WESTCOTT CEMETERY ASSOCIATION, INC.

    In the 1850s, Richard Westcott bought 696 acres of land and established a homestead. After his wife Almira's death in 1869, he began to give parcels from that property to his children. The land on which this cemetery is located was given to Jennie Gammon Westcott Kendall in 1889 and included the Westcott family homestead cemetery. Kendall formally dedicated the 1/4-acre Westcott family cemetery for community use in 1893. 

    Over time, Kendall sold land from her parcel to a small group of intermarried neighboring families, including the McDaniel, McDonald, Cours, Farmer, and Schuller families. All of the property around the cemetery was eventually sold, creating the current east, north, and south boundaries. John Farmer, who owned the land just west of the cemetery, retained a portion of that property for cemetery, establishing the current western boundary. The southern boundary is the north edge of McDaniel Street and south edge of an unpaved right-of-way, which includes the original cemetery boundary. 

    Farmer sold other land that he owned to raise money for the overall cemetery's upkeep. The cemetery became inactive in the 1960s but was maintained by volunteers until at least 2005. At some point thereafter, it fell into disrepair. Between 2013-2018, the neighborhood, under the leadership of Pastor David Smith with New Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church rallied to clean up the cemetery and keep it mowed.

     In 2018 Westcott Cemetery Association was formed by three descendant siblings. In 2021, working with Texas Historical Commission, these family cemeteries were named McDaniel Street Cemetery and designated a Historic Texas Cemetery. Westcott Cemetery Association is the legal conservator of the cemetery, responsible for the care and maintenance of the cemetery. 

Westcott Cemetery Association's vision is for our cemetery to be rehabilitated as a passive greenspace and to creatively engage the citizens in the Eastex/Jensen neighborhood so that the cemetery is a place of community pride, serenity, and learning.   

The historic character of the cemetery will be retained and preserved as a physical record of its time, place, and use. 

In keeping with the goals of the community and Super Neighborhood 46, WCA has a Vision Plan to guide the cemetery's restoration treatments.