Winslow Indian Sanatorium Cemetery

The cemetery was established in 1932 as part of the construction of the Winslow Indian Sanatorium (later the Winslow Indian Health Care Center). The sanatorium was built to treat tuberculosis patients, primarily from the Navajo and Hopi reservations, taking advantage of the area’s dry climate and mild winters. It opened in 1933 and was operated initially as a regional facility before being transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1935.

Because many patients came from remote areas of the reservations where roads were poor or nonexistent, and families were often difficult to notify, the sanatorium used this cemetery as a convenient on-site burial ground. It functioned largely as a pauper’s field. Many of those buried here were Navajo and Hopi individuals, including a significant number of infants and children who died from tuberculosis or related complications. Wooden crosses originally marked the graves with names and dates, but decades of neglect, vandalism, and a 1990s cleanup (during which many markers were removed or burned) left most graves unmarked.

Research by local volunteers and the City of Winslow Historic Preservation Commission has identified at least 542 burials (primarily from death certificates between 1933 and 2010). The site serves as a somber reminder of the high mortality rates, limited access to care, and cultural disconnection many Native families experienced during that era.