Arlington Heritage Memorial Grounds Corporation<\/a> broke ground on the project in February 2019 and devoted hundreds of hours to researching records to locate unmarked graves and compile compelling histories for those who are buried there. The group also raised funds to add markers, sidewalks, lighting flag poles, fencing and other improvements to the 1.8-acre site.<\/p>\nThe grounds, which are owned and maintained by the Arlington Historical Society, contain three separate cemeteries: The Middleton Tate Johnson Family Cemetery, the Mill Branch Cemetery, and the Colored Cemetery, with burials spanning from the 1850s to 1950s.<\/p>\n
Among the graves is the final resting site of Colonel Middleton Tate Johnson, known as the Father of Tarrant County and one of the most prominent Texans of his time. An official State of Texas commemorative headstone marks his final resting place.
\nOther pioneers who worked the land, harvested wheat, corn and cotton and launched trade in building the local economy were laid to their final rest here as well. Finally, these grounds were, at the time, the only available location for burial of Arlington’s colored citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s most gratifying to see the people who lived here and help make Arlington finally be recognized,\u201d The Rev. Carl Pointer, who has family members buried in the cemetery, said in a 2023 interview.<\/p>\n
Support for the project included $140,000 in grants from the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe City of Arlington I so proud to be involved with a group of citizens who worked so hard to make this happen, and the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation is so proud that we could stand up and help make this possible,\u201d said Mayor Pro Tem Helen Moise.<\/p>\n
In addition to creating an interactive park for residents to visit, the Arlington Heritage Memorial Grounds Corporation has forged an agreement with Arlington Independent School District to provide for educational opportunities through in-person, virtual, and on-site visits for teachers and students to experience the meaningful history associated with the cemetery and all who are buried there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have assembled to learn from the past by embracing the present to ensure its purpose will never be forgotten or misplaced. To be clear, this our gift for future generations for them to know their history,\u201d Stoglin said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Visit\u00a0Arlington150.com<\/a>\u00a0for more historical articles, photos and events planned throughout 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on May 11, 2026
By Susan Schrock, Office of Communication As Arlington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":["post-289966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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