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Bryan's St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church began in 1873 with a congregation that drew from the city as well as rural communities in the area. For the next 25 years, the church used existing cemeteries for the burials of parishioners. These included Bryan City Cemetery, Moravian (Smetana) Cemetery and Kurten Cemetery. The Rev. Joseph Pelnar began his tenure at St. Joseph's in July 1890, and he directed early efforts to establish a cemetery for the congregation. In 1896, the Bryan city council declared that only residents of the city proper could be buried in the city cemetery. This excluded a number of church members, and in December of the following year Rev. Pelnar bought a ten-acre tract of land at this site. In March 1898, he blessed all but one acre of what was initially named Calvary Cemetery. The remaining acre was reserved for those who were ineligible by Catholic canon law for a sanctioned burial. That acre has since been incorporated into the rest of the cemetery. Today, the burial ground is a tie to the history of the Bryan area's Catholic residents. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004 |
