Matthew and Robert Shanks of Alabama settled here with their families in 1859. A small farming community developed, and in 1870 a school was built on a one-acre site donated by R. C. Murray. Land beside the schoolyard became a public burial ground, known as Shanks Cemetery after Shanks Post Office opened in 1896. The earliest recorded burial was Burgess A. Whatley (1854-1892). In 1893 G. W. Bell deeded another half acre east of the graveyard. The school building was torn down in 1917. Shanks Cemetery Association has maintained the site since 1935. (1977) (Historic Texas Cemetery medallion)