Cemeteries

The St. Louis Genealogical Society has tried to identify all open, closed, historical, family, and relocated cemeteries in the area. StLGS Cemeteries

The location of each cemetery (or former cemetery) is listed based on the best knowledge and research of the St. Louis Genealogical Society volunteers.

St. Louis experienced several cholera epidemics, which are documented in reports from the Committee of Public Health. The reports provide good documentation of the difficulties at that time, plus a list of available cemeteries. A report dated 19 July 1849 states, “in a little over one hundred days six thousand persons have been committed to the grave, and this out of a population of less than sixty thousand.” The same report lists the cemeteries in 1849: “City, Holy Ghost, Lutheran, St. Vincent, German Protestant, Catholic (old), Catholic (new), Wesleyan, Methodist, Christ Church, Presbyterian, Baptist, and United Hebrew.”

A similar report dated 24 August 1866 during another cholera epidemic provides another list of cemeteries: “Arsenal Island, Holy Ghost, Rock Spring, Calvary, Wesleyan, Lutheran, Bellefontaine, Salem, St. Mark, St. Peter, Sts. Peter and Paul, Beni[sic] el Hebrew, United Hebrew, St. John, Holy Trinity, Concordia, Frieden.”

As the city expanded, it was necessary to establish regulations for the cemeteries. On 12 February 1879, the city fathers passed ordinance number 10990, apparently still in effect today, to “regulate cemeteries and the interment of the dead within the limits of the city of St. Louis.”

The ordinance lists thirteen cemeteries: Bellefontaine, Old Picker’s or Holy Ghost, Rock Spring, Wesleyan, The Western, alias Western Evangelical Lutheran, Bremen-Saxon, Calvary, Holy Trinity, St. Paul’s Evangelical, St. Peter’s and Paul’s[sic], Episcopal, Public Cemetery at City Poorhouse, and St. Matthew’s and all other cemeteries established and now in use within the present city limits of not less than two acres in extant.

The ordinance does not allow any new cemeteries or the expansion of existing facilities without city permission. It is not lawful to bury a deceased body anywhere except in a designated cemetery or face a fine of $100. The cemeteries cannot accept a body nor bury the body without a burial permit from the Health Commissioner or face a fine of $250 to $500, plus a fine for each day the body is interred without the permit.

If a person dies outside the city of St. Louis, the Health Commissioner requires a certificate from a physician or the St. Louis Coroner prior to burial. Missouri Archives Coroner Database

Several cemeteries in St. Louis City and County have changed their names or moved. Bellefontaine was established in 1849 by the city leaders and is the final resting place of many famous people. Bellefontaine Cemetery was originally called Rural Cemetery.

Many, but not all, of the graves from Old St. Marcus were moved to New St. Marcus Cemetery, which is further west on Gravois Road. Bellerive, formerly called Hiram Cemetery, was the final destination for graves relocated from Salem Methodist on Natural Bridge Road and Mt. Zion Methodist in Creve Coeur.

Mount Hope Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places. Jefferson Barracks Cemetery is part of the National Cemetery system established by Abraham Lincoln.

Further information on St. Louis cemeteries may be found in an article in the 2001 St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 34, number 4, pages 85–95.

Jewish Cemeteries

General information on cemeteries and other resources in Missouri: http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/northamerica/missouri.html
Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol ("Great House of Learning")
9125 Ladue Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63124 ; 314.991.0264
Primarily Lithuanian origins. All records are at the cemetery, indexed since 1937. 1902-1937 records (originals destroyed by fire) reconstructed and recorded in plot books which are kept current. Brief accounts in the golden and diamond jubilee books.

Six acres of land were purchased for a new cemetery on December 5, 1901. The cemetery was and remains limited to those of Orthodox faith, although they may be affiliated with any Orthodox sysnagogue. The present stone gates were constructed in 1931. A stone chapel was designed for the cemetery in 1936.
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol records by cemetery section,
click here.
B'nai Amoona ("Children of Faith")
930 North and South Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.725.2033
Cemetery holds a short entry register 1888-1895 (records 1872-1887 are lacking) and recent large plot maps which locate all identifiable graves from existing monuments and records. In 1924 the name of the cemetery was changed from Sheerith Israel ("Remnant of Israel") Cemetery to B'nai Amoona Cemetery.

