Linkvile Pioneer Cemetery

Links and Forms

Some of the links are Adobe PDF format Costs (PDF) Map and Directions (PDF) Block Map (PDF) George Nurse Memorial (PDF) Directory Of Plots (TXT)

On January 19, 1885, the citizens of Linkville (now Klamath Falls) organized a cemetery association named Linkville Pioneer Cemetery Association. There were 12 original members. The Association was necessary because William Steel's ditch, later called the Ankeny Canal, would cut through the original Linkville Pioneer Cemetery which was located at 3rd and Pine.

The Association originally purchased 20 acres of land for the Linkvile Pioneer Cemetery. Bodies from the downtown site (some 300 graves) were eventually moved up on the hill, many of which were never identified. A monument near the cemetery entrance reads simply, "Erected to the Memory of the Unknown Pioneers Sleeping Here."

In April, 1923, the last survivor of the Linkville Pioneer Cemetery Association deeded the property over to the City. In 1931 improvements were made, trees and bushes planted, gates built, and a fence constructed around the perimeter.

In March of 1951 the IOOF Cemetery was deeded to the City. It was originally adjacent to, and now is part of Linkville Pioneer Cemetery.

The upright memorials reflect a tremendous amount of history in Linkville Pioneer Cemetery. The earliest burial, according to cemetery records, was in 1869. According to the memorial marker, Ernest L. Smith died March 13, 1869, age 1 year, 1 month, 1 day. The earliest birth date in cemetery records belongs to Robert T. Baldwin who was born July 13, 1795 and died in June 1889.

Five children between the ages fo 11 and 15, and an adult were killed by a Japanesse balloon bomb that exploded on May 5, 1945 while they are on a picnic outing about 14 miles northeast of Bly. Three of these victims are buried at Linkville Pioneer, one is buried at Siskiyou Memorial Park in Medford, one is buried in California, and one is buried in Port Angeles, Washington. These six victims were the first and only mainland casualties of the Pacific War.

At this time, there are no current available plots at Linkville Pioneer Cemetery; however there are still burials every year for those individuals whose family purchased family plots years ago.

Klamath Memorial Park

The City of Klamath Falls has sold Klamath Memorial Park to Davenports Chapel of the Good Shepherd. For more information about Klamath Memorial Park and services offered there, please contact (541) 883-3458.