Cementerio Mexicano de Maria de la Luz
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Tradition holds that a family passing through the area in 1912 buried a child, Maria de la Luz, at this site. In August of that year, A. Donley, A.C. Rodriguez and S. Galvan bought the land for use as a Mexican cemetery. In the 1940s, a fire set to eliminate tall grass at the site burned many of the wooden markers and crosses denoting gravesites. Additional markers were lost during adjacent development in the 1970s, and the city of Austin eventually grew around the once rural property. Today, the burial ground is a link to the history of the area's Hispanic community and to those buried here. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Tradition holds that in 1912 a traveling family buried a child, María de la Luz, on this ground, and later that year three men purchased the land for use as a Mexican cemetery. A grass fire in the 1940s destroyed many of its wooden crosses and markers, and further graves were lost to development in the 1970s as Austin grew out to surround the once-rural site. What remains is a quiet link to the area's Hispanic community.
Why it matters
The cemetery testifies to the presence and endurance of central Texas's Mexican American community, whose history is too often erased by fire, development, and neglect.
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