Dating from 1907, Mount Olivet Cemetery occupies what was originally the old Daggett homestead owned by Charles B. Daggett, one of the earliest settlers in the City of Fort Worth. Charles Daggett fought in the Mexican War with his son E.M. “Bud” Daggett. The first Daggett home at this site was a log cabin which occupied the site of the cemetery sexton’s house. The Daggett family was impor-tant in developing Fort Worth’s cattle industry. John P. Daggett, born in 1855 on the Daggett homestead, was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery -‘m 1919. Another individual of historic note buried at Mount Olivet was B.B. Paddock, President of the Forth Worth and Rio Grande Railway and Mayor of Fort Worth for eight years com-mencing in 1892. Paddock also organized the first water works system for Fort Worth. William Pinkney McLean was also buried at Mount Olivet. McLean was a prominent lawyer during the nineteenth century; he served in the Texas legislature, the U.S. Congress and in 1875 was elected to the Texas Constitutional Convention. He was also a judge with the Fifth Judicial District.
EG. and Johnnie McPeak dedicated the 130 acre farm to be Mount Olivet Cemetery. The McPeaks also created an endowment care trust to receive deposits from pur-chasers of cemetery plots. The income from the trust was used exclusively for the maintenance of the cemetery. Mount Olivet was the first endowment cemetery in the Fort Worth area. In 1917, Mount Olivet was purchased by William John Bailey, a prominent Fort Worth attorney who had served in the Texas State Senate. Mr. Bailey had extensive real estate holdings in Fort Worth that included the 196 acre Greenwood Cemetery. William’s son, John T Bailey, manages both cemeteries today.
Mount Olivet’s wooded grounds include several fine stone masonry funerary monuments. Local stone mason Eugene Sergi built the cemetery entrance gates in 1953; he was also responsible for numerous benches and meditation areas throughout the cemetery. Additional stone work, including the stone wall at the entrance com-pleted in 1980, was executed by Carruthers Stone Co. and Joe Dilwaide. The cemetery has a picturesque plan of curving streets and cul de sacs which create thirty separate lawn areas. A large lake and the main reception building are near the corner of N. Sylvania Avenue and NE. 28th Street. The original cemetery office (now the advance planning office) is extant off Watauga Road. Faced in brown brick, this small Mission Revival building has a glazed green tile roof. The recently constructed crematorium near N. Sylvania Avenue and Watauga Road shows the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright’s late work in its ornamental concrete block exterior.