[3]: 27  Nearly thirty years later, Cavalry had nearly reached its capacity and Alemany's successor, Patrick William Riordan, purchased 179 acres (72 ha) of land in nearby San Mateo County.

[4]: 13  Alemany's successor, Patrick William Riordan, blessed the initial 25-acre (10 ha) Holy Cross site on June 3, 1887, as the first cemetery in Colma.

[4]: 316 The large mausoleum at Holy Cross was designed by John McQuarrie and dedicated on March 28, 1921 by Archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna.

[3]: 64 After the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a measure in March 1900, banning future burials within city limits effective August 1, 1901, the development of Colma as the city's necropolis began in earnest, eventually culminating in the eviction of the existing cemeteries.

[3]: 35  Many of the people interred at the Catholic Calvary Cemetery were reburied between 1937 and 1945 at Holy Cross in a project to relocate graves outside of the city.

"[12] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it was estimated that 3⁄4 of the monuments at Holy Cross were toppled or thrown askew, including large ornamental stone balls atop the entry gates.