The Union Cemetery Historical Society's mission is to preserve and protect historic Union Cemetery and its records for future generations.
The Union Cemetery Historical Society (UCHS), a membership organization,was founded in 1984 to help re-create Kansas City's oldest public cemetery's records that were lost in a fire in 1889. The files included burial information of some of the founders and developers of Westport and Kansas City, Missouri. The society originally consisted of descendants of those buried in Union Cemetery and local historians. Over time, membership increased to neighbors of the cemetery, those interested in genealogy, old cemeteries and local history. The UCHS's mission has also changed over the decades from not just preserving the cemetery's burial records but also working as a partner with the Kansas City Parks and Recreation to preserve and protect the Union Cemetery grounds. Part of its mission is create and awareness of Union Cemetery's importance to the region's history. In that regard the UCHS gives tours and lectures, and holds events in the cemetery, including a yearly Memorial Day service and "Historical Epitaphs, Voices from the Past," a guided tour/theatrical event, to increase the public's interest in this vital part of Kansas City's past.
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