This California Town’s Population is 99.9% Dead People Buried in 17 Different Cemeteries

Colma, California

In Colma, California, every home backs up to a cemetery. This quiet suburb holds nearly all of San Francisco’s dead, creating a unique community where funeral homes outnumber grocery stores and about 1,500 residents share their streets with 1.5 million neighbors buried beneath their feet.

Here’s the story of America’s City of the Silent.

The Gold Rush Origins

The 1849 Gold Rush brought bubonic plague outbreaks to San Francisco, leading to high death rates. Hundreds of thousands rushed to the city, creating an urgent need for burial grounds.

By the 1880s, San Francisco’s 26 cemeteries were nearly full. Cemetery owners began looking for new burial land outside the city limits.

Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery became the first cemetery in Colma, opening on June 3, 1887. The Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco bought 300 acres of farmland for this purpose.

San Francisco’s Cemetery Ban

In 1900, San Francisco passed a law banning new burials, claiming land was “too valuable to be wasted on cemeteries.” The growing city needed space for the living, not the dead.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake made cemetery overcrowding worse. The disaster killed thousands, putting more strain on burial space.

Health concerns about disease from cemeteries grew stronger. Medical theories at the time suggested that cemeteries might spread illness through the soil.

On January 14, 1914, eviction notices went to all San Francisco cemeteries. The city demanded the removal of both bodies and monuments.

The Great Cemetery Migration

Workers moved bodies to Colma the same day they dug them up, sometimes in their original caskets if still in good shape. For damaged caskets, remains went into simple boxes.

Many remains came from the Lone Mountain Cemetery complex in San Francisco. This once-important burial ground held many of the city’s earliest residents.

About 150,000 bodies moved from San Francisco to Colma between 1920-1941. This mass relocation stands as the largest cemetery migration in American history.

Moving a grave and marker cost $10. Families who couldn’t afford this fee saw their ancestors placed in mass graves without individual markers.

The Birth of a Necropolis

Colma became an official city of 2.2 square miles on August 5, 1924. This unusual town was founded specifically to serve as a necropolis, or city of the dead.

Fourteen cemetery associations joined together to create the town. Their main goal was to protect burial grounds from future development.

Mattrup Jensen, head of Mount Olivet Memorial Park, became the first Mayor. He led the push to establish Colma to stop San Francisco from taking over the cemetery lands.

Joe Cavalli, the town blacksmith, became Marshal when the town formed. With few living residents, Colma’s early government focused mainly on cemetery protection.

The Railroad Connects Colma to Visitors

The San Francisco and San Jose railroad came through Colma in 1862. This early travel link existed decades before the cemetery development began.

From June-September 1864 alone, Colma shipped 206,618 lbs of vegetables, 100 tons of grain, and 1,000 pigs by rail. The area grew crops and raised animals before becoming a cemetery town.

Horse and carriage access on Mission Street linked Colma to San Francisco. This made the journey easier for funeral processions and cemetery visitors.

Street cars and trains ran from San Francisco with stops at each cemetery. Families could visit loved ones’ graves and return home in a single day.

From “Lawndale” to Colma

The town name changed from Lawndale to Colma in December 1941. It had used the Lawndale name for 17 years after it formed.

The U.S. Post Office demanded the name change because another Lawndale existed in Southern California. When home mail delivery began, postal rules forbade duplicate town names.

The name “Colma” likely comes from an Ohlone word meaning “springs.” The Ohlone were native people who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area before European settlers arrived.

Before becoming a cemetery town, the area grew crops and flower fields that supplied markets through 1940. Flower growers shipped their blooms to San Francisco and eastern U.S. markets.

The Famous Underground Residents

Joe DiMaggio’s black granite tomb in Colma’s Holy Cross Cemetery bears the words “Dignity, grace, and elegance personified.” The baseball star known as “Joltin’ Joe” played for the New York Yankees and briefly married Marilyn Monroe.

Wyatt Earp died in 1929 at age 81, and his wife Josie’s ashes joined his 15 years later. The famous Old West lawman known for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral has the most visited grave in Colma.

Media magnate William Randolph Hearst and his family rest in a Greek-style marble tomb at Cypress Lawn.

Another Colma “resident” is Joshua Norton, a beloved San Francisco character who declared himself “Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.” Emperor Norton’s funeral in 1880 drew over 10,000 mourners, and he’s buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park.

Colma’s Mass Graves

Holy Cross Cemetery has a marker for 39,307 Catholics in mass graves. These unnamed burials represent those whose families couldn’t afford to pay moving fees.

Workers relocated 35,000 people originally buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery to an area in Cypress Lawn later named “Laurel Hill Mound” in 1954. This area honors those moved from one of San Francisco’s most important cemeteries.

When digging began for Gleeson Library at University of San Francisco in 1950, workers found at least 200 bodies, showing many remains were missed during the big move. Construction projects in San Francisco sometimes uncover forgotten graves.

Workers used some tombstones for breakwaters at Aquatic Park and St. Francis Yacht Club. Unclaimed headstones became building materials for various San Francisco public projects.

A Diverse Eternal Community

The four Jewish cemeteries at Colma are Hills of Eternity, Salem Memorial Park, Eternal Home, and Home of Peace. These show the important Jewish community that has been part of San Francisco since the Gold Rush days.

Italian Cemetery, Serbian Cemetery, and Chinese Cemetery further reflect Bay Area diversity. Each cemetery keeps the cultural traditions and burial practices of its community.

Pet’s Rest Cemetery holds not just dogs and cats, but also rabbits, birds, fish, lizards, and even a monkey named Darwin.

Even Tina Turner’s dog lies in Pet’s Rest, buried wrapped in one of the star’s fur coats.

Living Among the Dead in a Necropolis

Sterling Park housing built in 1950 added about 260 homes for World War II veterans priced at $8,950 with GI loans. This marked Colma’s first big residential growth.

Since the 1980s, retail shops and car dealerships brought variety to the economy. Colma’s business district grew along major roads, bringing new life to the City of Souls.

Colma Veterans Village opened in October 2019, providing 66 apartments for formerly homeless veterans. This project, built by Mercy Housing, offers support services working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Colma earned recognition as an Age-Friendly City by the World Health Organization in September 2020. This honor highlights the town’s commitment to serving residents of all ages despite its unusual mix of people.

Visiting Colma, California

Colma is about 10 miles south of San Francisco. Drive south on Highway 101 or take El Camino Real (Highway 82). BART’s Colma station on the Daly City line puts you right in town if you’re coming by public transit.

The town is small and walkable, but many visitors drive between the different cemeteries since they’re spread out.

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