Cemeteries in Palm Springs (City)

Palm Springs' settlement history began long before its modern incorporation, with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians utilizing its natural hot springs ("Se-Khi") for millennia. The first permanent non-Indian settler, Judge John Guthrie McCallum, arrived in 1884, seeking the dry climate for his son's health and purchasing land primarily from the Southern Pacific Railroad. McCallum, along with others like Dr. Welwood Murray, who established the first hotel, helped develop the area, initially sometimes referred to as Palm City. Drawn by the climate and later by its reputation as a Hollywood retreat, primarily Anglo-American settlers shaped the early town. Palm Springs incorporated as a city in 1938, remaining within Riverside County. The Welwood Murray Cemetery, established in 1894 and donated by the Murray family, serves as the principal historic burial ground for the city's pioneers.