Cemeterio Lindo - Phoenix, Arizona
N 33° 25.825 W 112° 05.481
12S E 398546 N 3699537
An old and nearly forgotten cemetery from the early days of Arizona is part of an historical project.
Waymark Code: WMBP2Z
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 06/07/2011
Views: 8
Cemeterio Lindo began as a paupers graveyard in 1890. By the time it closed in 1951, more than seven thousand early Phoenix residents were buried here, in the first Maricopa County Cemetery. I would never have guessed it was that many. The cemetery was renamed Cemeterio Lindo in 1961.
The cemetery was given a facelift in 1967 of trees and grass. The irrigation system for it eventually failed and after the mid 1990s, the trees died. Runoff from the adjacent freeway buried some of the headstones under several inches of mud.
The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department is working to improve conditions at Cementerio Lindo. Fire destroyed cemetery records. A local cemetery historical group, Pioneers' Cemetery Association, is working to reconstruct the list of persons buried here.
The cemetery looks quite barren as most of the graves have disappeared or been buried under silt. A nearby house has a few headstones in their yard. There are probably many more tombstones from here that have found new life elsewhere as decorations. The turn-around in the cemetery drives right over graves. One can see numerous tire tracks straddling flat tombstones. I have included photos of this.
(Some information about Cemeterio Lindo is from Pioneers' Cemetery Association website at
this link.)