architectual
chell, the Rev. W . Joyce (1828-1918), Wallace Carna- styles. "The immaterial quality of the Go ic had seemed
han, E. P. Reynolds 1840-1905), and Major W. O. Hutchi- to many Americans to qualify it as t only style suit-
son (1834-1900).' able for Christian worship", and Sir alter Scott is said
The existence of e cemetery prior to the date of to have fostered this idea. In the d-19th century, both
the formal acquisition o he land is proven by the grave- Europeans and Americans belie d that Gothic styles
stones surviving from an rlier period. First known bur- came from the prevalence of fir rees in the North where
ial (as shown by a dated avestone) was that of a Mr. the Goths had lived, and tha somehow the shapes of
Major Rogers (Aug. 29, 185 May 16, 1875). There had pointed firs were being imi$&ted in the sharply pitched
been an older cemetery in t town; this location was roofs and the pointed arc es of Gothics buildings. ...
considered more suitable, how er, and the burials were Americans began to hav their homes and estates land-
transferred to the new area afte he formal purchase. scaped by artists w se tastes leaned toward the
The new cemetery was more r ote from the homes Gothic, and the cem ery chapels that thereupon came
and church buildings of the town an the earlier one into vogue seem to. have borrowed the same romanti-
had been, however, and the need a chapel in the cism of style.
cemetery became apparent. Gravesi rites were not The materia"for this structure were easily available
considered sufficient in the cases of ma of the burials, in any town ofithe size and prestige of San Marcos at
and as there was quite a distance to traveled by any time in te 1876-1890. era, so. the materials used in
horsedrawn vehicles, a trip to a church buil g and then the chapel live us no clue to the actual building date.
a second trip to the cemetery might consum the better The style.~ so primitive that the chapel may even have
part of a day for the people attending the fun als held been ereted by volunteer labor, enlisted by the Ceme
in the town. tery As ciation members-indeed including those mem-
Another factor that possibly governed the b Iding bers,Ar some of them.
of the cemetery chapel was the prevailing fashi of o alterations have been made to the original
the day. Cemetery chapels were in use in many part of b ding, except that the old-fashioned benches and
the nation, especially in the South and Southwest, whe me of the internal features seem to have been worn
favorable weather conditions prevail for most of the year, out. (Since the benches were very hard and uncomfort-
and the chapels were practical. That the chapel was in able, the persons who recall them are delighted that
use by the 1890s is proven by a newspaper article th ey are no longer in the chapel; chairs owned by the
appeared in the Ha). County 7imes for April 13, 1 4: u ertaker are in use when the chapel serves for pro-
Decoration Day. . .will take place at .the Cemetery C apel gra s today.) Throughout its 80-odd years of existence,
on Wednesday, 18th inst .... Everybody who has ndred the apel has been kept painted and in good repair.
or friends sleeping in the silent city of the depa ed are On Ma 1, 1924, the San Marcos City Cemetery Associa-
urged to bring flowers and strew upon their graves d other- O th e
wise take part in the exercises of the occasion . tion sol the cemetery and the chapel to the City of
It is not known who contracted the work f building San Marc. The improvements are maintained today
the chapel, nor who designed it. It seem likely that by the city vernment.
some citizens planned this chapel after having seen A history the San Marcos Cemetery is appended
one in Austin, Houston, or some other own, and that to this paper, a the history of the city government is
they took a photograph to a good car ntry contractor also appended, to ther with photographs of the ceme-
and let him plan the bill of lumber a d the actual con- tery chapel as see rom all sides.
struction. No doubt the directors the Cemetery As- The Hays County istorical Survey Committee seeks
sociation directed the work. to have this structure clared a "Recorded Texas His-
The structure as it was or finally built and as it torical Landmark" for t reason it appears to be a
survives today follows the patte of Christian churches, rarity in later-20th century exas-one of a very few sur-
the cruciform pattern. It is v y unadorned and simple, vivors in existence today. I has historical significance
The vertical member of the oss, which forms the main in its community, and the ol r citizens who revere the
hall of the chapel, is 46 f t 6 inches in length and 16 social customs and historical ackground of the com-
feet 6 inches in width. T horizontal member, or wings munity wish to educate the yo g on the significance
of the main hall, meas es 36 feet 6 inches by 16 feet of the quaint structure.
and 6 inches. The four 12-foot faces of the intersecting The funerals of many Civil Wa Spanish-American
members form the ble ends of the framing for the War, and World War I veterans were hd in this chapel,
high-pitched roof. the ground level, each of these as well as the funerals of persons who ed outside the
gale-ended face is site ot a pointed archway or en- immediate community and were not clos ly associated
trance to the c pel. The long hall has three similar, with any church in San Marcos.
but smaller, hes on each side, or six arches; the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hays County D ed Records, Deed Book M, page 245. New York.
Genealogical clety of San Marcos, vertical files.Early, James. Rainant n arx aA., a a , tlr, New York
Gravestone in the San Marcos City Cemetery, as surveyed on June 3 A. S. Barnes & Co., 1965.
1964, by the ays County Historical Survey Committee. Genealogical Society of San Marcos. Vertical Files.
4 Files of Tula Townsend Wyatt, San Marcos, Texas
James Early, R ,irtrm rn Am ,r .r/l/tni, (New York; A.S. Hays County Clerk. Deed Records of Hays County.
Barnes & Co., 1965), pp 84-85. Hays County Historical Survey Committee. Vertical Files.
. Hays County Deed Records, Deed Book M, page 605. Wyatt, Tula Townsend. Personal Files.