Judge approves bid on trustee for Shady Grove Cemetery

During its Thursday, April 4, meeting, the Cape Girardeau County Commission listened to a report from the county archive center’s director Marybeth Niederkorn about updates to a historic cemetery.

On March 28, Judge Benjamin Lewis of the Missouri 32nd Judicial Circuit Court approved a bid from Shady Grove Heritage and Preservation Organization to become the new trustee of Shady Grove Cemetery near Dutchtown.

“This group determined that trusteeship was necessary,” Niederkorn said. “They contacted an attorney that worked on their behalf to bring this together.”

The original trustees from the cemetery’s foundation in 1891 all died by 1939. Individuals whose ancestors were buried there joined together to form the heritage and preservation organization with the goal of restoring the cemetery.

Formerly enslaved African Americans used Shady Grove Cemetery after the Civil War and throughout the early 20th century. Burials slowed down after that, with the last recorded one taking place in 1972.

Overall, around 250 were buried in the cemetery.

Caretakers serviced it but it gradually fell into disrepair.

The cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in June 2022 through the efforts of the descendants of the people buried there.

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The commissioners also approved a pay request from Jackson-based Penzel Construction for 1908 Courthouse renovations. The request’s $296,399.12 came out of the county’s Capital Improvement Fund.