Santo East Cemetery
Santo, Palo Pinto County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The town of Calgando was established in the 1870s near this site on Sunday Creek. Soon after, land was donated for this cemetery. The oldest marked grave bears the date 1875, though older unmarked graves exist, according to local tradition. By 1880 Calgando was a local trade center, but when the new Texas & Pacific Railroad line passed one mile west that year, the town of Santo was established and Calgando businesses moved there. The cemetery remained, later called "Santo East." Many gravestones document an influenza epidemic in 1918. (1986)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The town of Calgando sprang up along Sunday Creek in the 1870s, and this cemetery—its oldest marked grave dated 1875—served the growing trade center. When the Texas & Pacific Railroad laid its line a mile west in 1880, Calgando's businesses picked up and moved to the new town of Santo, leaving the burial ground behind as 'Santo East.' Many of its headstones record the toll of the 1918 influenza epidemic.
Why it matters
A town that followed the railroad and left only its cemetery behind captures how the rails redrew the map of frontier Texas almost overnight.
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Related events
- · 1918 influenza epidemic
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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