Bethany Cemetery, located on Springdale Road and dating back to the 1890s, will be designated a city historic landmark.
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Volunteers who care for the cemetery say the designation has been a long time coming. For more than 130 years, the site has served as a burial ground for many of Austin’s notable African American residents.
For decades, the Bethany Cemetery Association has worked to restore the site and tell the stories of the people buried there.
“I am a native Austinite, went to Sims Elementary School, lived in this neighborhood my whole life and didn’t realize this was a cemetery or the significance of it,” Spears said. “These people lived through slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow and for them not to have a decent place to be buried, that really bothered me.”
Spears and the Bethany Cemetery Association have worked to preserve the cemetery’s integrity — particularly as new development rises nearby — and ensure the graves remain protected.