Littleton Cemetery
Littleton Cemetery Association
6155 South Prince Street, Littleton, Colorado 80120
303-794-0373
Caretakers at the Littleton Cemetery believe that unofficial burials began there before the first records were kept and, in fact, before it was a designated burial ground. Numbered interments in the record books begin in 1869. Some of the land was once part of Judge Lewis B. Ames' farm. Richard Little also donated some acreage when he platted the town of Littleton in 1872. In 1875 Ames deeded the cemetery to the local Weston Masonic Lodge. A history of the Lodge says that the plat was drawn by their secretary, Charles Comstock.
Littleton Cemetery, 2015. Photo by Amelia Martinez.
The cemetery belonged to the Lodge for about thirteen years before they deeded it to the Littleton Cemetery Association in January 1888. It was still referred to as the Masonic Cemetery for some time afterwards. The Cemetery Association, which is the owner yet today, is a non-profit organization now run by five directors elected from its stockholders. As such, the cemetery is a private cemetery, not one owned or maintained by the city. The first directors were Judge Ames, Joseph W. Bowles, and Peter Magnes.
A history and description of the cemetery is included along with names from inscriptions and office records in a publication by the local Mount Rosa Chapter, NSDAR. It gives an account of how the cemetery was gradually neglected until 1921, when A. E. Gray, owner of the Littleton Drug Store, lost his son and resolved to beautify the burying ground. He, along with E. F. Burden, Frank Ford, and others, worked to reactivate the Cemetery Association and to create an endowment fund for its upkeep. Water for irrigation comes partly from wells and partly from rights in the Nevada Ditch by diversion through the City Ditch.
The flagpole in the northeast section near Prince Street marks the "Veterans' Circle," where persons who served in America's wars, from the Civil War to World War II, are interred. The first monument in the cemetery was erected by Joseph W. Bowles in memory of a daughter.
Some of Littleton's well-known early citizens rest in this pleasant cemetery which commands a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains' Front Range. They include Richard and Angeline Little; Mrs. Little's parents, John and Mary Harwood; Peter and Maria Magnes; Fred and Elizabeth Bemis; Edwin and Katherine Bemis; Joseph W. and Cynthia Bowles; Julius D. and Inez Hill; Charles G. and Lorena Louthan; Clark Z. and Julia Cozens; Harry and Jessie Nutting; Rupert and Annie Nutting; Dr. Walter and Ada Crysler; Samuel T. and Adelaide Culp; Ebenezer and Eliza Jull; John G. and Louisa Lilley; Fred and Orra Comstock; Edward F. Batschelet; Robert J. and Jessie Spotswood; Oscar and Eudora Hill; Father Francis and Henrietta Byrne; A. J. and Mary Valore; Rev. George and Laura Edmundson; Abraham and Alice Howarth; Dr. Franklin and Elizabeth Crocker; Walter and Mabel Ficklin; and Alfred Packer.
Bibliography
Freemasons, Littleton (Colorado.) Weston Lodge Number 22, A.F. and A.M., Littleton, Colorado. 1872-1973. Littleton, Colo.: A.F. and A.M., 1973.
Mount Rosa Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Littleton Cemetery, Littleton, Colorado. Littleton, Colo.: Mount Rosa Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1983.
Photographs courtesy of the Littleton Historical Museum, unless otherwise noted; to order copies, contact the Museum at 303-795-3950.
Compiled by Doris Farmer Hulse
Updated April 2021 by Phyllis Larison