San Jose I Cemetery

A historic east Austin Cemetery with Texas state historic designation.

San Jose I Cemetery began modestly and eventually adjacent land was acquired allowing the cemetery to expand to it's present size. At one point, burial records were kept, but were lost in a fire. Through the years, upkeep was inconsistent and when maintenance was performed, modest markers were destroyed and therefore, lost. Some headstones were also damaged. Over its long history, community members buried their loved ones wherever they could, sometimes one grave contained two burials or burials were overlapping.

To this day, there are unmarked areas with no markers. This gives the appearance of empty areas, but this is misleading. San Jose was eventually filled to capacity.

Sometime in the late 40's, a separate parcel of land was acquired and deeded over to a newly formed trusteeship that resumed burials for Austin's Indigenous/Hispanic community. That Cemetery was initially named the Montopolis Cemetery. After going through several name variations, it is now known as the San Jose II Cemetery. It is about 3 miles away from the San Jose I Cemetery.