SAN JUAN CEMETERY

LOCATION: 405 Cemetery Road, San Juan. From Business Highway 83, drive 2 miles south on San Antonio Road past its intersection with Moore Road. then west 3000 feet on Cemetery Road. Cemetery is on south side of an irrigation canal.

SURVEY: Partial (from obituaries).

HISTORY: The city of San Juan was founded in 1910, when John Closner, long-time Hidalgo County Sheriff and landowner, sold 400 acres to the San Juan Townsite Company. Closner had established his San Juan Plantation in 1884, where he grew sugar cane, promoted irrigation, and operated a sugar mill. He owned 45,000 acres by 1905.

San Juan (Sp. Saint John), named for John Closner, was the southern terminus of the eight-mile-long San Antonio and Rio Grande Railway (1909-1960s) which ran between San Juan Plantation and the county seat Chapin, now Edinburg. It was absorbed by the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad in 1912. San Juan was incorporated in 1917.

San Juan Cemetery consists of about 2 acres, surrounded by an eight- foot high hurricane fence, and is well-kept. It was chartered in 1922 and is governed by the San Juan Cemetery Association.