Newspaper: Magnolia Cemetery Article, Butler, AL Submitted by : Angie Wilson Hood ****************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ****************************************************************** Magnolia cemetery Enlarged with Six Acre Lot Added The Greenville Advocate February 5, 1953 Fifth Unit Included in Beautiful Cemetery in West Greenville The city of Greenville is enlarging Magnolia cemetery. This is necessary since there are only a few more lots left for sale in the older sections. City Clerk Lane Grant states that about a dozen lots have been sold this month. Magnolia has been enlarged four times since it was originally laid out as a cemetery. It was the second burying ground in Greenville. The pioneers who settled the city built a community church on the hill in the center of the city, and the first burials were made in the land around the church. The church was torn down after some years and the entire lot devoted to the cemetery. This old cemetery is just one block off Commerce street on South Park-originally known as Cemetery street. Now know as Pioneer cemetery, it was first used soon after the city was settled, about 1816. By the time of the War Between the States ended, the cemetery had been filled, and a new cemetery was necessary. Many of the soldiers who died in the Confederate Hospital on Park Hill were buried in a lot south of the present Magnolia cemetery. The graves were not permanently marked. Aft Magnolia was laid out, about 1870, the remains of the soldiers were moved to a single grave in Magnolia and a marker erected. This was moved a few years ago, and is now just to the west of the entrance. The original Magnolia cemetery is on the far south side of the present cemetery. The Richardson, Steiner and Flowers lots were in about the center of the site. Later, several more acres were taken in to the north, with the northern boundary being on a line with the Perry lot, which is marked with a brick pavilion over the lot. The second extension to the cemetery was made about 35 years ago when the Winkler brothers opened up Pine Crest cemetery, which joined Magnolia on the south and extended north to West Commerce Street. This was operated as a separate unit for a number of years, purchased by the city about 12 years ago, and the name Pine Crest dropped, the whole cemetery being known as Magnolia. The third extension came some four years ago, when the city purchased the property across Long street from Magnolia. This was the original site of the Greenville Novelty Words- a woodworking establishment. The buildings were razed many years ago and the vacant lot was used for the occasional circus which came to town, and as a baseball park. It was purchased by the city some years ago, but was not immediately opened as a cemetery. When the new addition, on the east, was opened, Long street was closed, and a new entrance made at the site of that street. The city planted many camellias in the new addition, and extended the fence across the front. That iron fence is an antique and has an historical background. It was in front of the state capitol building in Montgomery when Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederacy. The fence had been taken down and was stored, when the Winklers opened Pine Crest. Brought to Greenville, it originally extended across the north and east sides of Pine Crest. The latest addition to Magnolia cemetery is now being prepared for use. It contains some six acres of land, and is immediately west of the old Pine Crest section. The land was a hillside, but has been graded and terraced. The city will plant grass, lay out driveways and stake out lots. Shrubbery will also be planted. It will be some time before lots will go on sale. Judge Jas. T. Beeland, as a member of the city council, about twenty three years ago, was named chairman of the cemetery committee. He cleaned up the old Magnolia cemetery, and started the cemetery improvement program which has been going forward continuously since that time. Later, when he was mayor, the city purchased the first addition, and also the second. During Mayor James Dunklin's administration, the next addition was purchased, and many of the outstanding improvements made. Now, with John Byrd as mayor, the cemetery work continues. The growth of the city has been partially responsible for the great demand for cemetery lots; but the fact that Greenville's cemetery is kept up like a park is also a reason for the sale of lots. People from all over the county and many from adjoining counties are buying lots in Magnolia rather than use the community cemeteries, which are maintained only on certain days when the neighbors gather to clean off the grounds.