The Monticello Historical Society maintains this 150-year-old graveyard and offers tours by appointment.
In 1884, the Union Cemetery Company purchased five acres from F. L. and Mary C. Kueker for $275. Yet, with the oldest grave dating to 1860, these grounds were already known locally as a cemetery. In 1895, citizens built a Civil War monument at the center of the cemetery with mounds of four cannon balls marking each of its corners and a cannon pointed west.
On Memorial Days, there were programs with prayers, music, and speeches by local dignitaries, recitation of the Gettysburg Address, and firing the cannon. People would bring flowers from their yards and gardens to tidy up their family graves.
Today Union Cemetery is still an active burial location and a telling vestige of generations of life and memorial traditions.
Contact Information
75th & Gleason
Shawnee, KS 66216
Phone: 913-667-3706
Location Type
Monument
Walking Tours
