Campo Santo Viejo
Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Planned as all of block 144 of the original townsite in 1848 and active by 1852, Campo Santo Viejo was the first official cemetery in Brownsville. The city abandoned the site in 1864, but burials continued into the 1870s. The property was redeveloped for residential and commercial uses, and in time, Campo Santo Viejo faded from memory, with no visible headstones or graves. Cameron County acquired portions of the site, and in 2004, human remains were discovered. Archeologists documented organized rows of interments in formal 19th century fashion, with dozens of undisturbed graves and evidence of moved burials. Now dedicated as a memorial park, this State Archeological Landmark remains a significant chronicle of Brownsville’s beginnings.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Laid out as an entire block of the original 1848 Brownsville townsite and active by 1852, Campo Santo Viejo was the border city's first official cemetery. The city abandoned it in 1864, later burials trailed off in the 1870s, and the site was built over until its very existence faded from memory. Only in 2004, when human remains surfaced during county work, did archeologists rediscover its neat nineteenth-century rows and dozens of undisturbed graves, leading to its dedication as a memorial park and State Archeological Landmark.
Why it matters
The rediscovered cemetery is a tangible chronicle of Brownsville's founding generation on the newly drawn U.S.-Mexico border, recovered from beneath a modern city.
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Related events
- · Rediscovery of human remains, 2004
Themes & tags
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