California / 23.12.2022 10:18:00
All over the world there are places, towns and communities that stand out for the history of their origin, which on some occasions can be curious, funny or even sinister, as it is Filla small town in Californiaalso known as “the city of souls“. You know why?
According to Colma Town Hallthe city is the smallest in San Mateo County and has thousand 509 inhabitants.
However, the living inhabitants are a minority in the town when compared to the more than 1.5 million people who are buried in the 16 cemeteries of the cityincluding a pet cemetery.
Why in Colma there are more dead inhabitants than alive?
In 1849, the Gold Rush brought hundreds of thousands to San Francisco and with them also brought diseases that caused a high death rate, so 26 cemeteries were established in San Francisco and most were nearly full by the 1880s. .
Therefore, in the late 1880s, cemetery owners began looking for new properties to bury their dead and the Colma’s southern end was chosen for transportation reasons, as there was easy access by horse-drawn carriages via Mission Street.
To this was added that the streetcars went from San Francisco to Colma and the trains passed by the cemeteries and made stops at each cemetery.
By the late 1890s, California had passed State Penal Code 297 which prohibited burials anywhere except in an established cemetery. Such as one established by a city, county, national, religious or organization.
On June 3, 1887, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese established Santa Cruz, the first cemetery in Colma yen March 26, 1900, the city and county of San Francisco passed an ordinance that no more burials would be allowed, since land was too valuable to be wasted in cemeteries, it was to be used for living.
On January 14, 1914, eviction notices were sent to all cemeteries to remove their bodies and monuments; noSoon after, however, Colma inherited hundreds of thousands of bodies, many ending up in mass graves as there were no relatives to pay the $10 for removal.
FLC