Lebanon Cemetery

06/29/2026

To our community,

We know many of you have noticed that the front fence at the cemetery has been removed. We appreciate everyone who has shared their thoughts and concerns.

The fence had reached the end of its life. It was old, rusting, and becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. After careful discussion, the Cemetery Board decided that removing it would improve the overall appearance of the cemetery rather than leaving a deteriorating fence in place.

We also understand that the fence had been a familiar part of the cemetery for many years, and we recognize that some people miss seeing it. We respect those feelings and appreciate the history it represented.

At this time, there are no plans to install a new fence. As a nonprofit cemetery, we are not funded by the City. Our operating expenses—including mowing, maintenance, repairs, and the care of the grounds—are paid through donations and the purchase of burial spaces. A new fence for the front of our 20-acre cemetery would be a significant expense that is simply not within our current budget.

Our priority remains providing a peaceful, well-maintained resting place for the families we serve. We are grateful for the continued support of our community and for everyone who helps us care for this special place.

Thank you for your understanding and support.

05/21/2026

As Memorial Day approaches, we would like to remind everyone that The Lebanon City Cemetery is NOT funded or maintained by the City of Lebanon, despite our name.

Our cemetery is privately supported and operated entirely through the purchase of burial plots and the generous donations of our community. Those funds help us pay our office staff, maintain the grounds and all of our equipment, care for the landscaping, and keep the cemetery beautiful and respectful for all the families who visit their loved ones here.

Memorial Day week is one of the busiest and most meaningful times of the year for us. We are honored to serve the many visitors who come to remember and celebrate those who have passed.

If you would like to help support the ongoing care and maintenance of the cemetery, donations can be made:
• In person through our office during business hours
• By mail to our P.O. Box 1521 Lebanon, Mo

Every donation, no matter the size, helps us continue caring for this special place for our community and future generations.

Thank you for your support, kindness, and for helping us preserve the beauty and dignity of The Lebanon Cemetery.

05/18/2026

As we approach Memorial Day, May 25th, we will be hustling this week to get in as much mowing and
w**d trimming as we can get done. Memorial Day procedures are still the same :) Memorial decorations are allowed on graves from !!!!Saturday May 23rd- Sunday June 7th!!! Starting June 8th, our crew will be back at work and cleanup will begin. We’ll be clearing everything from the grounds so we can catch up on maintaining the grass. Please collect any valuable keepsakes, floral arrangements, or items that don’t comply with cemetery rules by Sunday, June 8th, if you don’t want them discarded. Anything not placed on headstones will be removed and placed in a pile near the office for others. Flags of various sizes will be set aside to keep them off the ground.
Please do not take anything from or disturb anyone else's monuments.
Thank you all. We are excited to see the cemetery come to life!

06/09/2025

History of the Lebanon Cemetery Association
Lebanon, Missouri

The Lebanon Cemetery had its beginning on September 26, 1857, when John B. Harris and his wife, Martha, deeded 4½ acres of land to a group of citizens for use as a cemetery. This original parcel is located at the southwest corner of Highway 5 and Brice Street. The earliest known burial occurred on December 15, 1857, based on surviving gravestones.

Little documentation survives from the cemetery's early years. However, an 1899 newspaper article noted that a number of Union soldiers were once buried there and later reinterred at the Federal Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. The article also states that many bodies were moved from the McPhail Cemetery, which was located near Ash Street and Harwood Avenue, to the newer cemetery. Neither cemetery was known to have an official name at that time.

By 1872, apparent dissatisfaction with the cemetery's management led three local fraternal lodges to act. Center Lodge No. 410 A.F. & A.M., Laclede Lodge No. 83 A.F. & A.M., and Auglaize Lodge No. 192 I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) collaborated to ensure a properly maintained burial ground for the Lebanon community. Their joint effort led to the creation of the Lebanon Cemetery Association, incorporated under Missouri law. While the lodges retained the right to appoint members to the Board of Trustees, they held no direct control over the Association’s operations. Legal ownership and decision-making authority rested solely with the Trustees.

