| Union Cemetery | |||||||||||
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&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Union_Cemetery_Kansas_City_entrance_sign.jpg) &sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Union_Cemetery_KCMO_potters_field_and_public_receiving_vault.jpg) The in-ground public receiving vault overlooks the northwest potter's field of graves, with countless unmarked. The Kansas City skyline includes the Kauffman Center, the Convention Center, Downtown, Crown Center, and the Western Auto Building. | |||||||||||
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| Details | |||||||||||
| Established | November 9, 1857 | ||||||||||
| Location | 227 E. 28th Terrace, Kansas City, Missouri | ||||||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39°4′32″N 94°34′52″W / 39.07556°N 94.58111°W | ||||||||||
| Owned by | KC Parks & Recreation | ||||||||||
| No. of interments | 55,000, estimated | ||||||||||
| Website | uchskc.org, kcparks.org | ||||||||||
| Find a Grave | Union Cemetery | ||||||||||
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Union Cemetery is the oldest surviving public cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.[3][4][5] It was founded on November 9, 1857, as the private shareholder-owned corporation, Union Cemetery Assembly. As a commercial enterprise remote from city limits, its 49 acres (20 ha) became a well-funded and remarkably landscaped destination by 1873.
Through the late 1800s and early 1900s, it declined into haphazard burial practices and virtually no maintenance. Some graves (including some shallow or mass graves) were permanently unmarked, unidentifiable, and human remains were scattered into the potter's field. In 1889, all records were lost when the sexton's cottage burned. In the early 1900s, human remains were inadvertently plowed and dynamited up during development of roads and businesses. A legacy of lawsuits and public campaigns from the 1910s through the 1930s led by bereaved families, including survivors of area settlers and boosters, created new leadership and city park status with accorded maintenance.
Union Cemetery is now a public park and tourist attraction occupying most of the Union Hill historic neighborhood. It neighbors the historic National World War I Museum and Memorial, Union Station, Downtown, and Crown Center. It is curated by the non-profit Union Cemetery Historical Society (launched in 1984) and maintained by the Kansas City Parks & Recreation department. Its estimated 55,000 bodies include those of hundreds of American pioneers, Kansas City boosters, and American Civil War Union veterans such as George Caleb Bingham and Johnston Lykins.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
- ^ "Union Cemetery". Kansas City Parks & Rec. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ Adler, Eric (March 26, 2023). "'A public disgrace': The forgotten desecration of bodies at Kansas City Union Cemetery". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
- ^ "History of Union Cemetery". Union Cemetery Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.