El Granjeno Cemetery
Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
El Granjeno Cemetery was established in 1872 with the burial of Don Antonio Garza. His brother, Don Juan Garza Escheverria, donated the surrounding land for use by the communities of El Granjeno and nearby Madero. A native of Reynosa, Mexico, Don Juan (b. 1854) is buried here, along with many of his descendants. Also interred here are veterans of the Civil War, World War I and the Vietnam War. El Granjeno Cemetery has served families on both sides of the Rio Grande and is a reflection of the history of the area's small working villages. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
El Granjeno Cemetery began in 1872 with the burial of Don Antonio Garza, on land his brother Don Juan Garza Escheverria donated for the villages of El Granjeno and Madero. A native of Reynosa, Mexico, Don Juan lies here among many of his descendants, alongside veterans of the Civil War, World War I, and the Vietnam War. The graveyard has long served families on both banks of the Rio Grande.
Why it matters
The cemetery reflects the deeply intertwined life of the Rio Grande borderlands, where families, faith, and military service crossed the river as freely as the people did.
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Related people
- · Antonio Garza
- · Juan Garza Escheverria
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hidalgo City Cemetery
Hidalgo, TX
This graveyard on the lower Rio Grande dates from 1884, when its oldest surviving stone was raised. Expanded over the decades as the town of Hidalgo grew, it holds more than a thousand graves and veterans whose service ranges from the Texas Revolution to modern conflicts. Its handmade concrete blocks, wooden and wrought-iron crosses, and above-ground bovedas reflect the strong Mexican traditions of the border community.
La Lomita Farms
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In 1849 French priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate fanned out from Brownsville to minister across the lower Rio Grande Valley, and a Reynosa merchant named Rene Guyard gave them part of his Rancho La Lomita for a mission to serve his ranch hands. The first chapel rose here in 1865, and after Guyard's 1871 death the Oblates inherited the land, farming it to fund further missionary work. Though the farm proved a financial drain and most of it was sold in 1909, the little La Lomita Chapel gave its name to the nearby town of Mission.
Juan Davis Bradburn
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John Davis Bradburn was a Virginia-born, Kentucky-raised adventurer who entered Mexico in 1817 to fight for its independence from Spain, later becoming a naturalized citizen and marrying into a prominent family. As the Mexican commander at Anahuac in 1830–32, his clashes with Anglo colonists helped ignite the tensions that led toward the Texas Revolution. Promoted to general in 1832, he died a decade later and is said to be buried on a nearby hill.
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When Hidalgo County formed in 1852, the village here—first called Edinburgh—became county seat, linked to Reynosa, Mexico, by ferry. Renamed Hidalgo by 1861, the crossing gained regular ferry service in 1910 under Crisoforo Vela, first by rowboat and later by raft, until Joe Pate built a suspension bridge in 1926. Flood-battered spans came and went across the decades, giving way to modern concrete bridges in 1967 and 1988 that carry traffic between the two nations.