- - - - HISTORY OF GOWER MEMORIAL CEMETERY - - - -

OKLAHOMA COUNTY OK

The restoration of this peaceful well-kept cemetery is the result of a lot of hard labor, dedication and determination by Myrtle L. Gower Thompson and other families of the original owners who settled there in 1889. Ninety-one names were listed in a canvass of the cemetery in 1963. The cemetery covers approximately two acres and has a total of 509 gravesites. The cemetery contains about 330 occupied gravesites of early settlers and veterans of the Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The cemetery is currently active and has a perpetual care trust.

Clean up and planting of sod, as well as restoration of the stones to their original places began in 1987. Some think it is an all black cemetery; however, Myrtle's father, Willie T. Gower, Sr., who worked for a local funeral parlor in 1930, set aside one area where he buried indigents of all races in multiple graves. A large monument honoring indigent and unknown persons is located in the cemetery. The design is symbolic of the spirituality, pride, resilience, and self-determination of the cemetery's founders, John Gower and his wife, Ophelia. John and Ophelia made the land run to Oklahoma with a family of six. They filed an Application for Homestead at the Guthrie Land Office for 160 acres in the Edmond area September 19, 1889.

Shortly thereafter, because of restrictions in white cemeteries for burials of blacks, John and Ophelia set aside a portion of their land for burial of all people. The burial ground was named "Gower Cemetery" and since renamed "Gower Memorial Cemetery". Final Homestead certification was issued April 12, 1895. The cemetery is on the National Register of Historical Places and has received an Award of Recognition as an official project of the Centennial of the Run of 1889. The four large beautiful monuments have been erected to help tell the story of the cemetery.

{Information obtained from OK County Cemetery Index - compiled by OK County HCE Genealogy Group, page 38.}