SITE DIRECTORY
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Southend Cemetery
Southend Cemetery
FOUNDED: 1919
ADDITIONAL NAMES: N/A
AFFILIATION(S): N/A
HISTORY: Southend Cemetery remains the last historic link to a predominantly Black community in Huntsville, Texas called “The Flat.” Residents of the community were forced to sell their property and relocate in the late 1960s due to the expansion of Sam Houston State University. In 1920, community leaders Will Ezell, Colonel Williams, Byrd Stubblefield and Richard Dillard purchased five acres from Gibbs Brothers & Company to establish a cemetery. There are ~300 known burials at Southend Cemetery, half of these marked. Noted burials include Sgt. Luby l. Smither, founding member of the 1st Black American Legion Post in Huntsville, and Mance Williams, owner of its 1st Black auto mechanic shop. The earliest known and marked burial is Sarah Skelton’s (Unk-Sept. 1920). The area surrounding Southend Cemetery was once wooded and the cemetery could only be accessed by a narrow dirt road. As Huntsville grew, the dirt road became an extension of Montgomery Road when that road was expanded across Highway 75 to Bowers Road. In 1998, a group of descendants and others re-organized the Southend Cemetery Association to care for that historic space. Southend Cemetery remains a testament to residents of The Flat community and preserving Black American heritage in Huntsville, Texas.
BCN Contact Information:
Dr. Marilyn Y. Byrd