More Texas Rangers are Buried in This Little Cemetery Than Any Other

Did you know there’s a town in the Hill Country which is famous as the unofficial cemetery of the Texas Rangers? The little town of Center Point is located on the Guadalupe River and midway between the Hill Country towns of Kerrville and Comfort. The population of Center Point was only 566 souls as of 2010. Blink and you just might miss it, but this small town holds an honor unlike any other Texas city.

Take a walk through the tombstones of the local cemetery and you’ll soon notice many graves with metal crosses standing beside the markers. These crosses signify a Texas Ranger’s grave. More Texas Rangers are buried in the Center Point cemetery than in any other graveyard in Texas. With 40 Rangers at rest in Center Point, that’s more than in the State Cemetery in Austin. Why are so many Rangers buried here? The answer to that question isn’t entirely clear.

Photo: Facebook/Barbara Chadwick

Mike Cox, the author of “Gunfights and Sites in Texas Ranger History,” believes it might have begun as a simple matter of convenience. The area has long been a favorite retirement spot. Since a number of Rangers had retired nearby, it made since they would be laid to rest there. With a fair number already interred in the cemetery, more and more Rangers from other parts of Texas started requesting to buried there as well. In fact, modern Rangers are known to request to be buried beside their brothers in arms in Center Point. Cox calls the little cemetery the “unofficial Arlington of the Texas Rangers.”

Founded in 1872, the cemetery now holds over 1,452 graves. The first Texas Ranger to take his rest in Center Point was George Moore, who died in 1886. A road trip out to Center Point to take rubbings on the historical tombstones is a great way to spend an afternoon in the Hill Country. A partial list of Rangers buried at the cemetery includes: W. D. C. Burney, N. Coldwell, J. A. Gibbens, H. T. Hill, F. L. Holloway, R. J. Irving, Sr., R. J. Lange, J. H. Lane, S. T. Lane, Jr., T. Lane, M. A. Lowrance, J. L. McElroy, S. G. McElroy, A. S. Moore, F. M. Moore, G. K. Moore, G.R. Moore, G. W. Moore, H. C. Moore, James Moore, J. T. Moore, M. F. Moore, D. C. Nowlin, J. C. Nowlin, R. W. Nowlin, P. Alonzo Rees, N. O. Reynolds, W. H. Rishworth, J. L. Sellar.