Concordia Cemetery (El Paso, Texas)

Concordia Cemetery is a burial ground in El Paso, Texas. It is well known for the being the burial place of several gunslingers and old west lawmen. The first burial took place in 1856. There are between 60,000 and 65,000 graves in the cemetery. Concordia is the only place to have a Chinese cemetery in Texas.

Map and sign at Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas.

About
Homemade cross and gravestone at Concordia Cemetery, El Paso.

The main entrance to the cemetery is on Yandell Street, east of Piedras.[1] The cemetery is 52 acres in size.[2] Most of the Chinese burials in El Paso took place in Concordia[3] and it is the only place in Texas to have a Chinese cemetery.[4] The Chinese came to El Paso with the railroad as workers and chose to stay.[5] There is also an area set aside for Buffalo Soldiers,[3] Freemasons, Mormons[2] and Jewish burials.[6] There is also an "infant nursery" with unmarked graves for babies, many of whom died due to the 1918 influenza pandemic which hit El Paso in January 1919.[7] It is possible that remains that were once part of the larger area of the cemetery are still located under houses and other property in the surrounding neighborhoods.[8] In 2012, there were more than 60,000 graves at the cemetery.[9] Other reports state there are around 65,000 graves.[10]

In 2016 and 2017, it was rated the Best Historic Cemetery in the West by True West Magazine.[11][12] The cemetery is managed by the Concordia Heritage Association.[13] Special events at the cemetery include celebrations of Dia de los Muertos, ghost tours and meetings of the John Wesley Hardin Secret Society.[14] The ghost tours, given by Paso Del Norte Paranormal Society, were first started in order to help pay for maintenance of the cemetery.[15] Ghost Adventures featured the cemetery on an episode aired on October 29, 2016.[16]

History
The Grand Republic of the Army area, located in the veteran’s section of the graveyard, was decorated with flags to honor the veterans buried there.

The cemetery was once a ranch known as Rancho Concordia, and built by Hugh and Juana Stephenson in the 1840s.[17] Hugh Stephenson married the local Juana Maria Ascarate, and her family gave them the land where they built the ranch.[17] The ranch they built included a chapel and a cemetery.[17] Juana became the first person buried in that cemetery in 1856, after she was gored by a pet deer and died of an infection.[17] Also in 1859, a Catholic Church was built on the site called San José de Concordia el Alto.[18]

In 1882, the city of El Paso bought part of the ranch in order to bury the poor.[19] The different sections of the cemetery were purchased by diverse groups of people by the 1890s, including Jesuits, Catholics, Freemasons, Jewish people, African Americans, Chinese, military, the city and El Paso County.[5] Because of this, no one took responsibility for the upkeep of the cemetery as a whole.[5] In the 1960s, the cemetery was not in good shape and was owned by both private and public interests.[14] In 1990, the Concordia Heritage Association was formed to preserve and maintain the cemetery.[5] In 2012, the Ysleta Lions Club, the Five Points Lions Club and Martin Funeral Homes donated 250 desert willows to the cemetery and helped plant the trees.[20]

Notable burials
John Wesley Hardin's grave on Day of the Dead in 2013.

References
  1. Metz, Leon (17 October 2005). "Concordia can give you some grave pleasure". El Paso Times.
  2. Ulaby, Neda. "The Ghostly Grandeur Of A Desert Graveyard". NPR.org. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  3. Metz, Leon (13 October 2008). "Concordia Cemetery a great place to revisit history". El Paso Times.
  4. Crowder, David (30 January 2017). "Chinese workers helped build railroads, El Paso". El Paso Inc. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  5. Sepulveda, Rudy (2000). "Pioneer Ranch Became Concordia Cemetery". Borderlands. 19.
  6. Torok, George D. (2012). From the Pass to the Pueblos. p. 103. ISBN 9780865348967.
  7. Sharp, Jay W. "Concordia - A Desert Graveyard in El Paso, Texas - DesertUSA". DesertUSA. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  8. Pardo, Daniela (2016-10-31). "Experts say Concordia Cemetery pieces still in homes". ELPASOPROUD. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  9. Renteria, Ramon (1 July 2012). "Pictures of Concordia Cemetery: Group collects photos, stories for book on historic cemetery". El Paso Times.
  10. Espinoza, Lizette (26 April 2009). "Concordia Cemetery". Borderzine. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  11. "Best of the West 2016: Heritage Travel". True West Magazine. 2015-12-29. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  12. "True West's Best of the West 2017: Heritage Travel". True West Magazine. 2016-12-28. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  13. "True West's Ultimate Historic Travel Guide". True West Magazine. 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  14. Leperi, Karin (25 April 2013). "El Paso From Six Feet Under". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  15. Gallegos, Andres (18 October 2016). "Downtown's history as scary as the ghost tours". The Prospector. Retrieved 2017-06-23.
  16. Willis, Damien (13 January 2017). "'Ghost Adventures' Films at Area Haunted Landmarks". Las Cruces Sun-News. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  17. Joyce, Matt (September 2014). "Western Specters". Texas Highways. Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  18. McKee, Okla A. (12 June 2010). "El Paso, Catholic Diocese of". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  19. Treat, Wesley; Shade, Heather; Riggs, Rob (2005). Weird Texas: Your Travel Guide to Texas's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. New York: Sterling Publications. p. 258. ISBN 9781402766879.
  20. Ramirez, Cindy (15 March 2012). "250 Trees Donated to Concordia Cemetery". El Paso Times.
  21. Bracamontes, Aaron (25 May 2014). "Memorial Day: Concordia Cemetery to honor 176 buried veterans". El Paso Times.
  22. Kohut, Martin Donell (15 June 2010). "Orozco, Pascual, Jr". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  23. "The Outlaw Trail". True West Magazine. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
  24. Alexander, Bob (2013). Riding Lucifer's Line. Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press. p. 154. ISBN 9781574415131 – via Project MUSE.
  25. Sharp, Jay W. "Concordia Page Two - A Desert Graveyard in El Paso Texas". www.desertusa.com. Retrieved 2017-06-22.


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