TX-9742 Prairie View Cemetery

Marker text: PRAIRIE VIEW CEMETERY

Pioneer settlers in this vicinity met together for worship services in the Gum Springs Schoolhouse until 1892, when Stephen Taylor deeded land at this site for church and cemetery purposes. This historic cemetery began in the churchyard of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, South, (also known as Prairie View Church) in the early 1890s. The earliest documented grave in the cemetery is that of Scottish native James Smith (1836-1892), who immigrated to Texas in 1884. Those interred here include pioneer settlers; a number of infants and small children; and veterans of the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and Korea. The Prairie View Church moved to Briggs in 1906 and became the Briggs Methodist Church. The congregation later was dissolved, and the members attended worship services in neighboring communities. The church building was moved to Lampasas in 1951 and converted into a parsonage. The Prairie View Cemetery serves as a physical reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. the Prairie View Cemetery Association, organized in 1977, provides maintenance for the historic graveyard.