Palmer Lake Historical Society, Mar. 21 – Presentation on Monument Cemetery

By Marlene Brown

The Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS) March meeting began with introduction of 2024 President Jennine Engel, a longtime resident whose family is from Palmer Lake. Then Doug Lange, treasurer, presented a $500 check on behalf of PLHS to Sue Cook as a grant to the Spring Valley Cemetery. It is another pioneer cemetery located off County Line Road in Douglas County.

The next presentation was a charcoal drawing of Catherine McShane, wife of David McShane, one of the first homesteaders in 1865 in the Town of Palmer Lake. There has been a charcoal drawing of David McShane hanging in Lucretia Vaille Museum, but recently the picture of Catherine was found in the frame and hidden behind David’s picture. What a surprise!

The March program The Monument Cemetery was presented by John Howe and Michael Weinfeld. Howe is a member of the board for Our Community News and a former member of the Monument Board of Trustees. He has worked on many volunteer projects around town. He has worked on the cemetery project for 14 of the 18 years that he has lived in Monument, working tirelessly to find the names on plots and tombstones and identify where the information had gotten lost or misplaced. Weinfeld has worked on the project for the last six years alongside of Howe. He is one of the editors of Our Community News and was an Associated Press reporter in Washington, D.C., for 37 years.

On May 28, 1886, Charles Bissel sold 5 acres of land, where the cemetery is located, to the Town of Monument for one dollar. There were many graves already in the cemetery, including the oldest grave, that of Alonzo Welty who died in 1860.

As many people had already been buried in the cemetery without markers or anyone knowing their names, many graves were marked “unknown.” There was train wreck in 1909 near the town of Husted, which was between south of the North Gate of the Air Force Academy and Interquest Boulevard. Twelve people died and 60 were injured in the accident. Many of the dead were were buried as unknowns in the Monument Cemetery. As Howe pointed out, “They did not have ID’s or Social Security cards or anything that would identify them”.

In 2016, Boy Scout Kent Griffith heard that many of the unknown tombstones made of plaster of Paris were crumbling. To earn his Eagle Scout badge, he directed the installation of 128 unknown gravestones made of granite to replace the crumbling markers. The Town of Monument holds ceremonies on Memorial Day and Veterans Days to honor the veterans who are buried there.

As a side note, members of my family are pioneers of the area. Four great-grandparents, two grandparents, two parents, a great-great-grandmother, and several uncles of mine are buried in Monument Cemetery. We also have several pioneer relatives buried in Spring Valley.

Above: Monument Cemetery entrance at 800 Beacon Lite Rd. Photo by Michael Weinfeld.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month at the Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent, Palmer Lake. The next meeting will be from 7 to 8 p.m. April 18 (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) The program will be History of the Pikes Peak Trolleys by John Haney. Haney is founder of the Pikes Peak Trolley and Restoration Shop. Open and free to the public.

For more information about future presentations and membership, go to www.palmerdividehistory.org.

Marlene Brown can be reached at marlenebrown@ocn.me .

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