In the early 1800's, the Marshall, Missouri community felt the need for a dry and suitable spot in which to bury loved ones. Mr. P. H. Rea, the first chairman of the board, Jacob VanDyke, and eleven other gentlemen came together to create such a place in April 1885. At the suggestion of the Honorable William H. Letcher, the name Ridge Park Cemetery was selected and the board determined to make the cemetery a park. Ben Grove, a noted cemetery and landscape engineer of Louisville, Kentucky, was engaged to elegantly plat and laid out the walkways and avenues for the general beautification of the site. The founding gentlemen wanted a “beautiful cemetery, which shall only be surpassed by those of larger cities in size, but not in beauty.”
Today Ridge Park Cemetery has expanded beyond that original plat and is the final resting place for nearly 13,000 individuals. With its interesting layout, monuments, statues, fountain, and gardens, it has indeed become the beautiful park that the founders envisioned.
Ridge Park Cemetery facilitates both regular burials and cremation burials, and a special section of the cemetery has been dedicated to infant burials. It is the goal of the cemetery to work smoothly with funeral homes to make the interment of loved ones as easy as possible at a time of grief and stress. The cemetery can also facilitate graveside services or memorials for cremation burials without requiring the services of a funeral home.