The present cemetery has plots on both sides of Blackberry Lane. The smaller one to the south is 1.3 acres and dates back to 1871, when it was purchased for Sheerith Israel. In 1884 a splinter group from Sheerith Israel formed B'nai Amoona. Members of B'nai Amoona could no longer use the Sheerith Israel cemetery, so they bought an acre from Mount Sinai on Gravois Road. In 1893, however the two groups were reunited under the newer name.
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access B'nai Amoona records by cemetery section,
click here.
Chesed Shel Emeth ("Kindness of Truth") Society Cemetery
7570 Olive Street Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.721-4658 and
650 White Rd. ; Chesterfield, MO 63017 ; 314.469.1891 (main office phone number for both cemeteries)
The Chesed Shel Emeth Society was formed on November 3, 1888 by Russian Jews who had fled the murderous pogroms in the homeland. It was a chevra kadisha, literally a "holy society" for mutual assistance and especially for burial. The name, originally transcribed from the Hebrew as "Chased Shel Amas," means "Faith in the Truth". The society's first goal was a hearse, and by early 1889 enough money had been raised to begin the purchase of one by installments. A celebration was held at Beth Hamedrosh Hagodol, then located on North 7th between Cole and King, and the hearse was paraded through the streets of the neighborhood.

After the hearse was paid off in 1891, the society was able to purchase an acre and a half on the west side of Hanley at Olive on May 3, 1893. The congregation dedicated the ground on May 5 and the new fence and frame chapel on July 16 of the same year. The old gate to the original part of the cemetery can still be seen on Olive. It has a cut limestone arch inscribed in Hebrew. An adjacent 19.19 acres were purchased in 1904, but not dedicated until September, 1926. A new cemetery was launched in 1967, when thirty acres were purchased at 650 White Road, near Olive Boulevard in Chesterfield.

Chesed Shel Emeth did not originally intend to have its own synagogue. It concentrated on providing free burials to all, treating rich and poor equally, so that indigent families need feel no shame at such a critical time. As the society succeeded at this goal it was able to turn its attention to other needs, particularly a hospital, a senior citizen's home and an orphans' home. It supported Hebrew schools both here and back in Russia and Poland. Finally in 1919, Chesed Shel Emeth moved into its own synagogue at Page and Euclid. A new University City building, at North & South and Gannon, was built in 1950. The congregation remained Orthodox in its philosophy but finally disbanded in 1996, when the building was sold to Shaarei Chesed Shul.
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access Chesed Shel Emeth records by cemetery section,
click here.
Chevra Kadisha Adas B'nai Israel Vyeshurun ("Holy Society and Congregation of Israel and Yeshurun")
1601 North and South Rd. (at Page Blvd.) ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.427.0160
Indexed records and plot maps since 1922.
Began as another burial society (chevra kadisha) in 1920, when a group of interested laymen met at Zichron David Synagogue. The 10.2 acres at the corner of Page and North and South Rd were purchased on 18 January 1922. The first interment was Miriam Elka Kaplan, who died on September 22 and was buried one day before Rosh Hashana.

The cemetery society remains wholly independent of any congregation.¹
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access Chevra Kadisha Adas records by cemetery section,
click here.
Chevra Kadisha Ohave Sholom ("Holy Society of Loving Peace")
7561 Drexel Dr. ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.721.0026

The most recent Jewish cemetery established in the city, primarily serving German immigrants, Holocaust survivors, and their families. The cemetery was founded in 1937 by Brith Sholom ("Covenant of Peace") with burials begining in 1942 (Rosenbloom Monument Company map identifies many of those interred). Records are available through association president.

In 1937 a group of German-Jewish refugees formed Chevra Kadisha Ohave Shalom. The group had cultural evenings, performed the ritual preparation of the dead for burial, and helped new arrivals, including survivors of the Holocaust after World War II. Religious services were held on high holy days at Berger Memorial Funeral Home, but although membership grew to a high of 1,800 members, a decision was made not to make Ohave Sholom a full synagogue.

