Who’s buried at one of SLO’s oldest cemeteries? Take a tour of historic haunt
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Old Mission Cemetery opened in 1877 after city relocated Catholic graves.
- More than 4,000 residents rest in the cemetery adjacent to South Higuera Street.
- Notables interred include Luigi Marré, William Dana, Ah Louis and Alex Madonna.
Just off of South Higuera Street in San Luis Obispo, a serene cemetery holds headstones, grave sites and a mausoleum with the remains of some of the county’s most influential residents.
More than 4,000 people have been buried at Old Mission Cemetery at 101 Bridge St. since the graveyard was first erected in 1877, according to the San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society.
Not to be confused with the massive San Luis Cemetery — which houses upward of 12,000 graves across the street — the Old Mission Cemetery is the nearly 150-year-old burial grounds for San Luis Obispo County’s Catholic residents.
Nestled against SLO’s South Hills, the well-kept cemetery features shorn green grass and headstones bearing angels, roses and crosses in remembrance of the dead buried beneath the ground.
More than 50 people gathered in front of the Old Mission Cemetery mausoleum on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon as olive and palm trees swayed in the breeze.
They were there to learn about the prominent local figures who changed the face of the county. Cal Poly history professor emeritus Dan Krieger led the annual cemetery tour hosted by the San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society.
Here’s what The Tribune discovered about who’s resting in one of the city’s oldest burial grounds.
What is Old Mission Cemetery in San Luis Obispo?
Old Mission Cemetery is the third reiteration of a Roman Catholic burial ground in San Luis Obispo.
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolsa was the original Catholic cemetery in San Luis Obispo.
Burials took place within the mission complex and nearby Chorro Street from 1772 through 1859, according to Find a Grave, a worldwide gravesite collection.
A second Catholic cemetery was established in 1860 on Higuera Street between Carmel and Pacific streets in San Luis Obispo.
Catholics were buried there for nearly two decades.
Then, on July 1, 1877, the San Luis Obispo City Council voted to prohibit burials within city limits, according to the SLO County Genealogical Society. The Higuera Street grave site was condemned.
The city enacted the ordinance due to a series of storms that left San Luis Obispo residents “tired of floating coffins on some of their downtown streets,” Krieger said during a tour.
In subsequent months, many tombstones and remains were moved to a new site along South Higuera Street, according to San Luis Obispo newspaper The Daily Republic.
“The old Catholic cemetery will be cleaned out today and the old settlers will probably be disturbed no more until Gabriel toots his horn on the morning of the final round-up,” the Daily Republic wrote in an Oct. 22, 1888, article.
Old Mission Cemetery officially opened to the public on Dec. 1, 1877, the genealogical society said.
At the time, Protestants and Catholics were separated in death, Krieger said.
Catholic residents were buried at Old Mission Cemetery, while Protestant people were laid to rest across the street at San Luis Cemetery, also known as the International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery, at 2 Higuera St.
Who’s buried at SLO cemetery? Meet local pioneers
Some of San Luis Obispo’s most notable residents lie underneath tombstones, tablets, monuments and obelisks at the Old Mission Cemetery.
These are a few of the most historic local figures buried in the Catholic graveyard, according to Krieger.
Luigi Marré (1840-1903)
Marré emigrated from Genoa, Italy, coming to California shortly after the Gold Rush. Born into a wealthy family, he made more riches in the Golden State by raising cattle.
He arrived in SLO County shortly after a years-long drought had wiped out many of the cows in the area, Krieger said.
Marré jumped on the opportunity to restart the local beef and dairy industry by purchasing ranch land in the hills above Avila Beach, along with the Peco y Islay grant to the north of what became the site of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
Marré felt that “people in this state have to be fed, and the real money is going to be in those who supply them with food,” Krieger said.
Marré also bought the Pacific Hotel near the Harford Pier in Avila Beach and renamed it Hotel Marre. The inn became renowned for its restaurant, which served an Italian menu with “endless food,” according to Krieger.
However, Marré’s legacy diminished after his death in 1903. His heirs leased a large segment of their land to PG&E, but eventually fell into bankruptcy and lost their inheritance to the utility company.
It’s a case where “the grandchildren deplete the treasury that their grandparents had worked so hard for,” Krieger said.
William Goodwin Dana (1797-1858)
The man behind the Dana Adobe at the historic Rancho Nipomo lies beneath a soaring obelisk at Old Mission Cemetery.
Born in Boston, William Goodwin Dana began circumnavigating the globe at 19 years old, eventually captaining his own ship.
He moved to Santa Barbara in the mid-1820s and married Maria Josefa Carrillo, the daughter of an Alta California governor and Mexican federal legislator, according to the Dana Adobe website.
In 1837, William Goodwin Dana was given a Mexican land grant known as Rancho Nipomo, which was “37,500 acres of the best land on the southern part of SLO County,” Krieger said.
In 1839, Dana and his wife built the Dana Adobe, a massive residence where they raised 21 children, 13 of who reached adulthood.
Today, the Dana Adobe is open for tours and event rentals in Nipomo.
Where are Madonna Inn, Ah Louis Store founders laid to rest?
Old Mission Cemetery is also the final resting place for prominent businessmen who shaped San Luis Obispo in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Ah Louis (1840-1936)
Wong On, better known as Ah Louis, was a prominent Chinese banker, labor contractor, entrepreneur and farmer in San Luis Obispo.
Ah Louis made his fortune recruiting Chinese laborers for wharves in Avila Beach, Cayucos and San Simeon, according to Central Coast Asian American History’s website.
In the mid-1870s, he constructed a wooden storefront called the Ah Louis Store in what is now San Luis Obispo’s Chinatown. The shop sold imported wares from China along with other household necessities.
Later on, he replaced his wooden store with brick to make it less prone to fire. The structure became the fourth building in town made of the material, according to Tribune archives.
Ah Louis started the first modern brickyard in SLO and continued working as a labor contractor. In the 1890s, he had acquired so much wealth that he began a bank for local Asian residents and opened a pharmacy filled with herbs in his store.
“For decades, Ah Louis was the unofficial mayor, judge, bank and employment agency of San Luis Obispo’s Chinatown,” The Tribune previously reported.
When Ah Louis died in 1936, he was supposed to be buried in the Protestant San Luis Cemetery, Krieger said. However, the Odd Fellows banned him from being buried in his plot due to anti-Asian sentiments circulating at the time.
His body lay in a local mortuary’s refrigeration cabinet for months, Krieger said.
Even though Ah Louis wasn’t Catholic, Father John Arnett allowed him to be laid to rest in the Old Mission Cemetery’s mausoleum in 1937, Krieger said, inspired by the Hebrew Testament, which calls on people to take care of the dead.
Alex Madonna (1918-2004) The self-made businessman and real estate developer is best known for creating the world-famous Madonna Inn, a kitschy Swiss chalet-style hotel renowned for its bright pink decor, award-winning cakes and themed rooms.
The prominent philanthropist also owned thousands of acres in SLO County, including some of Cerro San Luis and Froom Ranch, and raised cattle and horses on ranches in California and Oregon.
At Old Mission Cemetery, Madonna is buried beneath a gravestone of basalt — “the oldest rock on earth” and Madonna’s favorite, Krieger said during the tour.
