Learn the history of the Dallas Pressed Brick Company that opened its operations in 1904 west of downtown Mesquite. Owner Schuyler Marshall, Sr. donated several acres of the land to the African-Americans who worked at the brickyard for a school/church, homes and for a cemetery. This became one of the first thriving communities in Mesquite.
The City of Mesquite, Historic Mesquite, Inc. and the Mesquite Chapter of the NAACP began a long journey to piece the history of the Brickyard Cemetery back together. Neighbors to the Brickyard remembered tombstones of granite, concrete and wood dotting the sloping landscape of the site just south of the railroad. With the assistance of the Texas Historical Commission Archeology Division, an estimated 80 graves were located on the site. It was designated a State Historical Cemetery in 2002.
A Brickyard Cemetery Committee was created in 2005 to help plan and raise funding for a permanent memorial for the cemetery. Fundraising for a memorial monument was finalized in 2018. The Brickyard Cemetery Monument is dedicated to the legacy of the laborers and their families who made this area their home. On April 26, 2018, the first step in establishing a permanent memorial for the Brickyard Cemetery was completed with the encasement of artifacts found at the site. The artifacts were placed in a box and lowered into the base of the monument.