Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri)

Greenwood Cemetery is a historic cemetery established in 1874, and located at 6571 St. Louis Avenue in Hillsdale, Missouri. This was the first non-denominational commercial cemetery for African-Americans in the St. Louis area.

Greenwood Cemetery
Entrance to Greenwood Cemetery
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri) is located in St. Louis
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri)
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri) is located in Missouri
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri)
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri) is located in the United States
Greenwood Cemetery (Hillsdale, Missouri)
Location6571 St. Louis Ave., Hillsdale, Missouri
Coordinates38°41′19″N 90°17′19″W
Area31.75 acres
Built1874
ArchitectHerman Krueger
NRHP reference No.04000090[1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 24, 2004

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 24, 2004.[2]

History

Greenwood Cemetery was established in 1874 by Herman Krueger, it has approximately 6,000 marked graves but is thought to contain up to 50,000 burials.[3]

In 1890, the cemetery was sold to Krueger's son-in-law, Adolph Foelsch; the Foelsch family owned and operated the cemetery, including manufacturing concrete tombstones, until 1981. Those buried at Greenwood include former enslaved people, war veterans, members of fraternal organizations, artists, laborers and middle class African-Americans, as well as a number of famous and prominent African-Americans from St. Louis.

Many of the people buried at Greenwood were originally from southern states and had participated in the Great Migration north. Funerals were numerous in Greenwood in the mid-twentieth century, but with desegregation, the cemetery saw a decline in use. In the 1980s it began to go derelict. It permanently closed in the 1990s and continued to stand abandoned for most of a decade. In 1999, the nonprofit group Friends of Greenwood Cemetery, Inc. was formed for the purpose of restoring and preserving the site as a historic park. Eventually the group gained ownership of the cemetery.[4]

Volunteers from the Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association have worked to maintain the grounds and preserve African American history.[5]

Other nearby historic African American cemetery include the Washington Park Cemetery (1920), Father Dickson Cemetery (1903), and Quinette Cemetery (1866).[6][3]

Notable interments

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "NPGallery Asset Detail: Greenwood Cemetery". National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  3. Woodbury, Emily (January 31, 2020). "Keeping The Legacy Of St. Louis' Historic Black Cemeteries Alive". St. Louis Public Radio (SLPR). Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  4. Missouri Digital Heritage – Greenwood Cemetery Funerary Art
  5. "St. Louis recognizes community organization for cleaning up historic African-American cemetery". FOX 2. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  6. Holleman, Joe. "'Still a struggle': Against odds, Father Dickson Cemetery preserves Black history". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
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