Location: GM-C113 Spanish Cemetery AKA Shiro Mexican Cem.VERIFY?? Does it relate to Mexican Catholics of St. Patrick’s or Our Lady of Guadalupe? Spanish Cemetery—TxGenWeb: “cemetery is beside the Shiro Cemetery on Highway 30 West of the Shiro town limits. Approx 25 burials, earliest about 1919. Index. Contact JR Maxwell, Keith Tx.” SEE Cemeteries of Grimes County, vols 1-5 John Maxwell, GCHC.THC site visit MB 4/29/04: Small fenced cemetery on SH 30, adjacent to but separate site from Shiro Cemetery. No sign. Diversity of formal and informal markers over time. Some unique creative markers. Marker tress, Oak, Crape Myrtle, Arborvitae. Also grave gardens, Roses, Lilies, Yarrow. Snapdragons. Mounding, scraped earth, brick curbing. Abundant floral and religious and decorative grave material--evidence of Catholic and Mexican burial traditions. Adjacent to roadway, pastures and woodland. Low endangerment: maintained, fenced, near town and adjacent cem, recent burials. Approx 0.25 acre. GPS 30.36.16.78270N –95.54.14.04663W. Quad 3095-322Medium risk of endangerment: busy highway, expansion of roadway, but maintained and in use Mex USGS 3095-322Adjacent to Shiro Cem. Local hist. notes.
To address the problem of cemetery destruction and to record as many cemeteries as possible, the
Texas Historical Commission offers the Historic Texas Cemetery designation.
The Historic
Texas Cemetery designation was developed in 1998 to help protect historic cemeteries by
recording cemetery boundaries in county deed records to alert present and future owners of land adjacent
to the cemetery of its existence. Every county in Texas has at least one cemetery designated as a Historic
Texas Cemetery through this program. The HTC designation is the first step toward preservation of a historic cemetery.
A cemetery is eligible for designation if it is at least 50 years old and is deemed worthy of recognition
for its historical associations. The very nature of a cemetery being a landmark of a family’s or community’s
presence is considered to validate the criteria of historical associations. Any individual, organization, or
agency may submit a request for designation.