Houston's oldest cemetery, established 1836 by the Allen Brothers; holds 800+ cholera victims and signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
1217 W Dallas St, Houston, TX 77019
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public historic cemetery with no admission fee.
Access
Limited Access
Historic cemetery with uneven ground and older grave markers; limited paved pathways.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1836 · Houston's oldest surviving cemetery, established 1836 · Donated by Allen Brothers, founders of Houston · 800+ cholera epidemic victims interred · Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence buried here · National Register of Historic Places
Houston was founded in August 1836 when Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen purchased land along Buffalo Bayou and platted a city they named after Sam Houston. Within the first years of the city's existence, the Allen Brothers donated a tract of land at what is now 1217 W Dallas Street for use as a public cemetery — it is the oldest surviving burial ground in Houston.
The early decades of the cemetery's operation coincided with repeated cholera epidemics that swept through Gulf Coast cities. Cholera struck Houston severely in 1833, 1849, and 1866; the cemetery holds the remains of more than 800 victims of these outbreaks. Many of the graves from those epidemic years are unmarked or have markers that have deteriorated, giving sections of the grounds a distinctive character — the density of burial without memorial.
Among the identified interments are individuals who participated in the Texas Revolution and the governance of the Republic of Texas, including signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Houston Historical Tours includes the cemetery on its itinerary and identifies it as the oldest white Christian cemetery original to the city from 1836, a phrasing that acknowledges the segregated burial practices of the period. Other historic cemeteries in Houston served African American, Jewish, and German Catholic communities separately.
The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is maintained as a public historic site.
Sources
Founders Memorial Cemetery draws paranormal interest primarily because of its layered burial history — a very old ground, a large proportion of epidemic dead, and the presence of Republic of Texas political figures, all concentrated on a relatively small tract in a dense neighborhood.
PaperCity Magazine's feature on Houston haunted places quotes local historian Sandra Lord, who reported witnessing unexplained orbs of light in the cemetery during ghost walks. Orbs are a commonly reported phenomenon at historic cemeteries and are not independently verifiable; Lord's account is notable primarily because she approached it from a historical rather than paranormal investigator framing. The reports are concentrated in sections of the grounds away from the perimeter, where cholera-era mass burials occurred in less formally marked plots.
Houston Historical Tours includes Founders Memorial Cemetery on its cemetery tour, presenting both the historical record and the accumulated paranormal accounts. The cholera-victim sections in particular are described by tour operators as the most active areas, which is consistent with the site's documented character as a place where many of the dead were buried without adequate individual memorialization.
Walk the grounds where Houston's founders are buried alongside 800+ cholera victims from the epidemic years of the 1830s and 1840s. Markers for signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence are located in the main section.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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