Springdale Cemetery Association
Springdale, Pennsylvania
The Springdale Cemetery Association manages a family-owned and operated public cemetery in Springdale, Pennsylvania.
Established in 1827, the burials are representative of the community’s history, including founding families, veterans of 7 wars, far too many children, immigrants from many countries and a mass grave from the Spanish flu pandemic.
The cemetery continues to offer plots to local families and continues to have family burials.
The Springdale Cemetery Association will memorialize the over 2500 souls who are buried in the cemetery during our 200th anniversary in 2027.
Additional information can be found on our social media facebook page under Springdale Cemetery Association.
Springdale Cemetery Association Board Members:
Paul Borland
Janice Dugan
Rand Eaton
Deborah Kandziolka
Joan Mellon
Cemetery History
The Springdale Cemetery began with a donation of land by the Keene family to the local community and later was expanded to it’s current size with land owned by the Mellon family. Today, the nearly 6 acres of land encompasses the upper portion of School Street. The oldest graves are located at the bottom of the hilly terrain and the most recent burials are located at the top of the cemetery.
The attached documents are from 1988. The documents follow the creation of the current cemetery as a nonprofit organization and the transfer of ownership of the property from Springdale Council to the newly formed Springdale Cemetery Association. The documents contain verifiable dates from Allegheny County records and local newspapers.
https://www.springdalecemeteryassociation.com/s/Cemetery-History-1.pdf
https://www.springdalecemeteryassociation.com/s/Cemetery-History-2-57ym.pdf
https://www.springdalecemeteryassociation.com/s/Cemetery-History-3.pdf
Preservation of Cemetery Records
The original members of the Springdale Cemetery Association kept every communication, map and obituary about people buried in the cemetery since it’s inception in 1988. Current association members saw this and began to discuss multiple ways to safeguard these records for the future. Amanda Peters, an Archivist with the Carnegie Museums and Library offered advice on how to preserve the paper records and options for digitizing records for the future.
In December, 2023, the Springdale Cemetery Association hired Lazarus Cemetery Mapping to preserve our historic documents and artifacts while also placing past and present cemetery information into a form accessible to everyone. Representatives of Lazarus took photographs of every headstone in the cemetery. They also flew a drone over the cemetery to map grave sites and to identify areas that were not used. And, finally, they scanned and digitized hundreds of hand-written records that had been collected over the years. A short set of directions and a link to the Cemify site are listed below, along with a related local newspaper story.
The local newspaper story is linked below:
Cemetery Maintenance
Springdale Cemetery is maintained entirely on yearly donations from the families of those who own plots, along with local businesses and nonprofits. Funds are used to keep the grounds cut and clean. Funds are also used to address emergencies, such as aging or fallen trees. Additionally, we receive a great deal of volunteer help from community members. We are grateful for the members of the Springdale Veteran’s Association, the Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts, the Girl Scouts and individuals who help with planting geraniums on the graves of soldiers for Memorial Day and planting daffodils on every grave for our upcoming 200th anniversary.
The Cemetery has a ‘Tree Fund’ that is used to replace dead or dying trees and enhance the beauty of the grounds. Memorial donations to this fund are always welcome and can be addressed and sent to the Springdale Cemetery Association.