The group acquired a plot of ground measuring 88 by 91 feet from Brith Sholom in 1949. The careful maintenance is done by the staff of Chevra Kadisha Cemetery. In 1952 the Wesleyan Cemetery closed in 1952 and its site became a grocery store. Brith Sholom sold their remaining land in 1958 to the Jewish Community Centers Association, which built a large community center building.
Find A Grave
This website provides grave site information and tombstone images. Information is supplied by volunteers.
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
Mount Sinai Cemetery Association
The original German minutes since 1868 (and an English typescript, also at the St. Louis Jewish Archives), listing burials and including the identified removals in 1872. A reconstructed single graves book which gives name and location beginning with the earliest burials. A death register, indexed by initial, with entries starting in 1853. All but the minutes were microfilmed in 1972, and the American Jewish Archives holds a copy.
New Mount Sinai Cemetery Association
8430 Gravois Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63123 ; 314.353.2540
New Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association is a non-profit religious corporation providing mausoleum and in-ground burial arrangements for Jews and non-Jewish spouses throughout the St. Louis area. Owned by B'nai El, Shaare Emeth and Temple Israel, the association was established in 1859.
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access New Mount Sinai records by cemetery section,
click here.
Sheerith Israel
Now part of B'nai Amoon Cemetery.
United Hebrew
7855 Canton Ave (at North and South Rd.) ; St. Louis, MO 63130 ; 314.727.9524
The congregation and trustees' minutes record all early burials; the indexed cemetery death register, at the synagogue, records burials, beginning in 1849 to the present. It includes the names of those removed in 1880, when the cemetery was cleared, who were transferred to the current UH cemetery (called Mount Olive unitl 1960). The St. Louis Genealogical Society published an extensive and useful transcription of United Hebrew Congregation tombstone inscriptions in the older section of the current cemetery in "Old Cemeteries", vol. 1982.

The main gate was originally on North & South, and chapel there was used to prepare bodies for burial accoding to Orthodoz practice. Twenty acres to the west of the original cemetery were purchased in 1929. Where the new caretaker's residence was built in 1962, the old chapel was demolished, along with the former caretaker's residence.
To access the JGS Cemetery Database records by name or soundex search,
click here.
To access United Hebrew records by cemetery section,
click here.
Valhalla Cemetery Crematory and Mausoleum Co.
Cemetery Office: 7600 St. Charles Rock Rd. ; St. Louis, MO 63133 ; 314.863.3011
Jewish law prohibits cremation. Those who elected cremation might be interred here.

Bibliography

Amsler, Kevin. Final Resting Place: The Lives & Deaths of Famous St. Louisans. St. Louis: Virginia Publisher, 1997.

Boehning, Ross William. Burial Book, St. John’s Evangelical Church Cemetery, 1293 St. Cyr., St. Louis, Mo 63137: 7 Feb 1859–17 Jan 1998. Maryland Heights, Missouri: R. W. Boehning, 1998.

Boehmke, Karl, and LaVerne. Western Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery 1877–1910. St. Louis: privately printed, 1994.

Fusco, Tony. The Story of the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. St. Louis: T. Fusco, 1967.

Giulvezan, Isabel Stebbins. Sappington Cemetery, 1811–1970: Crestwood, St. Louis County, Missouri. Affton, Missouri: John Sappington Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 1982.

Hamilton, Esley. The cemeteries of University City ; U. City, MO : The Historical Society of University City, c1998.

Landmarks Association of St. Louis. Tombstone Talks: Landmarks Tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery, October 25, 1970. St. Louis: Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 1970.

Lutton, Cecilia, and Maurita Lutton. Mt. Olive Cemetery (Catholic), Mt. Olive Road, St. Louis County (Lemay). St. Louis: Lutton & Lutton, 1984.

Morris, Ann. Sacred Green Space: A Survey of Cemeteries in St. Louis County. St. Louis: A. Morris, 2000.

Rawlings, Keith. Gone But Not Forgotten: Quinette Cemetery, a Slave Burial Ground, est. 1866. Kirkwood, Missouri: Youth in Action, Inc., 2003.

Social Statistics of the Cities, 2 volumes. U.S. Census 1880.

St. Louis Genealogical Society. Old Cemeteries: St. Louis County, Missouri. 6 volumes. St. Louis Genealogical Society, 1982–2003.

St. Louis Genealogical Society. Catholic Cemeteries, CD-ROM, 2002.

St. Louis Genealogical Society. St. Louis Burials, CD-ROM, 2003.

Washington Park Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri, Reinterments. St. Louis: privately printed, 2001.

Wotaway, Shirley. History of St. Peter’s Cemetery. St. Louis: S. Wotaway, 2004.

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