PITTSBURG, Kan. — One of the oldest municipal cemeteries in the Four State area is the focus of a long overdue repair plan.
To call portions of Mount Olive Cemetery in Pittsburg in disrepair would be an understatement.
“The cemetery has been in decline for several several years, and I know quite a few people that are, some you can’t see the gravesites anymore and you kind of have to kind of dig around on the ground to find out if your in the right spot or not,” said Allen Eichhorn, Adjutant, Pittsburg American Legion.
For the first time, The City of Pittsburg, which owns the facility, has a plan in place to repair the cemetery with the help of an anonymous not-for-profit organization by the name of “Notch 8” which is providing manpower and much of the funding for the multi-year project.
“Yeah we do have a five-year agreement with a company to kind of maintain the headstones and get them all back together, that’s a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, and that will take care of the gravel and the work and the tools and equipment and manpower needed to do that kind of work and then we’ll see how we are after five years,” said Daron Hall, Pittsburg City Manager.
Repair work actually started in early January in the sections where soldiers from both world wars, the Spanish-American war as well as the G.A.R. have been laid to rest.
“As they’ve begun the repairs, it seems like with the right matting and rock, they’ve been able to stabilize and straighten everything up so I yeah, I mean they’ve started, it’s pretty impressive, hopefully, the families and the relatives will be impressed as well but to see those headstones standing up straight like they were meant to be, it means a lot,” said Hall.
The term “Notch 8” refers to the highest speed setting for a locomotive.
