Mecca of multifamily development near downtown clashes with Fort Worth’s past, cemetery association says

A 6.5-acre plot of land nestled between multi-family buildings easily could be mistaken for a park if it weren’t for the scattered historic Victorian-style headstones and plaques. Many of them mark the final resting spots of Fort Worth’s founders. Pioneers Rest Cemetery, generally thought to be Fort Worth’s oldest public cemetery, paints a picture of the settlers who helped establish the city throughout its early years. Members of the Pioneers Rest Cemetery Association, which maintains the cemetery, believe many of the graves extend beyond the current perimeter. The possible burial places are of the people who worked to build this area, according to the association. Now, the association worries a new five-story, 172-unit apartment building planned along the southern border of the cemetery could disturb the city’s storied past. “One of the things we can’t do is stop progress. But we can at least be respectful of our history,” John Roberts, chairman of the public affairs committee for Historic Fort Worth Inc., said.

Houston-based developer Urban-Genesis is building the complex at 1101 Gounah St. Sameer Walvekar, developer at Urban-Genesis in charge of the apartment project, declined to comment during a phone call with the Fort Worth Report. The Fort Worth Downtown Design and Review Board approved the project on Dec. 2, 2021, and construction on the site has started. Pioneers Rest Cemetery was founded in 1850 and is one of Fort Worth’s oldest community cemeteries. Although burials at this site are no longer frequent, it remains the resting place for many early Fort Worth residents and their descendants. The cemetery currently has a Texas Historical Commission designation. “There are many sites across the state where pioneers, people traveling, farm families may have had a small cemetery or done human burials, perhaps by necessity as they journeyed,” Texas Historical Commission Communications Director Chris Lawrence said. Famous memorials at the site include Maj. Ripley Arnold, who founded the city of Fort Worth and two of his children, Willis and Sophia. Gen. Edward Tarrant, a veteran who fought in the Texas War of Independence, the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, is also buried here. Several members of the Daggett family, who were among the early settlers of Fort Worth, were laid to rest in the cemetery. Eleven of the original fort soldiers also are buried at the cemetery. Susan Allen Kline, a 25-year resident of Fort Worth, wrote the application that helped the cemetery enter the National Register of Historic Places on Jan. 27, 2021.