The Rice community was settled during the late 1860s and was named for William Marsh Rice, who donated land for the town's railroad station and later founded Rice University. In 1868, the citizens of the community were granted land for a cemetery by the trustees of the William M. Rice interests. Originally located about one and one-half miles south, the Rice Cemetery was removed to this site during the 1870s. The three original cemetery trustees, William D. Haynie, John A. Clopton, and Isaac B. Sessions, are buried in the oldest, or northern, section of the graveyard. That section also contains many burial sites that are marked only with small rock fragments or similar material. Rice Cemetery contains marked graves of numerous war veterans, including that of Joseph Calloway Bartlett, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. In addition, four participants in the Civil War, two Spanish-American War veterans, and numerous World War I and II veterans also are interred here. Tombstones reflect the high infant mortality rate of the 1880s and the early 20th-century flu epidemic. A good example of a pioneer graveyard, the Rice Cemetery is an important part of Navarro County's recorded history.