Pioneer Cemetery

Established 1854


This cemetery, known originally as Oread, was opened in 1854 by New Englanders who founded Lawrence. Following burials in 1882, Oread fell into disuse.In 1928, the City of Lawrence changed the name to Pioneer Cemetery.



The marble obelisk near the center of the grounds is monument to T. W. Barber, an Ohio abolitionist shot by pro-slavery men during the Wakarusa War in December 1855, Barber was memorialized by John Greenleaf Whittier in hos poem "Burial of Barber". Eighteen military headstones in the northern section mark graves of members of the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry who died of typhoid in1862.



The largest number of early burials occurred following Quantrill's Massacre at Lawrence on August 21, 1863.Most of these were re-interred in Lawrence's Oak Hill Cemetery. Gravestones of four victims still remain.



In 1953,the Kansas University Endowment Association assumed ownership and in 1968, the cemetery was reopened.



Today, Pioneer is the final resting place for early settlers, soldiers of Civil War and faculty, staff and friends of The University of Kansas.