Back to Life:
The Community of Historic Fairview Cemetery: Excerpts from an exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum
“Gone but not forgotten” is an inscription you might see on a headstone. As you walk through approximately thirteen acres of Historic Fairview Cemetery you may recognize names you have seen on buildings, businesses, street signs or of someone you might have went to school with. The cemetery is a community of New Albuquerque’s city founders. They came here from all over the country for various reasons. The railroad brought workers, and tuberculosis brought the ill to heal in the dry climate and high elevation. Many did recover but about 25% of those buried in the historic side of the cemetery, lost their lives to this disease. Those who survived helped others build the city, opened businesses, and had families.
“Gone but not forgotten” is an inscription you might see on a headstone. As you walk through approximately thirteen acres of Historic Fairview Cemetery you may recognize names you have seen on buildings, businesses, street signs or of someone you might have went to school with. The cemetery is a community of New Albuquerque’s city founders. They came here from all over the country for various reasons. The railroad brought workers, and tuberculosis brought the ill to heal in the dry climate and high elevation. Many did recover but about 25% of those buried in the historic side of the cemetery, lost their lives to this disease. Those who survived helped others build the city, opened businesses, and had families.
Ariel View of Fairview Memorial Cemetery c1935, 700 Yale SE. Courtesy: Fairview Memorial Park
There are nearly 12,000 burials in Historic Fairview Cemetery. The first documented burial was Mary Josephine Perea, February 27, 1881. Elias Stover wrote an editorial in the November 28, 1882 Albuquerque Morning Journal, which he stated, “…Indeed several of our citizens have already buried friends beyond on the top of the hill from which place they may soon have to remove their remains unless some system is adopted whereby the ground in which they are buried is legally diverted to the purpose of a cemetery” That was the beginning of Fairview Cemetery located at 700 Yale SE.
As you read through this information via the links below, you will be introduced to New Albuquerque’s first community. You will meet generations of their families, see photos of their businesses, read their life stories and see their final resting place. But this is not the end, it is only the beginning. Many of their descendants live in Albuquerque and have shared the stories of their ancestors, bringing the Community of Historic Fairview back to life.
As you read through this information via the links below, you will be introduced to New Albuquerque’s first community. You will meet generations of their families, see photos of their businesses, read their life stories and see their final resting place. But this is not the end, it is only the beginning. Many of their descendants live in Albuquerque and have shared the stories of their ancestors, bringing the Community of Historic Fairview back to life.
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