Riverside Cemetery in Sterling, Illinois

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Get directions 1908 E Third Street
Sterling, Illinois 61081 United States

Coordinates: 41.79720, -89.66860
www.sterlingtownship.com/riverside%20cemetery.htm
815-625-0708
Cemetery ID:

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Established in the early 1800's as a burial ground for the early settlers of Sterling, Riverside Cemetery is one of the oldest in the area. It has evolved over the years and is actually composed of several different cemeteries. On February 16, 1865, the Sterling Cemetery Association was organized and secured approximately fifty acres at the east end of Third street. John D. Arey mapped and recorded the cemetery. In 1870, the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) secured approximately two adjoining acres at the east end of Second Street, and in May 1886 the two merged. In 1955, the cemetery property was sold to the Town of Sterling and Riverside Cemetery was taken over by Sterling Township by a vote of the electorate. It has since been renamed Riverside Cemetery.

The oldest areas of the cemetery were originally known as the 'Old Township Cemetery' and the 'Free Burial Ground' which became the North Township and South Township Sections. The first recorded burial was a one year old child of the Martin family who was interred in what is now the South Township Section in 1810. Founding Father Hezekiah Brink is buried here as well as many people important to the growth and future of Sterling.

Today, Riverside Cemetery consists of 90+ acres including Sacred Heart Cemetery, Babyland, Temple Sholom, a Masoleum and columbarium cremation niche walls. As the name says, it really is located riverside - the southern most sections, with their old growth trees, are situated on a bluff overlooking the Rock River. The Reformed Mennonite Society Cemetery is adjacent, but not part of, Riverside cemetery. This group organized in the late 1860's and built a church with burial grounds located at the intersection of Third street and Nineteenth Ave.