Levita Cemetery, Levita, Texas

This cemetery is located on the south edge of Levita, in Coryell County, Texas. The signage is located over the gate and there are several flagpoles on the grounds. The cemetery is located beside the Levita Bible Fellowship Church building/food pantry. The property is fenced in chain link fencing and has several entrance gates. Mature trees and curbing may be found among the headstones. Two antique fences surround burial plots. There is one crypt which is covered in large stone boulders. A lovely quote on a headstone was “ ‘Tis but the caskets that lie here. The Gems that filled them Sparkle Still”. Parking is limited in the front but on the south side is a large area available for use. In 2018 there are 468 burials in the Levita Cemetery.

Levita is ten miles northwest of Gatesville in Coryell County. The town was started when Mont Simpson donated land for public buildings. The Levita post office opened in 1886, and the town had a population of seventy-five and three businesses in 1890; by 1914 the population was reported as 100. In 1909 the community was said to be the greatest buyer of produce in the county after Gatesville and Copperas Cove. The railroad reached Levita in 1911. The community had a large rural school, two churches, a Woodmen of the World lodge, a large flour mill, a gristmill, an up-to-date gin, a barbershop, several doctors, a justice of the peace, a constable, a number of stores, a blacksmith shop, and the railroad. Once a month Court was conducted . An early school building was a two-storied wooden structure with stairs to the second floor on the outside of the building. The younger students were downstairs, where there was a stage for plays. The older students attended classes upstairs. Later a rock schoolhouse was built. The town began to decline when better transportation made it easier for residents to shop in Gatesville; then a fire almost destroyed Levita in 1932. The railroad stopped local service in 1941. Around that time a store was still in operation, a new post office was built, and there were two or three gas stations. Levita reported a population of 200 throughout most of the 1930s and 1940s. The school operated into the 1950s, but eventually the children were bused to another community. The population of Levita had declined to seventy by the late 1980s. The community still reported seventy residents in 2000.