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The Beginning of Calvary Cemetery The Founding of Calvary Cemetery San Diego was growing and booming in the early 20th century. The city was expanding and more and more people were moving to Mission Hills. More than thirty years before San Diego “boomed,” Joseph S. Mannasse bought ten acres of land from the city. The city and Joseph S. Mannasse kept buying the land back from each other for a while. Then, Mannasse gave the city another ten acres. They decided to make this Calvary Cemetery. They divided the land in half, 5 acres for the Catholics and 5 for the Protestants. The first burial was some time in 1870. No one really knows for sure when. The Use of Calvary Cemetery The Catholic part of the cemetery was put under the care of the Catholic Church, The Parish of the Immaculate Conception. In 1874 one of the priests at this church, Father Ubach, staked out the Catholic part of this cemetery. He was very involved in the beginning of the cemetery. However, the church did not provide perpetual care. El Campo Santo, San Diego’s first cemetery in Old Town San Diego was full. From 1880 to 1920, the Catholic portion of Calvary Cemetery in Mission Hills was used regularly and almost exclusively as a cemetery for San Diegans. Many of San Diego’s early founders, pioneers, and members of San Diego’s old Spanish families were buried at Calvary Cemetery. During this forty year time period, it is believed that between 1,600 and 2,000 people were buried. This included sections for priests and children. According to tombstones and markers people of Irish, Italian, and Spanish ancestry were buried in Calvary Cemetery. Many of the graves were unmarked. The Protestant section of the cemetery was never used as a cemetery, and on April 12, 1909 it became Mission Hills Park. After Ulysses S. Grant Elementary School was built in 1914 next to the cemetery on land once owned by Kate Sessions, the Protestant part of Calvary Cemetery, Mission Hills Park, was used as a playground for the school. by Kamala and Gabrielle |
A portion of a Calvary Cemetery record book
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| © 2005 Grant Elementary School |
