Historic Preservation


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Garvin Cemetery

4000 Block of West Northwest Highway



Garvin Cemetery, also known as Smith Hall, consists of two burial grounds. The oldest tract, established in 1874, was associated with the Garvin Family. James Garvin, a Civil War veteran, relocated from Missouri to Dallas after the war and bought property in what became known as the Smith Hall neighborhood. Several other veterans of the Civil War are buried here, along with members of the Garvin Family and members of the James Smith Masonic Lodge #395. 

The second tract, created in the early 1900s, was an African American cemtery that was established in 1894 when John Cochran, a Confederate Army veteran, donated the land to the black community for use as a burial ground. Little is known about those interred here or the exact locations of their graves, although it is thought to be associated with the early African American freedman's town of Elm Thicket and possibly Mathis Town, Meadows Town, and Farmers Branch. Based on oral history given by a decendant of the Elm Thicket freedman's town, members of the Green, Turner, and Shepards family is thought to be buried here. 

Ordinance #26727

Designations: Dallas Landmark (2005), State Hist​oric Marker Program​ ​(1980)

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