January 8, 2020 119 PM
PRESIDIO — Dollar General has restarted construction on its store in Presidio, Texas, after halting construction last year to investigate an “unknown graveyard.”
With construction underway again, the store is set to open in the next few months. Dollar General did not respond to multiple requests for comment, but Devin Schultz, site superintendent for the build, told The Big Bend Sentinel that the company x-rayed the grounds and were unable to find any other burial sites.
“There’s definitely not anything there,” he said.
In October, Dollar General stopped construction on its storefront on East O’Reilly Street after residents raised concerns that there could be a gravesite on the property, as The Big Bend Sentinel first reported.
The store was already aware of two marked graves, both around 100 years old. One belonged to the great-grandfather of Teresa Acosta, who has roots in Presidio and who spent part of her childhood there.
Acosta told county and state officials that her great-grandfather’s grave was part of a larger site. “I remember there being a little adobe chapel,” she said in an interview in October, “and also many other graves.”
County officials, though, were unable to confirm the existence of any other unmarked graves. Presidio City Administrator Joe Portillo told The Big Bend Sentinel in October that he couldn’t find city or county records corroborating the existence of a larger cemetery.
Regardless, Dollar General took note of the claim. The company said in a statement last year that it had voluntarily stopped construction and would use a “ground penetration survey” to examine the land.
In the end, though, the company reportedly did not find anything. Acosta did not respond to requests for comment after Dollar General resumed construction.
Abbie Perrault contributed to this report.
