Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, TX circa 2005

The picture shows Concordia Cemetery. It had its beginnings as a ranch settled by pioneer Hugh Stephenson and his wife. Between 1830 and 1840, the settlement came to be known as Concordia, after the Missouri town in which Stephenson was raised. In 1854, a chapel and cemetery were built at the ranch. Stephenson lost his land after the Civil War, but his son-in-law, Albert H. French, purchased the Concordia property at a federal marshal's sale in 1867. By the 1880s, various groups interested in establishing cemeteries were contacting the heirs. The city of El Paso bought its first part of the cemetery in 1882 as a burial ground for paupers. By the 1890s, sections had been purchased by different groups and were designated Jesuit, Catholic, Masonic, Jewish, Black, Chinese, military, city, county and other ethnic and social groups. Today, Concordia has about 65,000 individual graves. In the back, the so-called Spaghetti-Bowl, the intersection of different freeways, is visible.

Area: Central / Five Points

Source: Leo Miletich

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History