Evergreen Cemetery, in Bloomington, Illinois, is also known as Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
The cemetery was originally two separate cemeteries, adjacent to each other. The first was the Bloomington Cemetery, founded in 1850 by the Bloomington Cemetery Association; the other was Evergreen Cemetery, founded in 1860. The Bloomington Cemetery was funded by city tax dollars, while Evergreen was privately funded and maintained. The website of the current cemetery claims Evergreen was founded in the early 1820s.[1]
Over the years, Evergreen suffered from vandalism and deterioration. Community action in the 1950s and 1960s forced the city of Bloomington to buy out the owners of Evergreen Cemetery in 1963, creating the merged Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
The grounds of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, which are maintained by staff and community members, include a Civil War burial section.