Colma, California


Colma is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 census. The town was founded as a necropolis in 1924.
With most of Colma's land dedicated to cemeteries, the population of the dead—not specifically known but speculated to be around 1.5 million—outnumbers that of the living by a ratio of nearly a thousand to one. This has led to Colma being called "the City of the Silent" and has given rise to a humorous motto, formerly featured on the city's website: "It's great to be alive in Colma".

Etymology

The most commonly proposed origin of the name "Colma" is the Ohlone word meaning "springs" or "many springs".
There are several other proposed origins of Colma. Erwin Gudde's California Place Names states seven possible sources of the town's being called Colma: William T. Coleman, Thomas Coleman, misspelling of Colmar in France, misspelling of Colima in Mexico, a re-spelling of an ancient Uralic word meaning death, a reference to James Macpherson's Songs of Selma, and two Ohlone possibilities, one meaning "moon" and one meaning "springs".
Before 1872, Colma was designated as "Station" or "School House Station", the name of its post office in 1869.

History

The community of Colma was formed in the 19th century as a collection of homes and small businesses along El Camino Real and the adjacent San Francisco and San Jose Railroad line. Several churches, including Holy Angels Catholic Church, were founded in these early years. The community founded its own fire district, which serves the unincorporated area of Colma north of the town limits, as well as the area that became a town in 1924.
Heinrich von Kempf moved his wholesale nursery here in the early part of the 20th century, from the land where the Palace of Fine Arts currently sits. The business was growing, and thus required more space for von Kempf's plants and trees. Von Kempf then began petitioning to turn the Colma community into an agricultural township. He succeeded and became the town of Colma's first treasurer.
In the early 20th century, Colma was the site of many major boxing events. Middleweight world champion Stanley Ketchel fought six bouts at the Mission Street Arena in Colma, including two world middleweight title bouts against Billy Papke and a world heavyweight title bout against Jack Johnson.

San Francisco cemetery relocations

Colma became the site for numerous cemeteries after San Francisco outlawed new interments within its city limits in 1900, then evicted most existing cemeteries in 1912. In the 1910s, many of the roads to Colma were not maintained. Bodies were transported by street cars in San Francisco down Valencia Street in the Mission District; which resulted in many mortuaries and funeral homes in this location for quick access to Colma. Approximately 150,000 bodies were moved between 1920 and 1941, at a cost of $10 per grave and marker. Many of the remains in Colma came from the Lone Mountain Cemetery complex. Those for whom no one paid the fee were reburied in mass graves, and the markers were recycled in various San Francisco public works. Some examples include drain gutters at Buena Vista Park and bolstering breakwater near the St. Francis Yacht Club. They can be seen at low tide on Ocean Beach. The completion of the relocation was delayed until after World War II. The main rail line between San Francisco and San Jose running through Colma had been bypassed by the Bayshore Cutoff, completed in 1907 and providing a route closer to the San Francisco Bay shoreline, and the former main line was repurposed as a branch line to move coffins to Colma. Decades later, the right-of-way for the branch line through Colma was purchased by BART for use in the San Francisco International Airport extension project.
An early effort to incorporate in 1903 was condemned by the San Francisco Call as "a scheme whereby the town of Colma is to be made a plague spot of vice" to benefit gamblers and crooked politicians. The Town of Lawndale was incorporated in 1924, primarily at the behest of the cemetery owners with the cooperation of the handful of residents who lived closest to the cemeteries. The residential and business areas immediately to the north continued to be known as Colma. As another California city named Lawndale already existed, in Los Angeles County, the post office retained the Colma designation, and the town changed its name back to Colma in 1941.
File:Colma – cemetery city – aerial.jpg|thumb|center|upright 2|Aerial view of Colma, from the south; San Francisco is visible in the distance at upper right and I-280 runs north in the lower left corner. The prominent rectangular green space in the foreground is the western campus of Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, acquired in the early 1900s.

Notable interments

Many, if not most, of the well-known people who died in San Francisco since the first cemeteries opened there have been buried or reburied in Colma, with an additional large number of such burials in Oakland's Mountain View Cemetery. Some notable people interred in Colma include:
Originally, Colma's residents were primarily employed in occupations related to the many cemeteries in the town. Since the 1980s, however, Colma has become more diversified, and a variety of retail businesses and automobile dealerships has brought more sales tax revenue to the town government. In 1986, 280 Metro Center opened for business in Colma; it is now recognized as the world's first power center.
NameImageFoundedCommunitySizeNotes
Tung SenChineseThese four cemeteries are within the city limits of Daly City, separated from the western campus of Cypress Lawn by Junipero Serra Boulevard.
Hoy SunChineseThese four cemeteries are within the city limits of Daly City, separated from the western campus of Cypress Lawn by Junipero Serra Boulevard.
Chinese ChristianChineseThese four cemeteries are within the city limits of Daly City, separated from the western campus of Cypress Lawn by Junipero Serra Boulevard.
Russian SectarianRussianThese four cemeteries are within the city limits of Daly City, separated from the western campus of Cypress Lawn by Junipero Serra Boulevard.
Holy Cross03.06.1887Roman CatholicHoly Cross Mausoleum, designed by John McQuarrie, is the resting site for the men who have served as Archbishop of San Francisco, including Joseph Sadoc Alemany, Patrick William Riordan, Edward Joseph Hanna, John Joseph Mitty, and Joseph Thomas McGucken.
Home of Peace01.01.1889JewishOccupies the northern half of the site
Hills of Eternity01.01.1889JewishOccupies the southern half of the site
Salem20.12.1891Jewish
Cypress LawnNon-sectarianSplit into two campuses straddling El Camino Real: the eastern and the western.
Mount OlivetNon-sectarianRenamed to Olivet Memorial Park. Acquired by Cypress Lawn in 2020.
ItalianItalian
SerbianChristian Orthodox
JapaneseJapanese
Eternal HomeJewishAlso hosts the Jewish Community Memory Garden, adjacent to the children's section of the cemetery.
GreenlawnNon-sectarianSite purchased in 1903 by the directors of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows cemetery in San Francisco using allegedly embezzled funds, resulting in the disavowal of the site by the IOOF Grand Lodge.
Woodlawn29.10.1904Non-sectarianOriginally
Sunset ViewNon-sectarianPaupers' burial site; closed in 1951. Site now used for Cypress Hills Golf Course.
Greek OrthodoxEastern OrthodoxConsecrated April 1936.
Pets RestPet
Hoy SunChineseAcquired from Cypress Hills Golf Course when the course shrank from 18 to 9 holes.
Golden Hills23.02.1994ChineseAcquired from Cypress Hills Golf Course when the course shrank from 18 to 9 holes.