02.a - 1300-1308 Springdale Rd - Bethany Cemetery - public comments — original pdf

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January 5, 2026 RE: Bethany Cemetery Historic Landmark Designation Dear Chair Heimsath, Vice Chair Evans, and Members of the Historic Landmark Commission Preservation Austin exists to empower Austinites to shape a more inclusive, resilient, and meaningful community culture through preservation. We write today in support of historic landmark designation for Bethany Cemetery for its community value, landscape features, and historical associations. Bethany Cemetery is one of Austin’s most significant sites of Black heritage, and we are honored to partner with the Bethany Cemetery Association and its leader, Sue Spears-Martin, in preparing this nomination. Established in 1893, Bethany Cemetery is the oldest known Black cemetery in Austin, providing burials to African Americans in Austin at a time when there were few options to do so. The cemetery encompasses hundreds of known burials, dating from 1879, before the official founding of the cemetery, to 1985. The people laid to rest at Bethany speak to the plurality of the African American experience in Austin, including stories of enslavement and emancipation, Buffalo Soldiers, State of Texas employees, religious leaders, domestic workers, entrepreneurs, and athletes. During an era when Black life was chronically under-documented in the official record, Bethany Cemetery provides a critical genealogical record for hundreds of lives. Bethany Cemetery exemplifies Black communal effort and perseverance in the absence of public support. With no municipal cemetery available to African Americans at the time, five Black businessmen established the Bethany Cemetery Company in 1893, purchasing the land and providing burials to Black Austinites. By the 1930s, Eva Taylor Ross led the effort to care for the cemetery, working to bring attention and remembrance to Bethany Cemetery until her passing in 1992. In the mid-1990s, the mantle was assumed by Sue Spears-Martin, current president of the Bethany Cemetery Association, whose leadership has mobilized community support, preserved Bethany’s stories, and sustained restoration efforts amid nearby development pressures. Bethany Cemetery provides a critical link to Austin’s Black past that must be preserved for generations to come. We are proud to support the designation of Bethany Cemetery as a City of Austin Landmark. Thank you for your consideration and your service to the City of Austin. Sincerely, Miriam Conner, President