Durango, Colorado, has an endangered historic cemetery overlooking old Animas City. The Animas City Cemetery is one hundred and forty-seven years old and predates the town of Durango. It was initially threatened simply because of its remoteness and its age. Little was known about any of the burials in the cemetery. As the years passed, the cemetery was neglected and almost forgotten. Interest in the cemetery has increased over the past 25 years. Now, it is threatened by development.
Animas City was founded in 1876, the same year Colorado obtained statehood. Durango was founded in September 1880. The earliest three burials in the Animas City Cemetery were in 1877, James Henry Tilghman, a traveling preacher, Shepard Clark, and Isaac Doty, sheep herders murdered near Pagosa Springs. The final burial was of the Rev. William Henry Folsom Jr., a minister at the Free Methodist Church in Durango. He was buried in 1966 but was exhumed in 1976 and moved to Greenmount Cemetery.
James Henry Tilghman Courtesy of Julie Pickett
The total number of probable burials in the cemetery is currently believed to be 156. During the first eight years of the cemetery, at least 92 individuals were buried there. Over time, burials dropped off. Ninety-three of the total burials were of individuals born in the United States. The remaining 15 individuals were European-born. At least 37% of the total burials in the cemetery were children; 26% of these were children between the ages of zero and four. Several Civil War veterans are buried there, as well as Ike Stockton, a local outlaw. Many of Durango's pioneer families have family members buried in this cemetery.
The cemetery contains a variety of headstones, monuments, fieldstones, enclosures, and plantings, as well as other historic artifacts. It is wild, overgrown, and generally unmaintained. Currently, it is accessible by a primitive trail from the bottom of the hill or by a route through a resident's backyard that requires permission from the landowner before entry. Neither of these choices is ideal.
The Daughters of the American Revolution recorded some headstones in the 1950s. The Boy Scouts were involved in a cleanup of the cemetery after a 1985 fire. For more than a decade, Henry Ninde, a volunteer from the La Plata Historical Society, photographed the cemetery. In 2002 and 2004, Fort Lewis College Archeological Field School surface mapped and investigated the suitability for remote sensing.
Empty Enclosure Stabilization, Courtesy of Julie Pickett
Julie Picket and Ruth Lambert, both members of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society and Friends of the Animas City Cemetery, have been involved in archeological survey and mapping, extensive historical research, photography, documentation workshops, and several other follow-up projects. Volunteer cleanups, a repair project of some enclosures, and periodic tours have occurred.
Durango is a small town, and developers have fewer and fewer places within the city to build. However, out-of-state developers have discovered several parcels of land below the Animas City Cemetery, where they plan to develop over 200 high-density apartment units and parking spaces. A gym, outdoor swimming pool, and access road will be built feet from the cemetery's boundary. The road will have a five-foot "buffer" from the cemetery boundary. The road and the clubhouse cannot be moved away from the cemetery boundary because of a steep slope to the northeast.
While the cemetery is a designated Durango Historic Landmark, under the auspices of the Parks and Recreation Department, little has been done to preserve and protect this historic cemetery. In 2010, the city assisted with mapping it, and after volunteer cleanup projects, the department sent trucks and workers to pick up the waste materials. The last volunteer cleanup was in 2015.
If construction goes as planned, pedestrian traffic from the apartment units and elsewhere will increase the threat to unstable headstones and enclosures. Children from the proposed development will undoubtedly use the cemetery as a playground. This could have dangerous consequences. Children have died after accidents involving falling headstones in other cemeteries around the country.
To protect the cemetery, a survey using ground penetrating radar and magnetometer must be completed along the cemetery's perimeter. This needs to extend at least 20 feet beyond the boundary. Depending on the results of these surveys, the area may need to be extended to the entire bench. A fence must be built around the cemetery, and a gate and appropriate signage must be constructed. Headstones and enclosures must be stabilized, and plants threatening historic markers and enclosures must be pruned or removed. The Animas City Cemetery is a treasure to be protected and visited perpetually.
View of Upper Animas Valley from Lambert Enclosure, courtesy of Julie Pickett
Update: The City of Durango Planning Commission met to discuss the project. Many interested parties attended the meeting virtually. All speakers expressed concerns about the project. The Planning Commission decided not to support the project and ultimately advised the builder and architect to not take the project to the City Council. The builder has agreed to rework the project and take it to the City Council. As of June 8th, 2023, the developer has pulled out of the project. The property is still for sale. The community will stay vigilant. The Parks and Recreation Commission has set aside money in its budget for remote sensing of the areas outside the current cemetery boundaries.
Originally published in Generations, a newsletter of the Southwest Colorado Genealogical Society.
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