Trinity Portland Cement Company Cemetery

The cement company's two villages were segregated, and the Mexican one became known as Cemento Grande. The Texas Observer reports that many workers fled Guanajuato during the Mexican Revolution, and that the company set aside two acres for Hispanic burials, so segregation continued after death. The writer calls it the oldest known Hispanic cemetery in Dallas County. Henry Martinez Jr.'s relatives lie here, including his uncle Eladio Martinez, killed in World War II and buried in 1945. Volunteers have planted native milkweed on the site for monarch butterflies.

What the plaque says

Trinity Portland Cement Company Cemetery El Camposanto de Cemento Grande De La Compania Trinity Portland The Southwestern States Portland Cement Company was established in this area in 1909. Many of the company's employees were Mexican immigrants who came to this area to escape the Mexican Revolution. The company name was changed after Trinity Portland Cement Company purchased the business in 1915. Two company villages were built near the cement plant, one for Anglos and one for Mexican laborers. About 1918, the company donated land for use as a community cemetery by its Hispanic employees. It is believed that the first people buried in the cemetery were victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, including many children. A number of cement company workers and their family members were interred here, and the cemetery was cared for by residents of the company town. The last burial occurred when Eladio R. Martinez (1921 - 1945) was reinterred here. A native of the village, he was killed in action in the Pacific during World War II, and was originally buried in the Philippines. Although the company housing was removed from this area by 1959, this cemetery remains as a reminder of the village which once occupied this area, sometimes referred to as Eagle Ford, Texas. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza — 5.9 mi
  A plow-company warehouse of 1903, identified by the Warren Commission as the building Oswald fired from, now a museum on its sixth and seventh floors above Dealey Plaza.
• Dallas Museum of Art — 6.4 mi
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• Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park — 7.2 mi
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• African American Museum, Dallas — 8.4 mi
  Founded in 1974 at Bishop College, a free Fair Park museum holding the Sepia photograph archive, African art and A. Maceo Smith's papers, and the story of the Hall of Negro Life.

More markers nearby

• Eagle Ford Community — 0.4 mi
• Kit Community — 2.3 mi
• La Reunion Cemetery — 2.9 mi
• First Baptist Church of Irving — 3.1 mi