Pioneer Cemetery

South Westnedge Street Park is actually Kalamazoo’s first cemetery. The pioneer leader, Cyren Burdick, and his wife, Mary Ann, in 1833 donated this land as a common burial ground. From this time until 1862 hundreds of pioneer settlers were buried here in what was then known as South West Street Cemetery. Later an unknown number of bodies were removed to other cemeteries in the village. In 1884, after years of neglect, Kalamazoo’s pioneer cemetery was converted into a park.