Collection: Saint Paul Churchyard - Affton

Early in its history, St. Paul Evangelical Church in St. Louis, Missouri, decided to prepare a fitting resting place for its beloved dead. The first cemetery consecrated in 1856 was situated on Gravois and Wilmington Road. When it became necessary to expand, a second plot between Gravois and Kingshighway was established in 1893 for $20,000. When, in 1926, the city denied the privilege of further sale of lots due to the city’s rapid expansion, and when it became apparent that both Gravois and Kingshighway would be widened and paved at considerable expense to adjacent property owners, the congregation decided to abandon the old sites, purchase new acreage in St. Louis County, and move the graves and markers to the new site. A 125-acre tract on Rock Hill Road (part of the historic Ulysses S. Grant Farm, Whitehaven) was purchased for approximately $75,000. About 50 acres of this was surveyed, laid out in sections, and consecrated for burial purposes. The site was beautifully landscape