Center Grove

Center Grove is a small rural community on County Road 4340 about seven miles southeast of Mount Pleasant in southeastern Titus County. Settlers came to this area around the 1860s. Members of the David Yancey Sr. family migrated from Tennessee and were among the first pioneers to arrive. Local tradition tells the story of the death of the Yanceys' African-American cook, who was struck by lightning during the journey, and the family's efforts to care for her orphaned infant. The child died upon their arrival in Titus County, and Yancey buried the infant on his homestead land. This was the first grave in what became known as the Yancey Cemetery, and the graveyard became a landmark for a growing farming community. The Center Grove Church of Christ was established adjacent to the cemetery property, and by 1900 the name of the cemetery was changed to Center Grove Cemetery. The community was so named because the church and cemetery were situated in a grove of trees. The settlement also included the Yancey School, which operated under its own county school district. In the 1932–33 scholastic year, for example, the Yancey School (sometimes spelled Yancy) consisted of grades one through eight instructed by three teachers. By the 1960s it had consolidated with the Chapel Hill School District. In 1984 the cemetery received a Texas Historical Marker. Center Grove remained a small rural community, and in 2000 had a population of sixty-five.