The Mount Vernon city council approved the creation of a cemetery commission with the third and final reading of an ordinance Monday, July 15.
The Mount Vernon Cemetery Commission will be comprised of five members of the community, with terms of three years. According to the ordinance, no more than one third of members’ terms will expire in any one year. People interested in serving on the commission should contact Mayor Tom Wieseler or members of the Mount Vernon city staff to apply.
The commission is an advisory board to the Mount Vernon city council concerning the cemetery ordinance, budget and operations, as well as long range planning issues.
The commission will encourage the preservation and protection of historical cemetery grounds, as well as document and archive factual cemetery history. They will also oversee headstone and other permanent grave marking restoration efforts.
The commission will make an annual report to the mayor and council of it’s proceedings, including a statement of receipts, disbursements and progress of their work during the preceding fiscal year.
The commission will have full authority to expend for and on behalf of the city any moneys allocated to the commission.
The creation of the cemetery commission has been discussed for more than five years, spurred most recently by the derecho and damage discovered at the cemetery.
Mary Evans with the Mount Vernon Historical Preservation Commission, provided information to the council during the June 17 council meeting about the history of the need for a cemetery commission.
“The cemetery is a biography of the people who founded the town. Those who are buried in this cemetery illustrate Mount Vernon’s growth and development over the years,” Evans wrote. “The town’s history can be seen in the headstones of the interred. They helped Mount Vernon grow and prosper — from the early settlers not heeding the call of the westward movement, through the growth of Cornell College, the advancement of the railroad era, and the modern businesses in the NRHP designated Historic Commercial District.”
Veterans are an integral part of the Mount Vernon Cemetery. Veterans were honored by the American Legion Howard Hahn Post 480 with a 35 foot x 35 foot cemetery memorial in 2015.
In 2012, 69 Civil War graves were identified and honored with new markers in the cemetery.
In 2021, John C. Heider, a gravestone conservation specialist, identified more than 100 gravestones with serious conditions including graves broken, leaning or buried. Many military markers were identified as needing attention.
Aside from the gravestone conservation, there are a number of significant trees also in the cemetery.
Justin Myers, tree and shrub manager for Cedar River Garden Center in Palo, conducted a walkthrough of the cemetery to investigate trees there.
“The Sugar Maple is quite a glorious specimen at 120 years old and the Red Norway Maple is at least 70 years, and you don’t see them this size very often,” Myers said. “There are some truly amazing trees out at the cemetery.”
“Over the years memorial Norway Spruces have been planted in the cemetery, several are over 100 years old. One Eastern Red Cedar, native to eastern Iowa, near the Carhart grave has good branching, full glory, one of the largest I have ever seen.”
The Burr Oak tree by the cemetery gate is close to 200 years old. This Burr Oak was alive when the Sac and Meskwaki (Fox) were traveling back & forth to the Flint Hills along the Red Cedar River 3 miles south of the cemetery.