About this site
Tascosa is a cemetery in Oldham County, Texas. It is one of 3 cemeteries documented in Oldham County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 19 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 35.5326, -102.2398. The nearest cataloged historic site is Julian Bivins Museum (museum), about 0.9 miles away. Others within a short drive include Tascosa, Tascosa Courthouse, 1884, and Muncy.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #7359000405. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
This Oldham County cemetery is the famed Boot Hill of Tascosa, the wild cattle-and-freighting town that boomed on the Canadian River from 1876. The cemetery was set aside in 1879 and named for the Boot Hill of Dodge City, Kansas, to which Tascosa was linked by the cattle trails, and it earned its name from the gunmen who "died with their boots on." The deadliest of those fights came on March 21, 1886, when three cowboys and a restaurant owner were killed in a five-minute gun battle. After Tascosa faded and the county seat moved to Vega in 1915, Boot Hill and the old stone courthouse remained; the cemetery now overlooks Cal Farley's Boys Ranch and is open to visitors.
Sources: texasescapes.comsites.rootsweb.comhmdb.org
