Official Website for the City of Killeen

Flagpole donated by Mr. & Mrs. Richard L Banta and Mr. Ricky G Smith

July 15, 2002 a flagpole dedication was held at the Killeen City Cemetery to dedicate the flagpole and to recognize the following citizens (Mr. & Mrs. Richard Banta and Mr. Ricky Smith) who donated funds to purchase the flagpole. The cemetery also received donations of service flags from Mr. & Mrs. Richard Banta, Helena Mraz, and Norman Palmer.

The Flagpole   Mr. Smith & Mr. Banta

CEMETERY HISTORY
Bell County had settlers as early as 1835; the area around Killeen still had Comanche Indians in 1859. The City of Killeen started with the coming of the railroad in 1882 and was officially organized in 1893. Before Killeen was formed many small towns were in the area, including Sugar Loaf and Palo Alto, whose citizens moved to the new town of Killeen.

The Killeen City Cemetery had a long history of use before the City of Killeen assumed its care. It began as a private cemetery according to a handbill from 1899 about a United thanksgiving celebration that listed the meal being provided by the cemetery association. An early picture from around 1900 showed the cemetery as an overgrown area of tombstones about five miles out in the country. The grounds were originally laid out with a circular drive in the old section B. This drive was abandoned and the area used for burials, which accounts for the irregular rows currently in the old sections of the cemetery.

Many of the pioneers buried here came from Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee and proudly lists their heritage on their tombstones. The earliest recorded burial in the old section "B" is the Fleming family in 1856. This may indicate that the cemetery is much older than the city. The burial of the Riggs family in 1859 recorded their death as being murdered by the Comanche Indians. There are burials of veterans of World War I, World War II, Korean, and Vietnam, as well as veterans of the Confederate States of American and a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. Captain Robert M. Gray, veteran WWII Air Corps, 1919-1942, for which Gray Air Force Base is named for, is buried in the cemetery. There have been many disinterment to the Killeen cemetery from land that was by the buildings of Fort Hood. Some of these locations are: Sugar Loaf, Shiloh, Bundrandt, Young, Altum Ranches, Norman, Maple, Salem, etc. The early records of the cemetery association were lost and there were no records of the old sections except for the information read off of the tombstones for a community project by students of Killeen High School in 1976. The Killeen City Cemetery currently maintains the cemetery records using a computerized database.