This site once overlooked the plantation home of Richard B. Hubbard (1800-1864) and his wife Serena Carter, who came here from Georgia in 1854. They operated a prosperous 720-acre plantation with 44 slaves. Their son Richard Bennett Hubbard (1832-1901), later a governor of Texas, had graduated from Harvard Law School and set up his practice in Tyler. While young Hubbard served with the Confederate army during the Civil War, his wife and children moved to the plantation. His twin daughters Mattie and Hattie died in 1863 and were buried on this hill. Also interred here are Hubbard's father, his infant daughter Claudia and his wife Eliza (d.1868). The last interment was his nine-year-old son Bennie in 1877. Slave burials are marked with ironstone in this family plot.

Hubbard served as lieutenant governor, 1874-1876, and governor, 1876-1879. He was a railroad promoter and a leader in the state and national Democratic Party. President Grover Cleveland appointed him United States Minister to Japan. During his service there, 1885-1890, his second wife Janie Roberts died of cholera. She and Hubbard, along with other members of the family, are buried in Tyler's Oakwood Cemetery.

Born on a farm near Garner (4 miles north) Jack L. Knight enlisted in the Texas National Guard in 1940. Mobilized for service during World War II, his unit was posted to Southeast Asia to help open the Burma Road between India and China. During one of the last battles in that region, Knight was killed while leading an attack on a Japanese position. Four months later, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the only one awarded for the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. In 1949 he was buried in this cemetery named for his great-grandfather.

Born on an Ellis County farm, Jack Lummus attended school at Alma and Ennis, and Baylor University on an athletics scholarship. He played minor league baseball in Texas and football for the New York Giants. He joined the U.S. Marines in 1942 and on February 19, 1945, landed with the Fifth Marine Division in the first wave of assault troops on Iwo Jima. On March 8, after fighting without respite for two days and nights, Lummus and his rifle platoon slowly advanced toward a complex of pillboxes before being halted by Japanese forces. Despite injuries from two grenade explosions, Lummus single-handedly destroyed three enemy emplacements before stepping on a land mine, sustaining fatal wounds. His Congressional Medal of Honor celebrates his "conspicuous gallantry and tenacious perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds."

Completed in 1915 for Thomas (d.1935) and Annie James, this home was purchased four years later by Kanetaro Fujita. Fujita served as president of a Japanese cotton exporting firm, the Gosho Company, incorporated in 1917 and dissolved just after the U.S. entry into World War II. In 1936, after Fujita returned to Japan, he sold the home to the company. Prominent features of the James-Fujita house include its gambrel roof and front porch columns and balusters.

Born in Cuero, Leonard Roy Harmon enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Houston in June 1939. After training in Norfolk, Virginia, he reported for duty on the cruiser "U.S.S. San Francisco" and advanced to mess attendant first class.

During the World War II Battle of Guadalcanal, on November 12, 1942, a Japanese plane crashed into the radar and fire control station of the "San Francisco," causing 50 casualties. The following day, November 13, as the naval battle continued, several officers on the bridge were struck by enemy gunfire. Harmon rushed to help evacuate the wounded to a dressing station. He was killed as he shielded an injured shipmate from gunfire. For this act of extraordinary heroism, he was awarded the Navy Cross.

On May 21, 1943, Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, announced the naming of a Navy vessel in Harmon's honor. The first U.S. warship named for a black man, the destroyer escort "U.S.S. Harmon" was christened by Mrs. Naunita Harmon Carroll, Harmon's mother, and launched on July 25, 1943. The vessel received three battle stars for service in the Pacific during World War II. In 1975, as a further memorial, the bachelor enlisted quarters at the U.S. Naval Air Station, North Island, California, was named Harmon Hall.

To the memory of those honored members of the Lost Battalion, native sons, members of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division. On March 3, 1942, these gallant men were taken prisoner by the Japanese on Java, held captive for three and one half years. The living members were released September 2, 1945. To these valiant men living and dead we offer our humble gratitude, August 1951.

Originator of Tank Destroyer Corps; "Father of Fort Hood." Brilliant battlefield leader and educator. Born in St. Louis, Mo.; graduated 1916 from Texas A. and M.; in 1917, began 37 years of active military duty. In France with 2nd Infantry Division, World War I, attained (at 24) temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Served in German occupation, 1919. In 1920s-30s, taught and wrote texts in military science and tactics; and served with 33rd Infantry Division, Panama Canal Zone. When assigned to start Tank Destroyer Center, he situated it at Killeen, Feb. 1942, because of terrain and climate, naming the camp (now a fort) for Gen. John Bell Hood (1831-79), "Whose enemies never saw his back." Made a Major General, Sept. 9, 1942, Bruce commanded 77th Infantry Division in World War II battles of Guam, Leyte, Kerama Rotto, Ie Shima, and Okinawa. As in World War I, he won many decorations, including two awards of the Distinguished Service Cross. He was Governor of Hokkaido, Japan, 1945-46; Deputy Commander, 4th Army, 1947-51; Commandant of Armed Forces Staff College from 1951 until his retirement in 1954.

In distinguished civilian career, served University of Houston as president, 1954-56; chancellor, 1956-61. He and wife Roberta (Kennedy) had three children.

Battery F, 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division, Texas National Guard mobilized here November 1940, for active duty. Sailed from San Francisco, November 1941, was at sea when Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Went to defend Java where unit was captured March 1942. Prisoners in many parts of Asia for three and one-half years. Performed forced labor for Japanese, suffering untold hardships and starvation. 8 of original 63 died. Most deaths occurred building Burma-Siam Railway. Survivors returned after Japanese surrender.

Originally called Lollar's Cemetery and later City Cemetery, this burial ground was located on land purchased by John Lollar in 1846. Five acres were reserved for cemetery use when Lollar sold his land to John Madison Patterson in 1849. Burials began in the 1840s, but many early gravestones have been lost. The oldest marked grave is that of four-year-old P.M. Scott, who died in 1852. The graves of numerous Confederate soldiers, who died in the Civil War (1861-1865), are situated in a raised section east of Central Drive. In another separate portion is the Jewish Beth-el Cemetery, where the oldest grave is that of 19-year-old Rachel Wolinsky, who died in 1884.

In 1903, additional land was acquired and the cemetery renamed Oakwood. City officials hired William A. Woldert (1885-1937) to map the grounds, locate old graves, and lay out more walkways. Further improvements were made by WPA labor in the 1930s, when Oakwood was again enlarged. By the 1970s, the burial ground contained 19.5 acres with over 2,000 marked graves.

Many of Tyler's most prominent citizens are buried here, including Judge Stockton P. Donley (1821-1871), Texas Supreme Court Justice; and Governor Richard B. Hubbard (1832-1901), who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan.

Plans began in early 1941 for a U.S. Army Air Corps installation to be located in Grayson County. This 1,160-acre site was acquired in June, and Air Corps personnel began arriving in August. The base was to serve as a basic flight training facility. During its construction, the U.S. was drawn into World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. The first class of flight students, which arrived on December 16, graduated in February 1942 in ceremonies which included the dedication of the base in memory of Lt. Col. Elmer D. Perrin, a Texas test pilot killed in the line of duty in 1941. Pilots trained here served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Their airplanes ranged from basic trainers of the 1940s to jets of the 1960s and 1970s.

The presence of the air base became important in the life of Grayson County, creating jobs and boosting the local economy. Following the death in 1961 of Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, many dignitaries, including the President and Vice President, arrived here and were transported by base personnel to the funeral in nearby Fannin County.

Partly because of increased air traffic in the area, Perrin Air Force Base was closed in 1971.