There are SEVEN cemeteries in this large rectangle bound by Broadway (Avenue J) on the north, Avenue L on the south, 40th Street on the east, and 43rd Street on the west. Avenue K runs through the middle.
North of Avenue K, from west to east: Evergreen (Cahill), Oleander, and Old City.
South of Avenue K, from west to east: Hebrew Benevolent Society, New City (Yellow Fever Yard), Old Catholic, and Trinity Episcopal.
Old Cahill/Yellow Fever Cemetery (1867) and New City Cemetery (1900) have concrete walks and curbs. The latter burial ground was used for victims of the 1900 Hurricane. An estimated 650 graves are in this section. (
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From the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form:
Old Cahill or Yellow Fever Cemetery (ca. 1867) and New City Cemetery (ca. 1900)
Archival records indicate that the Old Cahill Cemetery received burials as early as 1867. It appears the original cemetery was located on the western portion of Lot 101, adjacent to the Old Catholic Cemetery. Sexton records indicate New City Cemetery was established by 1900 and began as a burial ground to commemorate the victims of the 1900 hurricane. A 1925 map of the Old Cahill and New City cemeteries indicates the cemetery was created from a portion of 42nd Street that originally transected the complex. This map delineates existing conditions of the two cemeteries prior to the raising of the grade ca. 1925. Another map from October 1925 shows the division of the cemetery into Ranges 1-11 and Lots 1-7 on the east side, separated by a 5’- 0” walk. The enclosed portion of 42nd Street is divided into 36 plots with a central walk that widens from 4’- 0” at south end to 10’- 0” at north end. The overall dimensions of the New City Cemetery are 288’- 0” north to south and 184’- 0” east to west. Similar to the Episcopal and Old Catholic cemeteries, the New City Cemetery was expanded in 1928 to include a portion of Avenue K. Currently, approximately 650 interments are located within the New City Cemetery, with almost 90-percent of the burial sites dated within the period of significance from 1839 until 1964.
Prior to the establishment of the city cemetery, bodies were interred in the sand hills east of Center Street and south of Avenue N. Those dying during the yellow fever epidemic of 1839 were primarily interred at this informal burial ground. The Galveston City Company formally donated four city blocks for use as a cemetery in July 1840. At the time, this area was considered outside of the city limits and away from the majority of residential and commercial development. The city retained Blocks 160 and 161 and donated Blocks 100 and 101 to the Episcopal and Catholic churches. Small plots were platted by city authorities and sold to private individuals, with the majority of Block 161 designated for use as a pauper’s cemetery. Most of the bodies buried in the sand hills were exhumed and re-interred at the new city cemetery, although according to a newspaper article from the time, “a few were forgotten and for many years… some of them would be exposed to view by the action of the elements.
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867
Epidemics of yellow fever plagued inhabitants of Galveston Island from the time it was initially settled, with the first outbreak recorded in the summer of 1839. Each outbreak met with devastating results to the population – at least 10% of the population succumbed to the disease51. With another outbreak recorded in 1844, the newly formed city cemetery complex began to fill quickly. The disease spread again in 1858 but was noted as “not at epidemic proportions this year.52” It was originally believed that the disease was spread through contact or through microscopic particles transmitted through the air near cemeteries, garbage dumps, and stagnant ponds53. As a result, massive sanitary cleanups and the relocation of cemeteries to the outskirts of town were advocated. The last and most devastating yellow fever epidemics occurred in Galveston during the summer and fall of 1867. A newspaper article from 1867 brings attention to the alarm caused to the general public during these outbreaks:
Some of the citizens who live pretty far out towards the Cemetery, on Broadway, having counted the number of times the hearses have passed out, and finding this number (more) than the number of interments reported from the Sexton’s report in the city papers, have concluded that there is a suppression of intelligence on the part of the Sexton or the papers. Their mistake is in counting for interments the trip sometimes made by the hearses for the purpose of taking out the boxes which are to receive the coffins, counting the box and the coffin each, making two interments where there is only one. 54 During this outbreak, thousands became infected and a total of 725 persons died as a result of the disease.
As a result, a new section was added to the city cemetery complex specifically for yellow fever victims. This section, called the Old Cahill Yard or Yellow Fever Cemetery and located west of the Old Catholic Cemetery, was filled almost immediately with as many sites as were originally platted. Residents mourned the loss of so many persons within a short amount of time, “It is indeed melancholy to witness a large burying ground filled so suddenly with fresh made graves, all classes buried in rapid succession without distinction or any monuments, at present, to tell who ‘lies buried here.”