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The Predominately African-American Section
of First Street Cemetery
of Waco, Texas
by: T. Bradford Willis, DDS, MSD
and
John Griggs, PhD
Many prominent African-Americans were buried in First Street Cemetery of Waco, including
Knights and Daughters of Tabor, a member of the Mosaic Templars of America, a 19th century
Texas legislator, a 19th century member of the Waco City Council, a chairman of the board of
Paul Quinn College of Waco, one of the original twenty-one settlers of Waco Village, many U. S.
veterans, and former slaves.
A survey map dated September 19, 1882 is located in Volume 1, Survey Number 120 of the
Surveyor Records of the McLennan County Clerk's Office. The map refers to 4 6/10 acres of
land, "set apart as a Cemetery for the Colored People." It is signed by the McLennan County
Surveyor, J. W. Speight. This map with a "formally designated colored cemetery" at First Street
Cemetery does not appear in the known written histories of Waco and McLennan County.
The September 21, 1882 minutes of the Waco City Council state: "An ordinance setting apart a
portion of the Old Cemetery [First Street Cemetery] as a burial ground for the colored people
was read, and on motion the rules were suspended and the ordinance read 2nd, 3rd times by
caption and passed by a vote of full council."
Beginning in 1968, the campground section of Fort Fisher Park, a Texas Ranger museum, and
associated buildings were built on top of this predominantly African-American section/lower
terrace of historic First Street Cemetery. Fort Fisher Park, also known as Lake Brazos Recreation
Park, was created through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (L&WCF) administered by
the National Park Service.
