It is a single acre out of the more than 331,000 that make up the city of Phoenix, but the Sotelo-Heard Cemetery at 12th Street and Broadway played a much larger role in the city’s early history.

It’s just hard to tell by looking at it.  

The headstones are long gone, some smashed by vandals, some crushed to make pavers, the rest carted away for safekeeping. Weeds smother the property after it rains, and on two sides of the cemetery, there is no fence or barrier to keep midnight dumpers from discarding everything from old couches to fill dirt on the property. 

Now, help is on the horizon. A small group of people who have been working for years to honor the dead and bring them a measure of justice are close to reaching a deal to preserve the property and restore its dignity.  

“I’d say we’re close,” said Phoenix City Council member Carlos Garcia, whose district includes the cemetery. He said the sticking points that remain primarily involve access to the property, “but I think we’ll get it done.” 

Time, vandals take their toll

The cemetery is the final resting place for as many as 400 souls and was originally part of the Heard Ranch, which early in the city’s history encompassed much of the land between the Salt River and South Mountain. 

The earliest burials there were in the 1890s, and the last was in 1925. Many of the people buried in the cemetery are believed to have been ranch hands, subsistence farmers, laborers or members of their families. 

After pieces of the Heard Ranch were sold off and subdivided over the years, the cemetery changed hands a number of times. Gradually it fell into disrepair and was ravaged by time, vandals and neglect. 

Its current owner, a nonprofit housing company, acquired the plot as part of a larger parcel on which it had hoped to build homes. Those plans never became economically viable.

After an Arizona Republic story about the plight of the cemetery, the company agreed to deed the cemetery over to the city of Phoenix so it can be restored and preserved.

However, some hurdles remain. 

Finding a caretaker

The first is who will care for the cemetery. The city owns two other historic cemeteries, which are under the supervision of the Phoenix Parks Department. In 2012, the city spent $120,000 to help preserve the historic Cementerio Lindo, a potter’s field near 15th and Durango avenues, which dates from the 1890s and covers 10 times more area than Sotelo-Heard.

The city also owns the Pioneer and Military Memorial Park near 14th Avenue and Jefferson Street just west of Downtown Phoenix, where a number of notable figures from Arizona’s wild west history are buried, including Jacob Walz, the German prospector who supposedly discovered the Lost Dutchman gold mine. 

READ MORE: The 50-year fight to save a cemetery in ruins

Both cemeteries are cared for under a public-private partnership with the nonprofit volunteer Pioneers’ Cemetery Association, which has agreed in principle to care for Sotelo-Heard as well. 

The association often works with Boy Scouts and other civic groups to organize cleanups and other projects at both cemeteries.

Garcia said he felt the parks department could work out a similar arrangement. He said the city has already heard from local artists who are interested in participating in the design work for any fencing or memorials for the cemetery.  

Working with neighbors

 Another issue with Sotelo-Heard is access.

The parcel is sandwiched between a charter school sponsored by Arizona State University and a large Salvation Army recreational facility and open to foot traffic on two sides.

Once it is fenced off, the only access would be through a small strip of land next to the school, but it is unclear whether the school or the university actually holds title to it. 

Arizona State University associate vice president Rick Naimark said that either way, the university and the school are committed to the project.

“We’re happy to cooperate with the city to make this happen,” he said.

Frank Barrios, a longtime member of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association who has worked for a decade to bring a measure of dignity to Sotelo-Heard, said he doesn’t think caring for a single acre would be much of a burden for the city and looks forward to the day when the people who are buried in the cemetery get the respect they deserve.

“These were the people who built Phoenix,” he said. “They, their relatives and the people they left behind deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. What’s happened there is a absolute disgrace.”

John D’Anna is a reporter on the Arizona Republic/azcentral.com storytelling team. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @azgreenday. 

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