Before the city of Bovina was founded, the XIT Ranch had its southern headquarters in this vicinity. In 1898, the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway was built through the ranch, and the settlement became known as Bull Town because cattle were often found on the tracks. A community grew around the railhead, and in January 1899 the official post office name became Bovina. With a boom in cattle shipping, the town's population grew after the turn of the 20th century. The city has since owned the cemetery, which was maintained for a time by the Bovina Cemetery Association. The XIT Ranch first used the site to bury cowboys, and oral tradition says several grave markers originally bore only common names such as Dusty and Big Jim. About 40 such graves are believed to have existed, but all are now unmarked. The earliest marked grave is that of J.W. McDonald, who died in 1907. Bovina Cemetery is the resting place of veterans of military conflicts dating to World War I and of generations of area residents.