By Town Vines Staff
Tell City’s first community cemetery was formally dedicated on Sunday, June 15, 1862. For more than a year, the city’s leaders acquired land initially set aside by the Swiss Colonization Society as a marketplace. The cemetery has been an enduring part of the community’s heritage for more than 160 years.
The first person to be buried in the newly-created cemetery was four-month-old Mary Magdaline Schubert on June 3, 1862; while several weeks later, John Fricke, age 21, was the first adult to be buried. Originally, grave sites were laid out for people under 12 years of age, adults, families, and individuals.
The cemetery has evolved significantly over the decades. By 1926, all available lots had been sold and the City Council embarked on Greenwood Cemetery’s first expansion along with adding paved streets, curbing, and formal landscaping. Since then, Greenwood Cemetery has been expanded to seven sections. The first mausoleum was constructed in 2002, with space set aside for three more.
Greenwood Cemetery remains an important part of Tell City’s infrastructure, continuing to serve families while preserving the community’s history and honoring those who helped build the city from its earliest days.