Mount Calvary Cemetery

Bryan's St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church began in 1873 with a congregation drawn from the city and surrounding rural communities. For the next 25 years, parishioners were buried in existing cemeteries, including Bryan City Cemetery, Moravian (Smetana) Cemetery, and Kurten Cemetery. The Rev. Joseph Pelnar began his tenure at St. Joseph's in July 1890 and led 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, excluding a number of church members. In December 1897, Rev. Pelnar bought a ten-acre tract at this site, and in March 1898 he blessed all but one acre of what was first named Calvary Cemetery. The remaining acre was reserved for those ineligible under Catholic Canon Law for a sanctioned burial, but that acre was later incorporated into the rest of the cemetery. Today, the burial ground remains a tie to the history of the Bryan area's Catholic residents.

Bryan, Texas · United States