Olathe Memorial Cemetery, est. 1865

About the Cemetery

"The cemetery was laid out in 1864, by Watts Beckwith, who originally owned the site. The first burial was on April 30, 1865, the body being that of Miss Eloria Beckwith. The second grave to be dug in Olathe cemetery was for Edwin M. Inlow, who was buried on the 5th day of May, 1865. Up to Saturday, Jun 10, 1905, 787 bodies had been buried in Olathe cemetery. In the original plat there was contained ten acres, but the ground now enclosed and available includes about forty-five acres. Of this about twenty-six acres have been platted. The first addition to the original cemetery grounds was made in 1875, and the second addition was made in 1890. The soldiers' burying group was laid out and the handsome monument erected in 1893."

Mirror Publishing Company. The Olathe Mirror, 15 Jun 1905, Thu., Volume XLVII., Number 25, page 1. 

Olathe was established in 1857, and the original burial ground was at Church Square. The first railroad through Olathe opened in 1868, the year Kansas gained Statehood. Because the railroad was to be located right next to the burial grounds, identified graves were removed to Beckwith's new cemetery. 

The City of Olathe purchased the Beckwith cemetery in 1879 and added land in 1889. In the 1970s, Northgate Street was widened and inadvertently covered an old portion of a potter's field of unmarked graves. This area may have included those graves that were moved from the original cemetery. A memorial was unveiled on April 27, 2008, with 76 names of those known from the original cemetery.

The northern two-thirds of the cemetery, the oldest portion, is laid out in rectangular sections and blocks, and raised block markers were installed. The northeast side of the cemetery contains a potter's field and is the area that was impacted by the street expansion.

The southernmost 1/3 of the cemetery was designed in circular and semi-circular patterns, making row notations impossible. Other features in the southernmost section include a baby section, a Civil War Memorial dedicated in 1893, a World War I Memorial dedicated in 1926, a DAR Memorial dedicated May 13, 1934, and a small columbarium.

The cemetery is owned and managed by the City of Olathe. See the Olathe Cemetery website.

738 N Chestnut St, Olathe, KS
Section 26, Township 13S, Range 23E
38° 53' 46" N, 94° 49' 02" W
38.8961, -94.8172