There’s been a terrible new development at the Western Lutheran Cemetery in The Greater Ville. Sometime in the last year or so, the neighbors of the cemetery have turned the eastern portion into a junkyard, full of abandoned, broken down vehicles and other rubbish. And yes, I can confirm where the property lines are, and beyond a doubt this is on cemetery property.
I have to admit I was just a tad bit anxious as I went in to photograph the scene, and as I walked in the entrance, I was confronted with a cat, motionless, staring at me. I took the message to be that I should not proceed any further for my own safety and took my photos quickly and beat a hasty exit.
I have confirmed that there are in fact at least three to five thousand burials still present in the cemetery, and as you can see above, there is a gravestone only twenty or so feet from one of the abandoned, junked trucks. In fact, there is now a dirt track or road that leads from the entrance over to the junkyard, over what is most likely actual graves. I have seen the plat map for this cemetery, so I know where they are.
I was also shocked at how just insanely overgrown the cemetery has become. I first discovered it back in 2017, and it was fairly well-kept if a little shaggy. Now it’s just totally out of control. Who is responsible for the regulation of cemeteries in Missouri? This is just really shameful and wrong.
Is this an abandoned cemetery and no longer getting perpetual care?
I think it would be considered abandoned. I don’t know its legal status.
Breaks my heart. Who even owns it? I have many ancestors buried here, alas.
3,118 Western Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery Memorials https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1418143/memorial-search?page=9#sr-29580348
There are no regulations regarding inactive cemeteries it seems. And as far as abandoned property, that is another can of worms. If the property is abandoned, you can file claims with the state to obtain ownership. Sage Chapel Cemetery, an African American Cemetery started in 1881 and is on the National Register was endangered for that reason. The City of O’Fallon MO (Thankfully) their attorneys undertook all of the legal mumbo Jumbo paperwork to take ownership of it so that they could legally mow and maintain it, and it took them OVER two years to get title to it. They now maintain it and treat it like a park. Someone needs to contact the LUTHERAN SYNOD and alert them to what is going on here, they may not even be aware.
There have been numerous churches on the property since it was Lutheran Church. It’s currently a French-speaking Haitian Baptist Church. They may not own the property anymore. I am happy to contact the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, and at least let them know of the situation. They may decide it’s some other synod responsibility but I can at least let them know. There are thousands of unmarked graves there, mostly good staunch German Lutherans. Several dozen of those people are relatives of mine.
That would be great if you could do that. I’m not well-versed in the structure of the Lutheran church.
The District and Synod leadership has recently become aware of the situation at Western Lutheran Cemetery. We are looking into getting volunteers to help clean it up. If anyone knows who currently owns the cemetery, please share that information. Immanuel Lutheran Church was not a LCMS congregation so we have to make contact with the current owners. Thanks for any help that anyone can provide!
Lee, according to deeds filed in the Recorder of Deeds office, the property was sold to the First French Speaking Baptist Church on February 27, 2023 with deed number 02282023-0193. They had an address at 5401 S. Kingshighway, where they were probably renting space from the congregation that owns that building. They also have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/FFSBCSTL
First French-speaking Baptist church, 3540 Marcus Ave., open week-ends only — Chamber of Commerce Listing: https://www.chamberofcommerce.com/business-directory/missouri/saint-louis/baptist-church/2026236022-first-french-speaking-baptist-church
It doesn’t just need to be cleaned up. It needs to be isolated and protected with very heavy- duty fencing.
The issue is that there is no fencing between where the neighbors backyards ends & where the cemetery begins. There’s an entire block with backyards that open into the cemetery
To Lee: Immanuel was one of the earliest congregations in the Synod. I once read that C. F. W. Walther served as pastor of both Trinity and Immanuel. “Western Ev. Lutheran Cemetery Association was organized by Lutheran SAXON IMMIGRANTS who had come to St. Louis City in 1839. * It was customary for congregations to have cemeteries for their own members. Members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, the SECOND Lutheran church in St. Louis, then at 15th and Morgan (now Delmar), and Zion Lutheran Church at 21st and Benton bought the land at Papin (now Marcus) and Lexington to Ashland Avenues. The Association was incorporated by Act of the Legislature and approved on February 20, 1865, as Western Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery Association, of the City of St Louis, State of Missouri It was sometimes called Papin Saxon or Paxon Cemetery. On at least one death certificate it was called Gravois Saxton. It is almost one block square.” Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1418143/western-lutheran-cemetery “Joan Zimmermann Ces
Wow, I didn’t know there was a Lutheran church building older than Trinity in Soulard. I just read from the St. Louis County Library site that, while Trinity is the “Mother Church” to Zion, IMMANUEL, and Holy Cross, while being founded in 1839, it moved to its current location in Soulard in 1865. So that would make this building five years older. Thanks for the information!” https://www.facebook.com/OurSt.LouisHiSTORY/posts/-old-zion-lutheran-church-1426-warren-stin-1839-a-group-of-german-saxon-lutheran/1074386839570597/ * See C. F. W. Walther https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._F._W._Walther https://www.cph.org/c-f-w-walther-churchman-and-theologian
To Lee Hagan: Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church at Marcus and Lexington, and its extension, Immanuel Lutheran Chapel LCMS at 11100 Old Halls Ferry Road, most certainly WAS a congregation of the LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, organized in 1847 as the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States). The Synod has no record of this? How can that be? It was part of the Lutheran High School Association of St. Louis. I was a member from the time of my baptism there in 1943, and a communicate member from 1957 until I moved to California in 1962. I attended the school from 1948 to my graduation in 1957. Rev. John Opliger was the minister. As a former member of the church which founded the cemetery along with Zion Lutheran Church LCMS, I feel ashamed of its present condition. I believe the Synod should attempt to acquire this property. After all, so many LCMS faithful are Interred here.
Immanuel was at one point a congregation of the LCMS, but left the LCMS in 1978. Immanuel was a congregation of the ELCA at the time of its closure in 2012.
I did not know that Immanuel had left the LCMS and was not in the Synod when it closed. Understandably, I took “Immanuel Lutheran Church was not a LCMS congregation” to mean that it was never LCMS. Thanks so much for the clarification.
Maybe it could be a joint LCMS/ELCA project. If the word could be spread among the congregations, at least all the StL and Missouri congregations, a decent amount of donations to support the project might be collected. I’d be happy to donate to such an effort.
Dear Chris Naffziger: Thank you so much for caring and for making this situation manifest. You are owed a debt of gratitude.