When it was understood that the Cementerio la Reina, the only cemetery in the city, was insufficient, the idea of ​​building a new cemetery for the Cienfues people came to the agenda at the beginning of the 20th century.  As the name of the cemetery suggests, the Acea y de los Ríos family made a great contribution to the construction of the new cemetery, the Cementerio Tomás Acea.

Nicolás Salvador Acea y de los Ríos (1829-1904) was a wealthy and cultured Cuban of exceptional humility and noble sentiments, living in Cienfuegos. He married Teresita Terry y Dorticós, the daughter of Tomás Terry, the richest man in Cuba at that time. From that marriage his first and only son Tomás Lorenzo was born. When Teresita became seriously ill and died in the US, he married Francisca Tostes y García, but he had no offspring from this marriage. When he died, he bequeathed a large part of his legacy to the city, stipulating in his will that the income from his estate, would be used to build a school of arts and crafts for young boys, a school of manual arts for girls, and a home for the elderly. In compliance with the wishes of the illustrious man, the San Lorenzo School of Arts and Crafts, the Santo Tomás Home School, and the Nicolás Acea Asylum for the Elderly were built.

His widow Francisca Tostes y García also donated a considerable amount of her fortune to the city when she died in 1904. This money was used to build the monumental portico of the cemetery, named after Nicolás Salvador Acea's son, Tomás Lorenzo, who died at an early age in 1884.

The engineers Pablo Donato Carbonell and Luis Felipe Ross who adopted the modern architectural style of the time, were entrusted with the project of the new cemetery.  The Ferrer Palace was also the work of Pablo Donato Carbonell. It is said that they were inspired by the Green Wood cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

When the project was completed, those who saw the beautiful garden of the cemetery realized that these two engineers were inspired by the most modern garden cemeteries of the time. The Cementerio Tomás Acea is till the only Cuban garden cemetery

The official opening of the Cementerio Tomás Acea took place on November 21, 1926.