Tinker cemetery’s land-rush legacy

Published Sept. 24, 2009
By Howdy Stout
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- It is the site of a city never built and its only residents are the dead.

Few people passing in and out of the Tinker Gate realize that tucked in a nearby corner of the base behind a line of small hedges is the site of a multi-family cemetery, the only remnant of a religious community.

"A lot of people think it's a military cemetery at first glance," says Dr. James Crowder, OC-ALC historian. "But the only military members there are part of the families."

April 22, 1889, saw the largest single land rush in U.S. history as an estimated 50,000 people raced to claim more than two million acres of land in what was until then the Unassigned Lands. In the best traditions of the Old West, the land rush began at high noon and by sundown, several towns had been established, including Guthrie and Oklahoma City, each boasting more than 10,000 residents by the end of the day.

In the next few days and weeks, numerous cities and towns began to grow in the pre-surveyed townships. But Boone Township, where Tinker AFB now resides, was not one of them.

Every township consisted of 36 square miles and every one had lands set aside to support public education. In 1894 the St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, made up from the many German farm families in the area, leased two acres of the school lands for a church building and cemetery. An infant daughter of one of the local pioneers became the first interment.

The dreams of a town with wide streets, a school and even the church edifice failed to materialize, but the cemetery continued to serve its purpose. Headstones were slowly added and the descendants of those early settlers can still be found in the area. In 1916, the group finally purchased the land from the Oklahoma School Lands Commission for $40.

In 1941 the area south of Southeast 29th Street was selected for the Mid-West Air Depot with the installation opening in 1942. With the establishment of Midwest City to the north at the same time, growth and development knew no bounds.

But the two-acre cemetery remained a relatively low-key affair until the mid-1950s when the U.S. Air Force sought to expand Tinker west of Air Depot. With the help of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the Oklahoma Industries Foundation, a 640-acre section -- minus the two acres -- became part of Tinker AFB.

At the time, some suggested the cemetery be moved. But by law, the remains could not be transferred without the permission of the descendants.

"And that never happened," said Dr. Crowder. Accordingly, the Air Force agreed that the best solution was to allow family members access to the cemetery and the Air Force would provide the upkeep.

No written records of the agreement exist, Dr. Crowder says, because it wasn't needed in those days. The deal was sealed with a handshake.

"It was a gentlemen's agreement," he says. Since then a few graves have been added as family members chose to be laid next to their ancestors.

But the cemetery remained relatively unknown until a new OC-ALC vice commander suggested a permanent marker be placed at the cemetery to tell the story.

The historical marker ceremony was held on April 22, 2004, the 115th anniversary of the great land run. A pioneer quilt was used in the unveiling and it proved to be a moving ceremony for the families.

"There were about 40 or 50 family members there," recalls Dr. Crowder. "It came off beautifully. And to see their reaction made everything worth it."

Although security has changed significantly since Sept. 11, 2001, the families still have permission to visit the cemetery. And the Air Force still keeps its gentlemen's agreement, maintaining with care the cemetery of the church that was never built.

Tinker Cemetery