Missouri—Boonville—Walnut Grove Cemetery

On September 11, 1901, T. A. Johnson, President of the Walnut Grove Cemetery Board and also the President of Kemper Military School in Boonville, was authorized to employ George Kessler, a landscape architect, to coordinate the three distinct and different sections of the cemetery [Walnut Grove] into one master plan.46 George Kessler set to work in Walnut Grove and on January 17, 1902, the Board was presented a master plan. Meeting at Sombart Mill on the south bank of the Missouri River (the local M.F. A. Elevator in 1989), the Board reviewed the proposed plan. C. A. Sombart was long time secretary of the Board and since there was no office at the cemetery, it is probable that all the records were kept at Sombart Mill at that time.52 After discussing the plan, W. M. Williams moved for acceptance with two alterations, an entrance on the east side (which was done) and walks through some of the lots. Even though no master plan still exists on paper from Kessler, the Board minutes reveal that Walnut Grove Cemetery followed the master plan exactly as presented with the two additions. Walnut Grove Cemetery, Boonville, Missouri Originally titled: "Walnut Grove Cemetery: The Outstanding Rural-Park Cemetery in a Municipality" Chapter Six in a Doctoral Thesis by Mary Ellen Harshbarger McVicker titled Reflections of Change: Death and Cemeteries in the Boonslick Region of Missouri University of Missouri-Columbia, May, 1989

 

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