The Underground History of Pioneer Park

The headstones on display in a corner give a hint of the underground history of Pioneer Park in the City of San Diego

view of some of the headstones on display in Pioneer Park, Mission Hills, San Diego

Table of Contents

The early years

The Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego hosts a community park with a sad past. In 1873, the El Campo Santo Cemetery in Old Town was nearly full. This prompted the city to purchase land for a new burial ground. Ten acres on Washington Place were selected. It would house separate Protestant and Catholic sections as Cavalry Cemetery.

Father Antonio Ubach, a long-time priest for the Catholic church, designed the burial layout for the faithful. The Protestant side was not used. The first burials in Cavalry took place in the late 1870s. Over 1800 individuals remain underground there. As the cemetery began to run out of space, the population shifted inland. Holy Cross Cemetery opened inland for Catholic burials, triggering the gradual decline of Cavalry.

As the burial rate slowed at Cavalry, money to maintain the cemetery decreased. The city took over the upkeep of the grounds in 1939. The church retained ownership. A fire in the caregiver’s shack destroyed most of the burial records. Vandalism and loitering caused ongoing problems. The final burial took place in 1960.

Changing state law

As maintenance and vandalism challenges became clear, the city looked for ways to change the cemetery to a park. In 1957, state lawmakers modified the law to allow a change of status of “abandoned” cemeteries. The city started the paperwork to take ownership of the neglected cemetery in 1961. In 1968, the Catholic church filed for abandonment of the land.

The city removed most of the estimated 800 headstones. They were dumped at a different site. Roughly 60 of them are now on display in a line in the Southeast section of the park as a memorial. My photos below show that line:

The tombstone display from the North end

Memorial plaques

The new state law required a memorial plaque in exchange for the headstones. A marker appeared almost 20 years later. It was dedicated in 1988 along with plates listing the names of individuals known to be buried there. These are on display near the middle of the park:

The missing headstones

The location of the relocated headstones became a local headline in 1986. The San Diego Trolley Green line started running on tracks through the middle of Mount Hope Cemetery. City officials on that first trolley ride spotted the “lost” headstones in a ravine about 40 feet from the tracks! Most of the headstones were then buried to hide them from public view. Just like the original park, a few of the markers are on display at the site. That monument is not easy to find! It is down a hill and below a grove of trees: