Collection: Evergreen Cemetery Assn-Brainerd

The Evergreen Cemetery Association owns and manages Evergreen Cemetery in Brainerd and the Memorial Gardens Cemetery just north of Brainerd. The Association has been in operation for over a century. In 1870, the Northern Pacific Railway was building out its railroad system westward from Duluth. A settlement called "The Crossing" sprung up where the railroad crossed the Mississippi River and was incorporated as the City of Brainerd in 1871. Early burials in the area were informal but within a few years a location northeast of Brainerd (now within the city limits) became the accepted public burial ground. In 1879, a group of citizens decided that a formal organization was needed to sell lots, record burials and properly maintain the grounds, and thus was born the Evergreen Cemetery Association.