Union Cemetery

GPS Coordinates: 39.075679, -94.581167
County: Jackson
Record count: 15

Ownership: City of Kansas City, MO

Directions: Located south of downtown, follow Main St. south to E 27th St., and turn left. Take an immediate right on Grand Blvd and enter the cemetery through here.

Background: Union Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, is the city's oldest surviving public cemetery. It was founded on November 9, 1857, as the private shareholder-owned corporation, Union Cemetery Assembly. The cemetery originated from the need to serve two boomtowns—West Port and the Town of Kansas—after the 1849 cholera pandemic filled their local cemeteries.

On November 9, 1857, while the newly incorporated City of Kansas had a population of about 4,000, a special act of the Missouri General Assembly founded the Union Cemetery Assembly as a for-profit corporation. James M. Hunter deeded 49 acres of his farmland to the corporation. The cemetery flourished by 1873 as a well-funded, landscaped destination but declined through neglect by 1910.

In 1936, the association voted to deed the cemetery to the city, which in 1937 turned it into a public park. The Union Cemetery Historical Society was founded in 1984 to maintain the grounds and conduct tours.

Burial Records

• Union Confederate Monument Site, by Interment.net, April 17, 2025, (15 records)

Have transcription data to add?

Add a transcription