Washington Park Cemetery

Washington Park Cemetery was founded in 1920 by businessmen Andrew Henry Watson and Joseph John Hauer as a for-profit, perpetual-care burial site for African Americans, eventually becoming the largest African-American cemetery in the St. Louis region at the time.{{cite web |title=About the Cemetery: The History of Washington Park Cemetery |url=http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/washington-park/about-cemetery |website=Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place |publisher=Washington University Digital Gateway |access-date=1 August 2019 |language=en}} Whites opposed the construction of the cemetery{{cite news |last1=Arnold |first1=Willis |title='Something has to be done': Telling the story of one of the oldest black cemeteries in St. Louis |url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/something-has-be-done-telling-story-one-oldest-black-cemeteries-st-louis#stream/0 |access-date=1 August 2019 |publisher=St. Louis Public Radio |date=March 2, 2017 |language=en}} and though Watson and Hauer were supportive of segregationist notions regarding land rights, equal interment, and use of public parks, they defended the rights of black visitors to picnic on the grounds. As a result, they were the subject of criticism for, “disrupting bucolic country land with the presence of black St. Louisans.”

Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, the cemetery was impacted by three construction projects. In the late 1950s, 75 acres were claimed for Interstate 70,{{cite journal |last1=Colten |first1=Jennifer |title=Washington Park Cemetery: Then and Now |journal=Places Journal |date=June 2017 |issue=2017 |doi=10.22269/170601 |url=https://placesjournal.org/article/washington-park-cemetery-then-and-now/?cn-reloaded=1 |access-date=1 August 2019 |language=en|doi-access=free }} which bisected the cemetery's property and paved over graves. In 1972, an expansion to the St. Louis Lambert International Airport claimed nine acres. In 1992, an expansion to St. Louis's light rail system, MetroLink, claimed more land. Across these three projects, an estimated 11,974 to 13,600 bodies were disinterred and relocated, resulting in some families losing track of their ancestral graves.

The cemetery ceased business operations in the late 1980s. Local activists and media have highlighted the cemetery for its management, disrepair, and for billboards placed in the cemetery's grounds.{{cite news|last1=Benchaabane|first1=Nassim|date=Jun 16, 2018|title=Billboards tower above headstones in run-down, historic black cemetery. One volunteer says they must go. Others see wider concerns.|publisher=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/billboards-tower-above-headstones-in-run-down-historic-black-cemetery/article_93d51c6d-df62-5dd0-826f-6ec51b59f7b3.html|access-date=1 August 2019}}{{cite news|last1=Salter|first1=Jim|date=April 23, 2019|title=Billboards Above African-American Cemetery Prompt Lawsuit|publisher=U.S. News & World Report|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/missouri/articles/2019-04-23/billboards-above-african-american-cemetery-prompt-lawsuit|access-date=1 August 2019}} In August 2020, those billboards were removed from the cemetery after a lawsuit settlement between billboard company, DDI Media, and area resident Wanda Brandon's activist group, the Washington Park Cemetery Anti-Desecration League.{{Cite news|last=Hurwitz|first=Sophie|date=August 23, 2020|title=Billboards removed from Washington Park Cemetery|work=The St. Louis American|url=http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/billboards-removed-from-washington-park-cemetery/article_578a09e2-c873-11ea-afba-c7167318167f.html}}

News reports in 2019 stated that the city of Berkeley would be purchasing the cemetery in 2019 for $30.{{cite web|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/berkeley-to-buy-long-troubled-historic-black-cemetery/article_9a98fa52-d39b-59a7-9c5f-2e0d9d258d62.html|title= Berkeley to buy long-troubled, historic black cemetery|first=Nassim|last=Benchaabane|publisher=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|date=October 9, 2019|access-date=October 27, 2019}} Restoration efforts at the cemetery by various volunteer groups are ongoing, in hopes of turning this into a heritage site. {{as of|December 2022}}, the city's website states that the cemetery remains in private hands.{{cite web | url=https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/recorder/archives/washington-park-cemetery.cfm | title=Washington Park Cemetery North | accessdate=23 December 2022}} Another news report, in March 2022, stated that the cemetery is in a trust held by St. Louis County because of unpaid taxes.{{cite news | url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-03-25/washington-park-cemetery-volunteers-vow-to-correct-historic-black-gravesites-neglect | title=Washington Park Cemetery volunteers vow to correct historic Black gravesite's neglect | work=St. Louis Public Radio | date=March 25, 2022 | accessdate=23 December 2022 | author=Woodbury, Emily}}

Other nearby historic African American cemeteries include the Greenwood Cemetery (1874), Father Dickson Cemetery (1903), and Quinette Cemetery (1866).{{Cite web|last=Holleman|first=Joe|title='Still a struggle': Against odds, Father Dickson Cemetery preserves Black history|url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/still-a-struggle-against-odds-father-dickson-cemetery-preserves-black-history/article_d763faba-5603-570d-81d5-89948466a1a4.html|access-date=2021-12-31|website=STLtoday.com|language=en}}

• Miles Dewey Davis Jr. (1898–1962) – dental surgeon and father of jazz musician Miles Davis.{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Terri |title=Buried Legacies: Selected Notable Individuals Buried at Washington Park Cemetery |url=http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/washington-park/about-cemetery/buried-legacies |website=Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place |publisher=Washington University Digital Gateway |access-date=1 August 2019 |language=en |format=.jpg}}
• Jessie Housley Holliman (1905–1984) – an educator, muralist, printmaker, and commercial artist.{{Cite journal |last=Blumenfeld |first=Jacob |date=2021 |title=Jessie Housley |url=https://missouriartists.org/person/morem157/ |access-date=December 3, 2022 |website=Missouri Remembers: Artists in Missouri through 1951 |language=en-US |doi=10.37764/5776|s2cid=240991196 |url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}
• Joseph E. Mitchell (1876–1952) and William Mitchell (1896–1945) – brothers who co-founded the St. Louis Argus.
• Charles Hubbard Thompson (1891–1964) – ragtime pianist and composer, known for "Lily Rag."
• George L. Vaughn (1885–1950) – attorney, known for representing J.D. Shelley in the Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer (1948).

• List of cemeteries in the United States

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.savingwashingtonpark.com/ Saving Washington Park Cemetery] website
• {{Find a Grave cemetery}}

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Category:Berkeley, Missouri

Category:Cemeteries in St. Louis

Category:African-American history in St. Louis

Category:1920 establishments in Missouri

Category:1980 disestablishments in Missouri

Category:African-American cemeteries in Missouri

Category:Cemeteries established in the 1920s