Calvary Cemetery was established here following
the land's purchase in 1878 by the Bishop of Galveston, whose
Diocese stretched all the way to North Texas at the time.
Perhaps the first Catholic settler in Dallas, French immigrant
carriage maker Maxime Guillot had settled in the tiny village on
the Trinity River in 1852. Guillot's home at Elm and Houston
Streets was the site of the early Catholic masses Held in the area.
Father Sebastian Augagneur came here twice a year from Nacogdoches
to minister to the Guillot family and the mostly French and Belgian
La Reunion colonists. Burials occurred in the La Reunion (also
known as Fishtrap) Cemetery in West Dallas.
Missionary priest continued to visit Dallas until 1872, when the
Reverend Marthelin Perrier was sent to establish the first parish,
coming by wagon (he was described as being too obese to ride
horseback) from San Angelo. Masses in the early years were held at
the Odd Fellows Hall on Austin Street. In 1874, Father Joseph
Martiniere was in charge of the new Sacred Heart Parish. The first
Sacred Heart was built in 1873 on the block that would later be the
site of the downtown Post Office.
In 1878, Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis purchased the land from Jacob
and Katie Wagner, near the Trinity (now Greenwood) Cemetery,
established by William Gaston four years earlier. Written burial
records have been lost, but the earliest dated headstone remaining
is that of carpenter P.T. Clark, proprietor of the Railroad Planing
Mill who died on April 22, 1877, suggesting that the cemetery was
in use prior to it's purchase from the Wagners.
In 1926, the Diocese bought land adjacent to a family cemetery
north of Love Field Airport and established Calvary Hill Cemetery
there. The city's expansion and establishment of additional
Catholic cemeteries meant that few burials occurred here at "Old
Calvary Cemetery" after about 1945.
Many families chose to move graves of relatives to the newer
cemeteries, but visitors will find markers remaining in Old Calvary
Cemetery that celebrate some of the people buried here who
contributed to the rich history and life of Dallas.
Drive around and check out some of the other markers here dealing
with civic leaders, immigrants and the "Religious Circle".