Discovery Of Graves Under Historic Chapel Halts Its Renovation

EAST AUSTIN, TX — Restoration work on a historic chapel at Oakwood Cemetery has been halted after archaeologists discovered graves under the building.

At a Tuesday press conference, city officials said up to 25 graves may be located under the chapel built in 1914 in what was then the portion of the then-segregated Oakwood Cemetery — the city's oldest burial site — that was the final resting place for African Americans.

Given the founding of Oakwood Cemetery in 1839, historians believe the section around the chapel was full some 50 years later, meaning the graves likely belong to post-Reconstruction-era African-Americans, the Austin American-Statesman noted.

Exhumation would likely make it possible to determine characteristics of people buried there, although poor record-keeping from that time could make it impossible to make individual identifications, according to the report.

“My heart stopped when I heard that, in 1914, a chapel was built on top of graves,” Austin City Council member Ora Houston said at a recent press conference related to the finding of graves first discovered in November. "Because I’m sure, at that point, people knew there were graves in that part of the cemetery. The lack of humanity hit me.”

City officials now are working with the Texas Historical Commission to determine how to proceed with the restoration project in light of the discovery of graves. That work is now delayed indefinitely given the discovery, and moving the chapel isn't possible, officials said.

Related story: Efforts Under Way To Restore Historic East Austin Chapel

>>> Photo of chapel via Save Austin's Cemeteries website