Guadalupe Cemetery
Pharr, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cemetery, named for Mexico's patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe, was established in 1913 as a public burial ground for residents of the Pharr community. The Pharr townsite was laid out in 1909, and though ranch graveyards existed south of here, they were unavailable to newcomers. The earliest interment here, of Roberto de Leal, an infant, dates to 1913. Other burials include civic leaders, area pioneers and military veterans. The burial ground features religious statuary, curbing and interior fencing. The City of Pharr is the caretaker of the cemetery, and in 2003 joined volunteers of the Texas Main Street Program for a project to improve the burial ground. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2007
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the brand-new townsite of Pharr rose in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, its residents established Guadalupe Cemetery in 1913, naming it for Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. Older ranch graveyards to the south were closed to newcomers, so this public burial ground served the growing community, receiving its first interment—an infant, Roberto de Leal—that same year. Civic leaders, area pioneers, and veterans rest among its religious statuary and interior fencing, and the city partnered with volunteers in 2003 to restore it.
Why it matters
The cemetery reflects the deeply Mexican Catholic heritage of the borderland communities that grew along the railroad in early twentieth-century South Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
La Trinidad United Methodist Church of Pharr
Pharr, TX
Organized in 1913 after a group of Spanish-speaking residents sought their own place of worship, this was the first congregation to minister to Pharr's Spanish-speaking Protestants and the second-oldest church in the city. Its early names—"The Mexican Methodist Church" and later "North Pharr Latin American Methodist Church"—trace shifting language about the Mexican-American community it served before it became La Trinidad in 1970. New sanctuaries in 1959 and 1995 marked its steady growth.
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
San Juan, TX
A chapel built in 1925 for San Juan's Hispanic community grew into a parish in 1949 after its first pastor installed a statue of the Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos, drawing pilgrims to the site. A tragic 1970 plane crash and fire destroyed the church-shrine, though the statue and bell tower survived; a new shrine-basilica was dedicated in 1980 and a rebuilt parish church rose beside the bell tower in 1975. The site became one of South Texas's most important centers of Catholic devotion.
Percy Herman House
McAllen, TX
Built in 1933 for merchant Percy Herman, one of McAllen's most influential early businessmen, this Spanish Eclectic home reflects both his success and the growing Jewish community of South Texas. Born in Iowa, Herman opened stores across the region before settling in McAllen in 1916 to run the Valley Mercantile store. He hired well-traveled architect Edwin W. Byers to design the house, whose stucco walls, clay-tile roof, and wrought-iron details grace a prominent corner lot.
D. Guerra & Sons Store
McAllen, TX
Brothers Enrique and Modesto Guerra opened a grocery in the brand-new town of McAllen in 1908, joined two years later by their father Diódoro to form D. Guerra and Sons. The family moved the business into this handsome brick and concrete building in 1912, where it operated until 1964. Its distinctive façade—recessed doorway, concrete brackets, and a molded-brick cornice with starburst and garland designs—still records the firm's name and construction date.