Texas State Cemetery
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Texas State Cemetery
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Texas State Cemetery entrance
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| Location | 901 Navasota Street Austin, Texas, U.S. |
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| Coordinates | 30°16′01″N 97°43′34″W / 30.26694°N 97.72611°WCoordinates: 30°16′01″N 97°43′34″W / 30.26694°N 97.72611°W |
| Built | 1851 |
| MPS | East Austin MRA |
| NRHP Reference # | 86001085 |
| Added to NRHP | May 12, 1986 |
The Texas State Cemetery (TSC) is a cemetery located on about 22 acres (8.9 ha) just east of Downtown Austin, the capital of the U.S. state of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revolutionary general and Vice-President of the Republic of Texas, it was expanded into a Confederate cemetery during the Civil War. Later it was expanded again to include the graves and cenotaphs of prominent Texans and their spouses.
The cemetery is divided into two sections. The smaller one contains around 900 graves of prominent Texans, while the larger has over 2,000 marked graves of Confederate veterans and widows. There is room for 7,500 interments; the cemetery is about half full, after including plots chosen by people who are eligible for burial.
The guidelines on who may be buried within the Texas State Cemetery were first established in 1953, and are currently set by Texas state law. Currently, all persons to be buried in the cemetery must be one of the following:
After the death of Edward Burleson in 1851, the Texas Legislature arranged for his burial on land formerly belonging to Andrew Jackson Hamilton. In 1854, the Legislature established a monument at Burleson's grave-site for $1,000 and purchased the surrounding land. The burial ground was virtually ignored until the Civil War, when Texas Confederate officers killed in battle were buried there. In 1864 and 1866 more land was purchased for veterans' burials. An area of 1-acre (4,000 m2) was also set aside for graves of Union veterans (all but one later removed, to Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio). The remaining Union soldier is Antonio Briones, who was left at the request of his family. He is interred alone in the far northwest corner of the cemetery.
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