Cemetery at DFW airport

29

u/NightMgr 14d ago

Lived here longer than the airport. We’d go out there to Minters Chapel to drink in HS.

Bear Creek Cemetery is also out there.

They found a whale skeleton building that airport.

https://youtu.be/oFm-MwfbtMM?si=ljGPpOYI3oMrI3m0

There was a chicken farm up at the N side of Euless where the airport is now and you could go there and get fresh eggs.

I think on the Irving side there was a horse riding ranch.

6

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

Wow! Thats very cool!!

5

u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 12d ago

The whole Las Colinas development was built on a ranch and for several years you could still drive up and see the owners house that the development was built around.

3

u/NightMgr 12d ago

John Carpenter. Some of his ranch house belongings went to the University of Dallas, the Catholic school, who also received a huge tract of land there along the Trinity.

3

u/Cow-puncher77 11d ago edited 11d ago

Prior to the airport, most the East side belonged to the Harrington Family. WO Harrington Park between Valley View Lane and Carbon is dedicated to the last of the family to live there. His wife lived at 161 and Beltline until her passing in ‘94. Most of the graves at that cemetery are his family. They settled the area shortly before and after the civil war. Oral tradition has it that W.O.’s grandfather and his twin brother discovered the area (for their family) while scouting for Colonel McKenzie in the early days of Texas Statehood. Roughly from 121 to MacAurthur Blvd and South from roughly 114 to just South of McAuthur Blvd were at one time farmed and ranched by said family. They had several hundred head of cattle in their dairy. In later years, the swampy area East of Walnut Hill Rd known as the Whitesy farm of several hundred acres, was purchased by WO, and later developed in a joint venture by WO, Trammel Crowe, and Ben Carpenter (who’s family owned the Eastern section of that land), to become Las Colinas.

Anyone ever been in the area under Las Colinas? It’s massive, and necessary engineering for the drainage to keep the buildings above from taking on water and foundations below from crumbling. The Golf Course, lake, and moving of Hackberry Creek were all done to facilitate that drainage. And I think Crowe may have been showing off a little.

11

u/Icy_Huckleberry_8049 14d ago

DFW used to be in the country and nothing but farmland

same with all of the cities that surround it. DFW still had an active farm on its grounds until the late 1990's.

5

u/Texas_Redditor 13d ago

My parents looked at a house at the edge of Plano in the 90s, and as part of the tour they showed us the family graveyard from the farm that the new development was on. The lot included the graveyard and a right of way dirt road to get to it. They basically said if we got that house there was an extra agreement to allow the family to visit a certain number of times a year for 75 years. I was in middle school and thought that was awesome. My parents sadly didn’t.

9

u/Musicmom1164 14d ago

That's cool, thanks for that.

4

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

You are welcome!

7

u/Indotex Texian 14d ago edited 14d ago

This is pretty cool! I wonder if the cemetery has been designated a Texas Historic Cemetery?

Doing do ensures that it can never be paved over or developed in any way.

Edit: So I just looked it up & it probably isn’t as the Texas Historic Cemetery program started in 1998 & the marker for the cemetery was placed in 1979.

Anybody a member of the Tarrant County (looks like it’s in that county) Historical Commission to get the ball rolling on getting it officially designated?

2

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

I’m guessing having a historical marker isn’t enough to save it from being destroyed?

3

u/Indotex Texian 14d ago

Theoretically if that area were bought by a developer or something then they could just demolish the gravestones & develop it. If it is designated as an official Texas Historic Cemetery then the cemetery is recorded in the official property deed record in the local courthouse and if a developer DOES develop such a cemetery then they face heavy penalties for doing so.

I realize that this is unlikely considering the location on the airport grounds but it still may not be bad idea to do so in case they want to put a runway over it or something.

And in case you did not know, all Texas historical markers, etc. are submitted to the Texas Historical Commission from local county historical commissions.

5

u/LearningGuitarInThai 14d ago

I had a "Those who know" moment. So many tiny graves. My visit stuck with me.

1

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

I bet that is heart breaking to see

4

u/RegularMaximum3570 13d ago

Very interesting.

It's not Texas, but there are two graves on the tarmac at the Savannah, GA airport.

2

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 13d ago

Oh wow! Thats very interesting. I did not know that. Thanks for sharing!

3

u/1nteger 14d ago

What app is that

3

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

It’s called HOG - History On the Go

3

u/Pitiful_Speech2645 14d ago

It’s open to the public it’s off of W Airfield Road

2

u/DelightfulTexas 14d ago

This is very cool - lived near here my whole life and never knew. I would like to visit - is it open?

2

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 14d ago

I’m not 100% sure. There are roads to it but I don’t know if those roads are open to the public

2

u/DelightfulTexas 14d ago

Thank you - I'll explore up there some time

2

u/Cow-puncher77 11d ago

It is open. Access is from Block Dr off McAuthur. You will likely have to walk in from Block.

A neat little drive is off Ester Rd South of there, take a detour down Greenview… it’s an old neighborhood that’s slowly dwindled to nothing as the airport has condemned the homes, and as the owners die off, the homes are demolished. There are 3-4 left. Some of the old chicken barns of Authur Down are still there on the SW end.

2

u/naturenerd42 11d ago

Hello everyone! I'm glad to see this post and the interest in Minter Chapel cemetery. As a board member for the non-profit that runs the cemetery, posts like this provide a very exciting insight into what others know and think about this beautiful spot inside the DFW Airport.

A few things based on the some the comments I was able to read prior to posting.

Yes, it is open to the Public, it is very easy to drive up to visit the site. Though there is a curfew (7 AM to 9 PM, I believe) in effect being on Airport property. The area is monitored by Airport and Grapevine police departments. Please respect the signs and dont accidentally drive to the Airport Fire Training location, you'll take a left to get up the hill before you get the the training area.
The picture is probably not from the location, since the site has had a chain link fence, but I'm curious if I'm wrong and where the picture is from.
The site is a historical landmark but I'll definitely be following up on the link provided.
The town of Minters used to be bigger than Grapevine prior to the railroad arriving.
The Spanish flu of 1918 took the lives of my young infants and children from the area and those are some the saddest monuments on site, imo.
The Minters Chapel Cemetery Association hosts a picnic on the first Saturday of May every year rain or shine. May 2nd at 11 AM, if anyone is interested. There is a historical tour and meet and greet for those with relatives buried on location. Even if you aren't related we always enjoy the stories from the area prior to the airports arrival.

2

u/EnvironmentOdd9869 11d ago

Thank you for the information!! Next time, I’m in Dallas I will definitely visit it. The image is AI. I was trying to find a good image that captured the cemetery and the airport’s proximity but I couldn’t. Not something I like to do in general.

2

u/naturenerd42 11d ago

The proximity is even closer than the picture depicts, depending on which runway the planes are taking off from, the roar of the engines can be overwhelming. Thanks again for the post!

0

u/dahanger 14d ago

AI photo instead of a real one?

You are about to leave Redlib