Mount Mora Cemetery more than just ‘Mausoleum Row’ for St. Joseph

Mount Mora's Mausoleum Row
St. Joseph’s Mount Mora Cemetery is the final resting place for the community’s earliest residents, including the wealthy, some Missouri politicians and Civil War veterans. Three Missouri governors are among the famous and rich residing eternally in the cemetery.

The oldest cemetery in St. Joe, Mount Mora was opened in 1851. It has 30 mausoleums, including 21 on the famed “Mausoleum Row.”

Mount Mora Mausoleum

“Mausoleum Row” has some well-designed mausoleums. At the top of the row is the Townsend mausoleum. The structure has an Egyptian design, including two sphinxes on either side of the door. The mausoleum itself has Egyptian artwork. A long sidewalk stretches out from the building.

Mount Mora

Since the names on the mausoleums were among the wealthiest in the city, it appears they not only challenged each other with building their homes, but also with the family’s final resting places.

Mount Mora

The Powell family has a mausoleum among the 21. The Powell patriarch designed the cemetery. Gracie Powell died in 1914 from a stroke. Her husband, William, passed away in 1931. His ashes sit in the mausoleum near a portrait of his bride. They are again together in the family eternal home.

Mount Mora

The Tootle family mausoleum is in the back area of the cemetery. It’s the only mausoleum in its area. Sadly, some old grave markers near the mausoleum have been knocked over or have fallen over. While it makes an interesting photo opportunity, it’s sad for the person buried there.

Mount Mora

The cemetery itself is more than just the mausoleums. The grave markers tell stories of the people buried there.

Mount Mora

We found one person who was born in 1798. The United States was only 22 years old when the person was born. That may be a fact that impresses only me, but it’s part of our history.

Mount Mora

Veterans from both sides of the Civil War are buried at Mount Mora. Colonel Jo Hansen served the Union. M. Jeff Thompson – a former mayor of St. Joe – was a Confederate officer with the nickname “Swamp Fox.”

A memorial honoring the nearly 50 Confederate veterans buried there stands near the front entrance. The memorial was sponsored by the Daughters of the Confederacy in the early 1900s.

Mount Mora

A memorial honoring those who died during World War I also stands near the main gate.

Mount Mora

We are not usually fans of walking through cemeteries and looking at people’s grave markers. But, the older cemeteries help tell the history of the community and the times people lived through. Like it or not, some older cemeteries have become tourist attractions.

Mount Mora

In looking at the names of the politicians and some of the Civil War veterans, they don’t rest in mausoleums.

Silas Woodson served as Missouri’s governor 1873-75. He died in 1896 at the age of 77. He has a nice grave marker, but it’s far from mausoleum size.

General James Craig served in the US Army during the Indian Wars and with the Union during the Civil War. He died in 1888 at the age of 70.

David Johnson Heaton, the first licensed undertaker in St. Joseph, is also buried at Mount Mora.

Mount Mora

Mount Mora was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

For more information on Mount Mora Cemetery, please visit www.mountmora.org.