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Living memorials honor late Elgin historians
The Elgin Oral History Project (EOHP) partnered with the city last month to honor two of the community’s most influential historians with a special memorial ceremony.
Dozens gathered Oct. 11 at Veterans Memorial Park to remember T. Berry and Sydna Arbuckle, who died last year. They were recognized for their years of service preserving Elgin’s history and their contributions to shaping the community’s understanding of its own past.
“The lessons they left behind for the Elgin Oral History Project are the importance of preserving history and the importance of using storytelling as a tool,” EOHP member Deborah Cartwright said.
Two crepe myrtle trees were planted alongside plaques bearing each historian’s name as part of the service. The plantings were chosen as both a literal and symbolic connection between the late Elginites and the city they loved, according to Cartwright.
“The crepe myrtles symbolize the broad roots that people in the community have,” she said. “They have a widespread root system that blooms all through the summer and displays the vitality and beauty of our community.”
Exemplifying the significance of hometown recordkeeping, crepe myrtles can be traced locally to 1945, when city leaders planted 1,600 of the trees across Elgin in a beautification effort to make the city the “crepe myrtle capital of Texas.”
Many of those original trees still stand today in Veterans Memorial Park.
“I think it’s a wonderful representation of what Elgin offers as far as cultural roots, beauty and growth,” Cartwright said.
Founded in 2021, EOHP members chronicle the city’s past through writing, research and storytelling. Arbuckle and Berry were instrumental in shaping the organization, according to members.
Cartwright said the project remains focused on preserving not only Elgin’s past but also its living history. A new feature on the EOHP website includes a video about the farmers market, part of a larger effort to document community life today.
“We believe that history is not only information about things past, but history is something that is in the making at all times,” she said. “We want to capture interviews of people talking about the present.”
The city has supported EOHP through grants and collaboration, including promotion of the “Milestones: Elgin, Texas History” book publication.
