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Photos by Chris Naffziger
Damaged headstones in Pacific Cemetery.
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Photos by Chris Naffziger
Damaged headstones in Pacific Cemetery.
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Photos by Chris Naffziger
Damaged headstones in Pacific Cemetery.
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Photos by Chris Naffziger
Damaged headstones in Pacific Cemetery.
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Photos by Chris Naffziger
Damaged headstones in Pacific Cemetery.
The early months of 2017 were rough for cemeteries in the St. Louis region. From University City to Pacific, vandals struck at least four individual cemeteries, pushing over hundreds of stone gravestones, irreparably damaging many of them. Most prominent out of these attacks was the vandalism of Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery, where many members of the Jewish community in St. Louis have relatives buried. The resulting repairs and cleaning of the cemetery by people of all walks of life proved that the community was not going to tolerate these crimes. Unfortunately, as of the writing of this article, the vandals have not been apprehended.
Less well known, covered only briefly in local news, was the vandalism of three cemeteries that have served the Pacific community of Franklin County since the 19th century. On March 29, after an apparent night of partying, teenagers vandalized the graves of at least 100, possibly 150 burials between the cemeteries on or near Orr Street. Fortunately, the vandals were caught, but their admissions of guilt could do little to upright so many toppled pieces of granite and limestone. Likewise, the amount of money that can be ordered in restitution, even if it is paid by the teenagers, is nowhere near enough money to fix all of the toppled stones.
Thankfully, the damaged graves at Sunset Memorial Cemetery and Saint Bridget Cemetery, a Roman Catholic property, have been repaired. But that leaves Pacific City Cemetery, the largest, with dozens of tombstones knocked over. I met up with Ginger Collins-Justus, a local cemetery expert, and Marc Houseman of the Franklin County Cemetery Society last week at the city-run cemetery, with burials dating back to at least the 1860s. It was immediately clear that the estimate of 100 desecrated gravestones is accurate. Huge blocks of granite, having now rested, overturned on the ground for almost four months, are slowly sinking into the soft earth.
For the most part, it seems like the granite monuments seem to be in acceptable condition. Houseman explains that more damage to even the dense stone blocks may be revealed when the stones are upright. He showed me scratches on the front of one granite monument, now face down at an awkward angle, which cannot be fixed even if the block is reset in its base. Likewise, softer limestone, which was frequently used in the oldest burial monuments before railroad connections opened up harder stone for gravestones, have suffered the most. One obelisk, already weathered heavily due to the passage of time, lay in at least four pieces. The cracks in the monument will always show, even after it is pieced back together. Some stones were damaged when neighboring stones fell over and hit them.
“There are several that will be difficult, at best, to repair. We’re reaching out into the community, to local monument companies, for help,” Houseman explains the Society’s hope for assistance in fixing the broken stones, “We have the equipment to lift some good-sized stones, but many companies have cranes that can lift them much more easily.”
The Society has official permission from the City of Pacific to begin work on repairing and righting the vandalized tombstones. On Saturday, July 29 at 9 a.m. is their target date for a community work date to start fixing the cemetery’s damaged monuments.
“We’re hoping to have a good group of people here to help, “Houseman says, “We’ll be here all day.”
I hope readers will consider coming out and helping with the Society’s efforts to right this wrong. There are all sorts of opportunities to contribute, even if someone is not able to physically help. Collins-Justus says that even donating bottled water for volunteers working in the hot, humid summer weather would be appreciated. The drive from downtown St. Louis is only about 40 minutes, just a few minutes past Six Flags. Even coming out for a couple of hours will help enormously in fixing this terrible vandalism.
For more information and updates, go to the Cemetery Workday Facebook events page.
Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via email at naffziger@gmail.com.
