About this property
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. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 2004, and the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in 2024. 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. 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. Volunteers from the Greenwood Cemetery Preservation Association have worked to maintain the grounds and preserve African American history. Other nearby historic African American cemetery include the Washington Park Cemetery (1920), Father Dickson Cemetery (1903), and Quinette Cemetery (1866). Lucy A. Delaney (1830–1910), activist, writer, and seamstress Mary Johnson (1898 or 1900–1983), classic female blues singer, accordionist and songwriter Harriet Robinson Scott (1815–1876), wife of Dred Scott Lee Shelton (1865–1912; also known as "Stagger" Lee), American folk figure Charlton Tandy (1836–1919), public official, civil rights activist, lawyer, newspaper publisher National Register of Historic Places listings in St. Louis County, Missouri U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Greenwood Cemetery
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Greenwood Cemetery
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Questions about this property
When was Greenwood Cemetery listed on the National Register?
Greenwood Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 24, 2004.
What type of historic resource is Greenwood Cemetery?
Greenwood Cemetery is classified as a site in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Greenwood Cemetery?
The period of significance for Greenwood Cemetery is recorded as the civil_war era, specifically around 1874.
Can I research the history near Greenwood Cemetery?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Greenwood Cemetery will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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An Aubrey US report for an address near Greenwood Cemetery will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.