HISTORY OF ELMWOOD

By 1919 the Knights of  Honor had increased the cemetery’s acreage and sold a total of 22.52 acres to the Morrilton Cemetery Association. Through the years more land has been added through donations and purchases, and the total is now 40 acres. Many of the early settlers of the area, as well as people important to history the city of Morrilton, are buried in Elmwood, the largest cemetery in the county. The first burial appears to be an infant, Annie Laura Moose, 1860-1861, who was reinterred from Lewisburg. The cemetery now contains more than 5,000 graves, most of which can be found in FindaGrave.com. After the sale of land to the Association in 1919, the cemetery was named Elmwood, due to the many elm trees on the land. A mausoleum was built in 1921 atop a small hill in the cemetery by the Southwestern Mausoleum Company of Little Rock, Arkansas. It currently contains 53 sealed crypts. Not all of the 100 crypts were sold and the mausoleum fell into disrepair (it has since been refurbished). In 1980, a non-profit organization called Morrilton Cemetery Improvement Association, Inc. was formed to raise funds for the maintenance of the cemetery. It was managed by a volunteer board of directors. The two associations merged in 2019 and currently operate as Morrilton Cemetery Improvement Association, Inc., with two divisions, one to sell plots and one to maintain the cemetery. A main focus of the Association in recent years has been on refurbishing the 100-year-old mausoleum, and cleaning and repairing many historic monuments that had fallen into disrepair. In addition, ground-penetrating radar was used to aid in locating unknown graves, which were then marked. Also, every effort has been made to assure that all burials are marked with monuments. In 2019, through the efforts of Carolyn Laux Eastham, the historic west end and the Community Mausoleum were placed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. The maintenance on Elmwood is made possible by donations from individuals, family and friends of those interred in the cemetery. It is through this generosity that it can be mowed and trimmed; trees and bushes can be pruned and cut; and roadways can be kept safe and passable.