Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place, so take it as that. Now, out here in Hidalgo County, the Rio Grande Valley has a way of surprisin' you. You think you know the land, and then you find something that makes you stop the car and just stand there a minute.

Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery is one of those places. The cemetery itself was established in 1913. The land was given, not sold, given, by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company to Immanuel Lutheran Church.

And from that gift, a place of rest took root in the Valley. But here is the detail that gets me every time. The oldest grave in that cemetery belongs to a man named Wilhelm Schumacher, who died in 1911.

Two years before the cemetery even existed. He had been buried out on his family farm, and when the cemetery was established, he was reinterred here. Someone made sure Wilhelm was not left behind.

That is a thing worth saying out loud. Now walk among those gravestones, and the names will tell you a story all their own. German names.

Norwegian names. Finnish names. Russian names.

Settlers who had come from the U.S. Midwest and found their way down to the Rio Grande Valley. And alongside them, Hispanic names, all gathered in the same ground.

The whole wide reach of the Valley, right there in one quiet cemetery, still serving Lutherans throughout the region, just as it has since 1913.

What the marker says

This cemetery was established in 1913 on land give by the American Rio Grande Land and Irrigation Company to Immanuel Lutheran Church. The cemetery has served Lutherans throughout the Rio Grande Valley. The oldest grave is that of Wilhelm Schumacher, who died in 1911 and was reinterred here from his family farm when the cemetery was established. Gravestones bear the names of many German, Norwegian, Finnish, and Russian settlers who immigrated to this area from the U.S. Midwest, as well as Hispanic names. (1988)