PEORIA, Ill. – The location of the former Moffitt Cemetery in South Peoria is now a state historical site.
The land at the corner of Adams and Griswold Streets is now known as Freedom & Remembrance Memorial Park.
The park features flags on a pole and three plaques; one telling the history of Moffitt Cemetery, one listing veterans from the Civil and Revolutionary Wars buried at the cemetery, and one telling the backstory of Nance Legins-Costley, the first slave emancipated by Abraham Lincoln in 1841.
The cemetery began in the 1830s as a burying ground for the family of Aquilla Moffatt. It was then made available for Union Civil War veterans. In the 1860s, the cemetery became commercial and open to all.
The cemetery at one point had more than 2,700 people buried, with more than 2,600 people still buried on the site to this day.
The city ordered the cemetery closed in 1905, leaving grass overgrown and gravestones damaged or removed. The site was rezoned as a commercial area over the years, under the belief that all who were buried at Moffatt were moved.
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali spoke at the dedication ceremony, saying the city’s “earliest neighbors are forgotten no more.” Ali also apologized on behalf of the city for the disrespect and dishonor of the actions at the site over the years.
Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton was the ceremony’s keynote speaker. She spoke about the park not only preserving history, but giving justice to those who were buried at Moffatt.
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