The newly formed Association assumed responsibility for the original 1857 cemetery and expanded it significantly. Over the next 30 years, additional land acquisitions brought the total cemetery grounds to approximately 20 acres.

Today, the Lebanon Cemetery Association operates as a 501(c)(13) nonprofit (EIN 44-0501791), governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. The current officers include:

President: Phil Knott

Treasurer: James Morgan

Secretary: Jeff Stokes

The cemetery office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and is located at P.O. Box 1521, Lebanon, Missouri.

The Association continues to uphold its mission of perpetual care, rooted in the fraternal and civic responsibility that shaped its founding. It remains a vital institution preserving Lebanon’s history and honoring those laid to rest.

05/30/2025

The cemetery is looking beautiful from our Memorial Day flowers!
As a reminder, Sunday, June 8th is the last day to pick up your flowers and decorations for keepsake before our crew comes back to work for ground maintenance.
Monday, June 9th we start picking up anything that is not on the headstones and putting them on a tarp up by the office!
If you want to keep your decorations, please have them picked up by the end of the day Sunday, June 8th!
Thank you all very much for celebrating Memorial Day here at the Lebanon Cemetery.

05/14/2025

MEMORIAL DAY is sneaking up on us fast!
We encourage you to honor those who have died serving in the United States military.
Below is the information for dates you may mark monuments on:
Memorial decorations are allowed on graves from !!!!Saturday May 24th- Sunday June 8th!!! On June 9th our workers will resume work and CLEAN UP will begin. We will be removing everything off of the grounds to allow us to catch up on maintaining the grass. Please pick up your valuable keepsakes, floral arrangements or items not complying with cemetery rules that you do not want to be discarded BY SUNDAY JUNE 8TH. Anything that is NOT on the headstones will be removed and put into a pile near the office for others. Various sizes of flags will be put aside to avoid the ground.
Please do not take anything from or disturb anyone else's monuments.
Thank you all. We are excited to see the cemetery come to life!

12/30/2024

The Lebanon Cemetery would like to thank Richard Wrinkle for his dedication to the cemetery. He was truly an amazing man who would help anyone. His service to the community didn't stop after he retired from the police force. He always helped the cemetery community and gave a chance to individuals when no one else did. He was the caretaker here for many years and had impacted so many lives. He will be dearly missed. The cemetery won't be the same without you. Rest in peace, Richard. April 4, 1948- December 27, 2024.

Share Memories and Support the Family.

07/02/2024

Happy early July 4th!!!!
The Lebanon Cemetery office will be closed the day of the holiday. We will resume regular days and hours the following day, Friday July 5th. Have fun and be safe

06/04/2024

Over the last few years prior to me working in the office, they had a lot of customers coming in upset that they weren't allowed to put any memorial flowers, flags or memorial objects down prior to Memorial Day despite that being in the rules and regulations. Due to the volume of upset customers, the person in the office had tried to please, and changed the Memorial Days decoration window. In the rules and regulations it states that people get to decorate and have the flowers/flags with their loved ones from Memorial Day to 2 weeks after. nothing before. She had then changed it by keeping the 2 weeks still but allowing people to decorate one week prior to Memorial May and then the week following the holiday. That's what it was the last 3 years, including this one as that's what I was taught. With the amount of people who are upset at this change from the rules and regulations, we will be going back to those Rules and Regulation days starting next Memorial Day. Which means that under no circumstances are there to be any decorations on the ground prior to Memorial Day as they will be taken off due to mowing and w**d eating. Just the stones are allowed to be decorated.
I'm sorry for the up rift and to those upset. We sincerely apologize. We are hoping that with new things learned on our teams part and going back to the old rules, next Memorial Day will be extremely better.

06/03/2024

The process of picking up the flowers and items on the ground has begun today. Today we are trying to pick up as much as we can and tomorrow June 4th we will be putting them in a giant pile in the office area for the public to search for their flowers or to grab new flowers before they are disposed of. We will also being going through the pile tomorrow and taking out items we feel need to be kept, other than flowers. Those items will be held in the office.

THANK YOU!!!!!!