History of Elmlawn Cemetery

submitted by Sue Webb Bodishbaugh

Elmlawn is also known as St. Paul's Cemetery. It refers to the original German Evangelical Church of St. Paul's, in Little Rock, of the early 1890s. The church purchased that plot of land along with all the land that goes up to University, with Griffin-Leggett being the borderline on the other side. The intention was to build the church up on the hill, towards University. Some entrepreneur made an unbelievable sum of money offer for this upper parcel of land (now on University), and this monetary windfall allowed the church to purchase a different plot of land elsewhere and also pay a large chunk towards building their building. These were German immigrants, recall, most of them experts at getting all the value for their money, so they divided the land parcel, sold the upper section and kept Elmlawn, as some burials had already taken place by then. Since the old St. Paul's church has recently merged with another church and become "Faith United Church of Christ," this is the name that would be the holder of the deed to the property.

From: "St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 1891-1991," by the late church historian Ella K. Garner and a former pastor, Neyland Hester).
p.2. "In July 1891 an appeal was published in the Arkansas Staats-Zeitung stressing the need for the organization of an Evangelical Church in Little Rock. . . . "Plans for a church and school building were initiated early in 1892. . . . After a careful evaluation of available sites, a lot at Eleventh and Ringo was bought for $1,250.
p.3. "Property for a cemetery was bought at Twelfth and Hayes, about a mile west of the city limits, in January 1897. The 20 acres cost $500, and Elmlawn Cemetery was established March 22, 1897. In October of that year a second lot at Eleventh and Ringo was purchased. Henry Pofahl and Adam Ross were secretaries of the [church] council during that year. . . . ."

From 12th St, turning in, as you pass the Elmlawn sign, the first area is a section of just grass and it is what would be burial plots, but they are all empty, as every time Little Rock gets any rain, this lower land accumulates the run-off and manages to be 2-3" deep in standing water. It seemed to always be muddy at the time a burial was to occur, so the burial people moved on down the lane to dry land to dig. The next segment is where there are people buried but the plots are unmarked. It is believed those stones have sunk. There are those that are marked but the stones have grown over with grass and sunken areas indicate a stone is down there. There are also "stacked" burials. I saw what you meant about the writing on some older stones being etched out to obliteration. There are graves where the stones have been vandalized and removed from their original site and in general, the place is hard and expensive to keep up.