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PRESENT SITE
The present
Old Bayview Cemetery in
Corpus Christi, Texas, comprises approximately three and a half acres
bounded by West Broadway St., Waco St., Ramirez St., and the I-37 access
road. It is owned and managed by the City of Corpus Christi. The cemetery
has been designated a Historic Cultural Landmark by the City of Corpus
Christi, a Historic Texas Cemetery and a State Archeological Landmark by the
Texas Historical Commission. The documentation of the cemetery has been a
project of members of the Nueces County Historical Commission using
standards provided by the THC’s Historic Cemetery Preservation program. The
web site was established by the Corpus Christi Public Libraries to provide
additional documentation and information about those interred there and
their roles in the early development of the city. The web site has over
1.500 pages of primary source material including photos, obituaries,
documents, newspaper articles, and journals. The effort of volunteers,
principally Rosa Gonzales, Geraldine McGloin and Msgr. Michael A, Howell,
and the library has produced a significant site, making local history easily
accessible to the general public.
MILITARY BURIALS
Old Bayview was laid out by the U. S. Army Engineers during
the encampment of Brig. General Zachary Taylor just prior to the American
War with Mexico.
Col. H. L. Kinney provided the land, and Lt. Col. Ethan Allan Hitchcock
chose the location. Although soldiers who died of disease or natural causes
were interred in the cemetery, the best known burial of that period was of
at least seven soldiers who died as a result of the explosion of the
steamship Dayton in September, 1845.
COMMUNITY BURIALS
Subsequent to 1846, the cemetery became a community burial
ground, but any burial records prior to 1896 have been lost. The witness to
those burials are found in the gravestones of the site and the obituaries
from extant newspapers. The Bayview Cemetery Association kept records of
burials in both the Old and New Bayview Cemeteries between 1896 to 1913. For
many years it has been known that the records were incomplete but recent
research has uncovered numerous individuals who most probably are buried in
the cemetery. That information will be added to the Ward and Noel database
to help complete the record.
NEW
CEMETERIES
With the establishment of Rose Hill, a privately owned
cemetery with perpetual care, many bodies and tombstones were transferred to
that new cemetery between 1914 and 1916. Others were transferred to New
Bayview. Still others were transferred out of town to be buried with
relatives who died in the 1900s.
EARLY SETTLERS REFLECT DIVERSITY
Nevertheless, the
Old Bayview Cemetery
contains the remains of many early settlers of
Corpus Christi
and mirrors the rich diversity of the population, with the exception of
Catholics, primarily buried in Holy Cross Cemetery which was established in
1866, and the Jewish citizens, primarily buried in Hebrew Rest Cemetery
which was established in 1875. Individuals interred in the cemetery came
from at least 14 different countries and 26 different states of America.
They spoke at least five different languages and served in the development
of the agricultural, commercial, educational, social, and religious life of
the community. Many of those in Bayview served the community as mayors,
postmasters, alderman, sheriffs, and soldiers. There are veterans of six
wars there. Many are victims of yellow fever and other epidemics, tropical
storms, and bandit raids. Some are murder victims, other died at their own
hands because of the stresses of those days. Some were young children taken
by diphtheria and small pox; others are elders who yielded to the burden of
years.
AFRICAN AMERICANS
There are a large number of African Americans interred in
the cemetery. A number of these are former slaves now buried within a short
distance from former slave owners. The earliest know burials are from 1845,
and the latest burial is believed to be from the 1980s.
MONUMENTS
Though much has been lost, stolen or destroyed, the site
still contains a number of interesting tombstones and artifacts. There are
fine examples of Victorian grave adornment: marble and granite tombstones
and obelisks, iron fences, and concrete curbing popular in the 1870’s.
Several monuments are by noted sculptor, Frank Tiech.
RESTORATION PLANS
In 2002 the City of
Corpus Christi
appropriated funds for the development of a master plan for the restoration
and preservation of the cemetery. It is hoped that with the renewed
interest in Old Bayview it will be fully restored and then maintained not
only as a cemetery for our dead but also as special type of living history
book which tells a part of the story of Corpus Christi and how it came to
be.
Contributed by
Geraldine D. McGloin and Msgr. Michael A. Howell
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