Washington Park Cemetery North

Indexes

Cemetery History

In a time when most cemeteries were racially segregated, Washington Park Cemetery was founded by businessmen Andrew Henry Watson and Joseph John Hauer as a for-profit burial place for African Americans. It became the largest African American cemetery in the St. Louis area.

Located in the City of Berkeley, Missouri, the cemetery was established in 1920 in an area that was unincorporated St. Louis County.

As Washington Park Cemetery was being developed, nearby, Albert Bond Lambert, the Aero Club of St. Louis, and the Missouri Aeronautical Society were developing an airfield that would become Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (Lambert Airport).

In 1928, the City of St. Louis purchased Lambert Airfield. Lambert - St. Louis Municipal Airfield became the first municipally owned airport in the United States.

In 1996, the City of St. Louis acquired part of Washington Park Cemetery for purposes of "aviation obstruction removals and land use compatibility" relating to Lambert Airport's Runway 12R-30L, the Airport's longest runway- 11,018 feet. Estimated cost for the project was $40 Million.

Known as Washington Park Cemetery North, the area was north of Interstate Highway I-70, east of McDonnell Boulevard, situated along the eastern-most boundary of Lambert Airport.

The "Cemetery Project"

The City's "Cemetery Project" included disinterment, transportation, and reinterment of the human remains buried in the affected area. Twenty-three cemeteries in Missouri and Illinois were utilized.

• St. Louis County, Missouri: 14 cemeteries
• St. Louis City, Missouri: 4 cemeteries
• St. Charles County, Missouri: 2 cemeteries
• Madison County, Illinois: 2 cemeteries
• St. Clair County, Illinois: 1 cemetery

The St. Louis County Circuit Court (21st Judicial Circuit) required the City to file a Report with the Court, the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds, and the St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds containing the name of each deceased person disinterred and location of reburial.

The Washington Park Cemetery-North Reinterment Index provided on this website is from the 299 page Report recorded with the St. Louis City Recorder on August 21, 2000.

The Index includes information on the reinterment of 11,974 deceased persons, including 165 persons indexed under "Doe" - Baby Doe 5, Jane Doe 88, John Doe 76.

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