Texas Historical Marker #04862
Site of Old Taylor School. Founded 1883, named for Henry Taylor. He, Gid Thompson and other early settlers gave land and founded school. First trustees were D. Harper, H. Kennedy, H. Taylor. In the first one-room frame building, desks and recitation benches were home made. After it burned, two more were built before consolidation with Utopia, 1937. Miss Sue Harper, Frank Robinson, and "Miss Mattie" Noel listed among outstanding teachers. This was community center; weekly Literary Society, Sunday school, church met here. This marker given by and in memory of former pupils. (1967) #4862
?, Utopia vicinity, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #02843
Jones Cemetery. In 1879, the Rev. Irvin Jones (1825-1903) deeded two acres of land on his homestead to the Utopia Methodist Church for use as a cemetery. His wife, Elizabeth, had been buried in the center of the two-acre site upon her death in 1886. Early settlers of the Taylor and Utopia communities are buried in the Jones Cemetery, as are several Civil War veterans. Others interred here include Mexican War veteran and Texas Ranger Ben Highsmith and the Rev. O.A. Fisher, an early area Methodist minister. George Barker, a teacher credited with giving "Utopia" its name, is also buried here. (1985) #2843
?, Utopia vicinity, TX, United States