Evergreen Cemetery In 1873, local lumber company Knapp, Stout & Company, Co. provided fifty-two acres to establish a proper burial site. They hired landscape architects, William Merchant Richardson French and Horace Shaler Cleveland, to design the cemetery. French's plan reflects the natural contours of the land and incorporating native trees and shrubs.
In 1904 the company transferred ownership to lot owners, who formed the Cemetery Association. Evergreen became an island when planners raised Lake Menomin for a new dam in 1955. The City built a causeway the next year. Evergreen Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Contributors include: GMACF, Menomonie Patriotic Council, Menomonie Rotary Club, Olson Funeral Home, Schendel Family, Talen Trust, Thurin Family, & VFW Auxiliary.
Earliest Evergreen BurialsThe single grave section of Evergreen Cemetery contains 1,111 graves though many are unmarked and others display monuments in poor condition. Most burials occurred before 1900 and written burial records tell us much about early life in Menomonie.
The many familiar local names reflect the predominant Norwegian and German heritage of the area. Burial records list illnesses and causes of death common between the 1870s and 1900s. About one-third of those buried here died as children, reflecting the high infant mortality and childhood disease rates of that period. Records reveal suicides, murders and mysterious deaths. Many died of epidemic diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and influenza, but only a few died of old age.
Erected 2009
Wisconsin Historical Society
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