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    LILAC, TEXAS

    Milam County, South Central Texas
    FM 487 and 3061
    5 miles E of Davilla
    10 miles N of Thorndale
    58 miles NE of Austin


    Where to Stay - Lilac Area Hotels:
    Austin Hotels
    Lilac Texas School 1901
    Lilac School, 1901
    "The boy with the arrow overhead is Henry Baker" - James
    See Texas Schoolhouses

    There is a historic marker at the above intersection across the street from the Graves Cemetery.

    In the spring the cemetery blooms with the flowers of hundreds of irises.

    The highest reported population at Lilac was 100 people in 1884. It lost its post office in 1905 and the population fell to 40 by the end of the 1930s.

    Today it is what is known as a "dispersed rural community."

    Lilac Texas cemetery
    The Headstone of the Graves Family
    TE Photo 2001

    See Texas Cemeteries
    Historical Marker Text

    Lilac

    Primarily a farming and stockraising settlement, Lilac was originally known as Oak Point. Dr. John H. Graves, a dentist and planter, brought his family to Milam County in 1858. The community which developed around his farm was named Lilac in 1883 when a U. S. post office was established. The Graves family continued to reside in the area for generations, donating land for a school, Baptist church, and Methodist encampment. (See Forum below) At its height Lilac included two stores, a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, and homes. It declined after a 1921 flood and the Great Depression.
    (1990)
    Historical Marker Text

    Lilac Cemetery

    Dr. John Herndon Graves (1807-1889) and his family settled in this area in 1858. They acquired several large tracts of land over time, and Dr. Graves' daughter and her husband deeded the land around this site for Lilac Baptist Church in 1880. It was intended for use as a cemetery as well. According to oral history, another area resident subsequently deeded a strip of land across the south end of the cemetery. (See Forum below) The earliest marked grave on this site is that of Calvin McCormick (d. 1870). Dr. John H. Graves' marker indicates that he was the earliest-born of those interred here. Other burials of interest include four Civil War veterans, one Spanish-American War veteran, nine veterans of World War I and a number of veterans of other wars and conflicts. Lilac Cemetery continues as a chronicle of Milam County history.
    (2000)

    Lilac, Texas Forum

    Subject: Lilac, Texas
    The old church ground, old school ground, and the cemetery land was donated by the Richmon family, not the Graves as proclaimed on the historical marker at the corner of FM 487 and FM 3061. The Wilson family has held the title to all of these properties for over 100 years before giving them to the Graves. - Sincerely, Fred Wilson, January 13, 2008

    Where to Stay - Lilac Area Hotels:
    Austin Hotels
    Lilac Texas cemetery outhouse
    A well-built and detailed outhouse
    TE Photo 2001
    Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic photos of their town, please contact us.
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    This page last modified: April 23, 2010