Beneath the serene landscape of Dallas lies a place where stories rest eternally. It’s Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery a multi-faith cemetery. This isn’t just any cemetery. It’s the final resting place of Dallas’s most prominent citizens and some all-American characters.
Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery spans 88 acres. It holds the graves of enslaved people who worked on the Caruth plantation. They died in the 1850s.
The Sparkman family began operating the cemetery in 1920. Will R. Sparkman purchased it and operated it under the name Loudermilk-Sparkman. In 1926 Sparkman moved his business to the former Belo Mansion. The mansion has been renamed the Arts District Mansion. The body of the outlaw Clyde Barrow was placed on public view here in 1934. Thousands of people came to see the criminal’s corpse.
Anton Korn designed the Hillcrest Mausoleum. It opened in 1937.
Many famous people rest here. Mary Kay Ash rests here. She was a businesswoman. Maureen Connolly rests here too. She was a champion tennis player. Greer Garson is also here. She was a British-American actress. H. L. Hunt rests here. He was a businessman and one of the wealthiest men in the world. Tom Landry a Hall of Fame head coach of the Dallas Cowboys also rests here. Mickey Mantle a Hall of Fame baseball player is also buried here. Ross Perot a business magnate rests here as well. Annette Strauss a mayor of Dallas rests here too. John Tower a United States Senator rests here.
Let’s remember Freddie King a Chicago bluesman. He lived in Dallas at the end of his life. In the 1970s he performed at venues such as Mother Blues on Lemmon Avenue. Ted Hinton rests here too. He was a deputy sheriff involved in the capture of Bonnie and Clyde.
The cemetery was created with land donated by William Barr Caruth. He was an early Dallas settler. Graves date back to the 1850s. The Caruth Pioneer Cemetery is located within Sparkman-Hillcrest.
William Sparkman relocated his funeral home business to Dallas’ Belo mansion in 1926. After Clyde Barrow died in a shootout with police the Sparkman hearse brought his body back to Dallas.
Tom Landry was the first coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He led the team for 29 years. He had a master’s degree in industrial engineering. He played seven seasons of professional football before becoming an NFL coach.
Greer Garson received seven best-actress Oscar award nominations. She won in 1942 for Mrs. Miniver. She founded the Greer Garson Theatre at Southern Methodist University.
Ted Hinton knew Bonnie Parker. She was a waitress at Marco’s Café in Old East Dallas. He was a Dallas deputy sheriff when he ambushed Bonnie and Clyde.
Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery is more than just a cemetery. It’s a chronicle of Dallas. It tells the tales of those who shaped the city’s history and culture. Take a moment to appreciate the stories etched in stone.