Mt. Vernon Cemetery — Est. 1864

Mt. Vernon Cemetery was founded in 1864 as a for-profit enterprise by some of Atchison's earliest settlers. Starting with 20 acres, it grew by an additional 20 acres in the early 1880s and became a non-profit organization — a permanent institution dedicated to the community it serves.

Within its boundaries lie three early Kansas governors, an early Kansas senator, the youngest Pony Express rider ever hired, and a Civil War Medal of Honor winner — among countless others connected with the early settlement and growth of both Atchison and the State of Kansas.

To walk these grounds is to walk through the founding story of a city and a state. Every marker is a chapter; every name, a thread in the larger history of the American frontier.