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Brownsville Cemetery

Sweet Springs, Saline County, Missouri, USA – *No GPS coordinates

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Before being renamed Sweet Springs, the town was named Brownsville. With a railroad coming through town and the sweet spring attracting visitors, the town both grew and was renamed Aug. 1, 1887 to promote the local attraction. A new cemetery eventually replaced the original town cemetery.

The original public cemetery serving Brownsville was northwest of the Locust (now also Highway 127) and Ray Street intersection. Cemetery perimeter is well defined in the 1876 Missouri Publishing Company plat book. The 1881 "History of Saline County, Missouri" states on page 502: "The first cemetery was on Locust Street, and is still used." Some bodies were relocated to the then new Fairview Cemetery further north on Locust Street. Fairview came into use in the 1880s and continues to serve as the Sweet Springs city cemetery. Cemetery surveys and reports along with information from local historians indicate not all Brownsville Cemetery burials were moved. Cemetery laws were not stringent in earlier years.
In the 1967 "History of Saline County" Mrs. Elizabeth Yankee reported that Brownsville Cemetery was not properly maintained and by 1916 was overgrown with stones toppled. In 1916 and 1917 real estate "quiet title" law suits eliminated the claims of plot holders so that the cemetery land could be used for another purpose. The purpose was building residences on the site. Not all burials had been removed before the change in use.
A careful search of obituaries in "The Brownsville Herald" pre-1882 may reveal additional names besides the two named Berry who were reported to remain interred here who could be honored with a virtual cemetery listing. Some burials reported in historical documents to be in Brownsville Cemetery are not on the Fairview list.



Before being renamed Sweet Springs, the town was named Brownsville. With a railroad coming through town and the sweet spring attracting visitors, the town both grew and was renamed Aug. 1, 1887 to promote the local attraction. A new cemetery eventually replaced the original town cemetery.

The original public cemetery serving Brownsville was northwest of the Locust (now also Highway 127) and Ray Street intersection. Cemetery perimeter is well defined in the 1876 Missouri Publishing Company plat book. The 1881 "History of Saline County, Missouri" states on page 502: "The first cemetery was on Locust Street, and is still used." Some bodies were relocated to the then new Fairview Cemetery further north on Locust Street. Fairview came into use in the 1880s and continues to serve as the Sweet Springs city cemetery. Cemetery surveys and reports along with information from local historians indicate not all Brownsville Cemetery burials were moved. Cemetery laws were not stringent in earlier years.
In the 1967 "History of Saline County" Mrs. Elizabeth Yankee reported that Brownsville Cemetery was not properly maintained and by 1916 was overgrown with stones toppled. In 1916 and 1917 real estate "quiet title" law suits eliminated the claims of plot holders so that the cemetery land could be used for another purpose. The purpose was building residences on the site. Not all burials had been removed before the change in use.
A careful search of obituaries in "The Brownsville Herald" pre-1882 may reveal additional names besides the two named Berry who were reported to remain interred here who could be honored with a virtual cemetery listing. Some burials reported in historical documents to be in Brownsville Cemetery are not on the Fairview list.



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  • Added: 9 Jan 2014
  • Find a Grave Cemetery ID: 2526159