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Kit
Cemetery
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Now included as
part of Irving, Kit was originally
named Gorbett (sometimes spelled Gorbit). The namesake
was early resident John B. Gorbett. Somewhere in forgotten trunks
on faded yellow envelopes there are Gorbett, Texas postmarks, for
that community had its own post office from 1889 to 1894.
When the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway was laying tracks across
Dallas County in
the 1880s, investors from Gorbett platted a separate town alongside
the proposed route. They may have been long on investment strategy
but they were woefully short on imagination, naming the new community
Gorbett as well. Postal authorities frown on such things and if the
new community was to have a separate post office, it needed a separate
name. Kit became the name of the new post office in 1894 although
it only stayed in business for 10 years. There is no information available
as to the source of the new name.
The railroad bypassed Kit and in 1903 several of the fledgling businesses
moved to be alongside of the tracks at the site of Irving.
The site of Kit eventually became a highway intersection and only
the cemetery remains as proof of its existence. |
Historical Marker:
Island between Hwy 356 (E Irving Blvd), S. Irving Heights Dr and E
6th St
Kit Community
Virginia natives
John W. and Jestine Gorbit had a farm in this area by 1850. A settlement
known as Gorbit grew up around it and became a stop on a pre-Civil
War postal route. In 1855, Jonathan Story moved here from Illinois
with his wife and 13 children. Story's son, Isaac "Ike," who later
returned to Illinois for several years, settled in Gorbit with his
wife and children in 1873. He opened a store and in 1889 established
a post office; his second wife, Mary Elizabeth, was the first postmaster.
Because of confusion with a similarly named town, the Gorbit post
office and settlement were renamed Kit in 1894.
Residents established Kit Cemetery in 1896 near Ike Story's store.
Early area schools included one that began in the late 1850s, with
Hezekiah Lucas as teacher. Mark Callister Lively opened a school in
1890. Lively School served the Kit Community and functioned as the
worship space for the area's first Catholic and Church of Christ congregations.
Kit residents established Kit School in 1902.
The Town of Irving was founded in 1903
west of the community, along the tracks of the Rock Island Railroad.
Some of Kit's businesses and churches moved to the new townsite. The
post office moved to Irving in 1904. Irving residents petitioned the
legislature for a school district in 1909, and the Kit and Lively
schools became the Irving Independent School District. Kit maintained
its own identity for several more years, but by the 1940s, its once
agricultural character had vanished into the growing City of Irving
and the Dallas-Fort
Worth metropolitan area.
Today in Kit Cemetery, which is adjacent to Oak Grove Cemetery, are
found the names of pioneer amilies - Story, Smith, Cox and many others
- who contributed to the growth and development of Irving.
(2005) |
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Angel
among tombstones
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Historical Marker:
1415 Irving Blvd.
Old Kit Cemetery
Settlers came to
this area near the Elm and west forks of the Trinity River in the
mid-1800s. Isaac Henry “Ike” Story built a grocery store in what became
the community of Gorbit (also known by similar spellings).
Ike Story was the postmaster for “Gorbet” from 1888 until 1894, when
the name was changed to Kit; Ike remained postmaster. In 1904, the
Kit post office closed and moved to Irving.
Ike Story is among the pioneers buried at Old Kit Cemetery.
This community burial ground began in 1896, when a family passing
through stopped to care for their sick child. When the child died,
they asked landowner David Chadwell Britain if they could bury their
child in the grove of trees where they had camped. Britain donated
land for a community cemetery. The child’s gravesite and the name
of the family are now unknown. Britain also deeded one acre adjoining
the cemetery to New Providence Baptist Church, stipulating that the
land was to be used continuously for church purposes. Several congregations
have occupied the site.
Early in the cemetery’s development, members of Kit and surrounding
communities chose their own plots, stepping off plots rather than
making precise measurements. Many early settlers are interred here,
including Aunt Kit King, attributed by some sources to be the namesake
for the Kit community. Many veterans with service dating from the
Civil War to present are buried here, as well as early French, German
and Belgian settlers.
Old Kit Cemetery, Inc., formed in 1947 and incorporated in 1949, continues
to care for the cemetery. Burials are now restricted to direct descendants
of early settlers. The cemetery continues as a final resting place
and a chronicle of a rural community now incorporated into Irving.
2010 |
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Tombstone
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Porcelain
Portrait
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Tombstone
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Kit Cemetery Historical Marker
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
Irving Texas Centennial
Old Kit Cemetery Historical Marker
Photo courtesy David Cole, 2010 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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