Wyuka Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In 1890, Lincoln's Bnai Jeshurun Congregation, a Reform congregation, began using a section of Wyuka.Zenner, W.P. (1988) Persistence and flexibility: anthropological perspectives on the American Jewish experience. SUNY Press. p. 245. In 2007, the Nebraska Holocaust Memorial was established at Wyuka Cemetery.
History Wyuka Cemetery was established in Lincoln, Nebraska, by an act of the Nebraska Legislature in 1869, which sought to provide a cemetery for the state capital city founded two years prior. The trustees rejected the first cemetery site along Salt Creek to the west of Lincoln due to flooding concerns and instead purchased 80 acres of land east of the city. Wyuka Cemetery has since expanded to over 140 acres between O Street and Vine Street.
The iron fence surrounding the cemetery was originally erected around the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus. The Board of Regents authorized the construction of the fence in 1891, and the fence enclosed the original campus until 1925 when it was removed due to safety concerns because fire engines could not pass through the width of the gates.
Wyuka Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and is considered a prime example of the rural cemetery form.
In 2025, the mural from Pershing Center was installed on the cemetery grounds.
Notable interments
Hazel Abel (1888–1966), US Senator Victor Anderson (1902–1962), Governor of Nebraska Charles W. Bryan (1867–1945), Mayor of Lincoln and Governor of Nebraska Elmer J. Burkett (1867–1935), US Senator Amasa Cobb (1823–1905), US CongressmanEicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . p. 177. Emily M. J. Cooley (1831-1917), religious and temperance leader Oren Sturman Copeland (1887–1958), US Congressman
Elizabeth Hawley Everett (1857-1940), clubwoman, suffragist, author, magazine founder/editor, school principal, superintendent of schools J. James Exon (1921–2005), Governor of Nebraska and US Senator Eugene Jerome Hainer (1851–1929), US Congressman
Don Hollenbeck (1905–1954), Radio newscaster and commentator John Claus Hubbard (1852-1907), Founder of Omaha's first Black newspaper and African-American political figure John Larkin (1901–1965), Hollywood screenwriter Gilbert L. Laws (1838–1907), US Congressman Gordon MacRae (1921–1986), singer and actor Turner M. Marquett (1829–1894), US Congressman
Samuel Roy McKelvie (1881–1956), Governor of NebraskaThomas E. Spencer (1998). Where They're Buried, p. 422, Milton Montgomery (1825–1897), Civil War Brevet Brigadier General Albinus Nance (1848–1911), Governor of Nebraska Louise Pound (1872–1958), American folklorist, linguist, and English professor William A. Poynter (1848–1909), Governor of Nebraska Peter Sauer (1900–1949), Russian-born World Wrestling champion using the ring name Ray Steele
Charles Starkweather (1938–1959), spree killerZimmer, Ed. (2009). "Wyuka Cemetery: A Driving & Walking Tour". Retrieved July 9, 2022 Jesse Burr Strode (1845–1924), US Congressman John Milton Thayer (1820–1906), Governor of Nebraska, US Senator and Union General Roy Henry Thorpe (1874–1951), US Congressman Bobby Rae Williams (1942–2012), professional football player
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