Eureka Cemetery

This burial ground served the early residents of the agricultural Eureka community. Eureka was settled in the 1870s mostly by residents looking to farm cotton in the region’s rich, blackland soil. The community did not have a cotton gin or store, depending on nearby Lovelace and Itasca, but it did have a school and Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Early Eureka settlers included the Kimmons, Eagleston, McDaniel, Faries, Clack, London, Hambright, Priddy, Hamilton and Wilson families. Oral tradition relates that the first burial here was of a young niece of William R. Kimmons (d. 1931), who owned the property. The earliest documented burial in Eureka Cemetery, though, is of Willie D. Kimmons (d. 1887), the infant son of W.R. and Ella (Eagleston) Kimmons (d. 1934). After this interment, the Kimmons opened the graveyard to their friends and neighbors. Eureka Cemetery features interior fencing, curbing and vertical stones in a wooded setting. Of the 20 marked graves in Eureka Cemetery, 13 are for children less than 10 years of age. From the mid-to-late 20th century, the Kimmons-Eagleston family cared for the graveyard. In 2008, the Eureka Cemetery Association formed to maintain the burial ground after interest was spurred by state and county preservationists. Today, with the old schoolhouse and church building gone, Eureka Cemetery is the only physical reminder of the community’s early history, and remains as a chronicle of its pioneers.

Eureka Cemetery is a historical marker in Itasca, Hill County, dedicated in 2010. It is one of 104 historical markers documented in Hill County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 199 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.1123, -97.1487 near Itasca. The nearest cataloged historic site is Luke Tipton (cemetery), about 2.4 miles away. Others within a short drive include Itasca City, Prairie Dale Cemetery, and Lackawanna Ranch.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507016276. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.