Dallas City Cemetery – A Brief History
by Daniel Greig Babb
An important piece of Dallas’ history lies almost completely hidden behind a wide variety of warehouses and businesses, spanning the length of two football fields. It is located at 10606 Shady Trail, but you can’t see it from the road. The term “Rest in Peace” currently has no place in this ruin of a relatively modern cemetery. The Dallas City Cemetery is only 90 years old.
Formally known as Dallas City Cemetery, but more commonly referred to as the “City Pauper’s Cemetery” or “Dallas Pauper’s Cemetery”, the cemetery opened during the days of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl, after the previous City Cemetery ran out of space.
Its ranks swelled quickly due to longstanding issues with prematurity caused by a lack of prenatal care, and the tuberculosis epidemic (Dallas’ rate was 2% higher than the national average). Burials commenced on 21 April 1933 and ended 13 March 1978. The cemetery contains at least 2,081 graves of the poorest citizens of Dallas County. We are fortunate to know where 99% of the graves are located.
The lack of a family support network is evident in many of the cases, which can be seen in the associated death certificates, usually showing that no relative was present to give information on the deceased.
Burials ended when responsibility for burials of the indigent transferred to the County of Dallas from the City of Dallas in the late 1970s. The property is owned by the City of Dallas and is maintained by the Dallas Parks Department who are both involved in an effort to rescue this cemetery. As of January 2023, roughly half the graves are unmarked.
Those interested in learning more about the rescue effort are welcome to locate the Facebook group under the name Dallas City Cemetery – Rescue Fund.
The cemetery faces a variety of maladies, including poor drainage that results in the submersion of about 200 children’s graves after every rainfall. The Parks Department comes out to drain the water each time, until a permanent solution can be arranged.
The grid system markers used for locating interments has also been lost to time. An image of the grid is available to assist with understanding where in the cemetery your loved ones are located. Block numbering now starts at 11 after blocks 1-10 were sold in the late 1970s and a warehouse constructed that hides the cemetery from plain view at the street. A small sign marks the cemetery entrance to the north of the warehouse located at 10606 Shady Trail.
More than 450 loose nameplates have been recovered and donated to the Dallas Public Library Archives (7th Floor, J. Erik Jonsson Library). The “Master Book”, created by the Medical Examiner’s office, and containing a list of burials, with transcriptions of names, is also located there in a separate collection.
Those are the particulars of this non-restful place. But to tell the story best we should hear from the people who are buried there. Tune in next month to hear one of those tales!
