Title
HLC#22-010: Public hearing to consider a request for a Historic Landmark Overlay District designation for the Mansfield Community Cemetery, c. 1874, located at 750 W. Kimball Street; Mansfield Community Cemetery Association, owner
Description/History
The Mansfield Community Cemetery Association has requested a Historic Landmark Overlay District classification for the historic Mansfield Community Cemetery at 750 W. Kimball Street. This designation will honor the cemetery’s historic significance. The property is zoned PR.
In conjunction with the application from the Mansfield Cemetery Association in the previous case (HLC#22-007), approval of this designation will create the City’s first Historic Landmark District. The District will not merge the cemeteries together; they remain separate historic cemeteries with their own identities and cemetery associations within the same landmark district.
Historic Background
Adjoining the north side of the old Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery is the 1.32-acre unfenced cemetery. A fence that once separated the Mansfield Community Cemetery from the Mansfield Cemetery has been removed.
After its establishment, only blacks were buried there. Fifteen of the 83 marked graves have been identified as probable descendants of Nathan Moody, an enslaved person of Captain Thomas O. Moody (who is buried in the adjoining fenced cemetery). The earliest marked grave is that of Milton Wyatt (1862-1874). Many of the graves are unmarked or the markers are illegible. Family names in the cemetery include Moody, Lawsons, Briscoe, Nolan, Hicks and Wilson.
It is believed that Ralph Man, one of the town founders, donated the land for the Mansfield Community Cemetery.
Designation Criteria
The Historic Landmark Overlay District designation should be considered under the following criteria:
1. Exemplification of the cultural, economic, social, ethnic, or historical heritage of the City. The Mansfield Community Cemetery is one of the most important historic resources in Mansfield that serves as a directory of the City’s early black residents, reflects the ethnic diversity and unique population of the area and contributes to the narrative of Mansfield’s history.
2. Identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the culture or development of the City. The Mansfield Community Cemetery contains the grave sites of many of Mansfield’s early black families and community leaders.
3. A place that because of its location has become of historic or cultural value to a neighborhood or community. The Mansfield Community Cemetery is located at the western edge of the Original Town of Mansfield. Unlike smaller family cemeteries, its proximity to the historic downtown and the western farming districts provided burial space for the black community and is still in use today.
Recommendation
Staff recommends approval of a landmark designation to create a Historic Landmark Overlay District containing the Mansfield Community Cemetery and the Mansfield Cemetery.
Attachments
Maps and supporting information
Photographs of the Mansfield Community Cemetery
Section 155.069(D) of the Code of Ordinances