StarTribune Cemetery Article 04-26-2014JERRY HOLT• jerry.holt@startribu .corn
Erick Perez Flores removed grave marking poles in the pioneer section of the BloomingtonCemeteryon Wednesday. The cemeteery �nras established in 1856.
,,'e'c q'P i gad. ne 'Cy"( 14
Givin new .ie to ocemetery
Bloomington may expand cemetery started in 1856 and broaden eligibility on who can be buried -there.
By MARY JANE SMETANKA • smetan@stutribme.com
Amid the daily hubbub of managing Minneso-
ta's fifth-largest city, the mayor and city manager of
Bloomington make time for a humble duty: signing
the title for every burial plot sold in the city's historic
cemetery.
In the pioneer section of Bloomington Cemetery
rest missionary Gideon Pond, who came to Minnesota
in 1834, and Susan, a 10 -year-old Dakota girl whose 1856
stone tells the dramatic story of her death with the word
"MURDERED." There are monuments to Civil War vet-
erans and pioneers.
Unlike some cities, Bloomington is not content to
let its historic cemetery molder. The city is moving to
extend the cemetery's life, adding land and perhaps
broadening the rules on who can be buried there.
Together, those measures could ensure that the cem-
etery is used for at least 25 more years.
"When the cemetery was established, it was farm
folks and families that lived here in the township," City
Man ac nr AttarL Rar.,ha..icn., cu;A MIT.'— - 1n 11,E
sc y
e ve Come
point where it's not just mom, dad and the kids and people
V V
who lived here and die here.
to
"Relationships are different, we have a more rapidly
the Point
changing population. Does that come into play or not?
where it's not
That's what we're exploring."
The cemetery, at 10340 Lyndale Av. S, was established
in 1856 by Oak Grove Presbyterian Church. The oldest
Just mom, dad
cemetery records were kept by Pond, who moved to
what is now Bloomington in 1842-43 and was one of the
and the kids
church's founders.
The earliest graves are at the cemetery's south side.
andle
mans known by a single name, pioneers who died lin-
eeo P
gering, painful deaths, and babies are buried there. Early
who lived here
gravestones bear pioneer names now familiar to Bloom -
ington
residents in street signs and parks: Bush, Hyland,
and die here.'
Stanley, Kell and Bailiff.
When the church moved in 1864, the cemetery became
Mark Bernhardson,
the city's. Originally about 4 acres in size, according to a
city history, it has been expanded at least three times and
Bloomington city manager
now is 8.5 acres. It has about 4,500 plotted grave sites,
some 350 of them still for sale.
Bloomington looking to give
new life to an old cemetery
+CENETERYfrom Bl
If burials continue at the
current rate, the cemetery
would fill up in about six years.
With Bloomington's popula-
tion aging, family character-
istics changing and crema-
tion becoming more popular,
it was time to re-examine how
things work at the cemetery,
said City Clerk Janet Lewis,
who has responsibility for its
operations.
A city task force brain-
stormed about how to make
the cemetery more financially
self-sufficient. The cemetery
trust fund had about $1.2 mil-
lion in it at the end of 2013; each
year, the city spends $150,000
to $200,000 for maintenance
such as mowing and watering.
Ideas were presented to
the City Council late last year.
There are plans for a better
cemetery road with a turn-
around, a new sign, a covered
area to offer shelter during bad
weather and a columbarium
for cremated remains.
Most dramatically, the cem-
etery could again expand.
Bloomington owns 2.5 acres of
vacant land just to the north of
the cemetery. And the city is
interested in purchasing 10 lots
between that land and Lyndale
Avenue, making the expanded
cemetery one big rectangle.
The city is already negotiat-
ing with one willing property
owner.
"We want voluntary acquisi-
tion only," Lewis said.
Bernhardson said that
ideally, money to buy the lots
would come from the ceme-
tery fund, though if properties
came on the market all at once,
the city could finance the deals
and pay itself back from cem-
etery revenues.
' Ifwehavetheopportunityto
JERRY HOLT •jerry.holt@startribme.cum
In the pioneer section of Bloomington Cemetery is the grave of
Susan, a 10 -year-old Dakota girl who was murdered in 1856. The
cemetery is under review for historic status.
buy property right now, we will
take advantage of that as things
become available." he said.
Who shmild be buried them?
Still left unsettled is the
issue of opening the cemetery
to more people. Now, burials
are open to people who were
living in Bloomington when
they died, or who had lived in
the city for at least 10 years.
The spouses of those people
as well as their children and
the kids' spouses are also eli-
gible.
The city is waiting for City
Council members to weigh
in on any changes, which
could include reducing the
residence requirement to five
years, including the parents of
qualifying residents, or allow-
ing people who don't qualify
by residency to pay higher
fees for a burial plot or crema-
tion niche. Now, a burial plot
costs $1,400 — less, Lewis
said, than at many other cem-
eteries.
v5 vi W 98th St.
W.10Ath6t. �� 'z"
W106th St. CBl n
RAYGRUMNEY • StarThbane
Bloomington Cemetery is
under review for historic sta-
tus, which could affect how
much change occurs in at least
the oldest part of the ceme-
tery, Lewis said. Proposals for
change or repairs would have
to be submitted to the state.
With about $70,000 a year
coming in each year in burial
plot sales, Bernhardson said he
thinks there is a good chance
the cemetery could become
self-supporting. But he said
the city intends to be flexible
about that.
As the son of a small-town
Lutheran minister, he said he
knows how important ritu-
als surrounding death and
places of remembrance are to
people.
"This is a long-term ser-
vice that we made available
to the people of Bloomington
over the years, and we figured
out how to keep it going for a
while," Bernhardson said.
"You kind of look at it as a
trust. People put their money
in and expect perpetual care.
We are trying to be sustainable
in that."
Mary lane Smetanka • 612-673-7380