New Mount Sinai Cemetery
New Mount Sinai Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. The 52-acre plot of land on Gravois Road began interment in 1853 and is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Beginnings
In the 1840s, two congregations served St. Louis's Jews, Emanu El Congregation and B'nai B'rith Congregation. Each of these congregations purchased separate burial plots, Emanu El's being on Cooper Street just west of Pratte Avenue and B'nai B'rith's being on Gravois Road. When the Third Cholera Pandemic ravaged the Jewish population, the two congregations were forced to merge. The two formed a new congregation, B'nai El, and the Gravois Road plot became the joint cemetery, with the first burial occurring in 1853.
Growth
Another Reform congregation chartered in 1869, Congregation Shaare Emeth, and joined with B'nai El to form the Mount Sinai Cemetery Association in 1869. The initial charter dictated terms for a twenty-year partnership to expire in 1889. Over the next 10 years, both congregations buried members in the joint cemetery, and the plot of land continued to grow with subsequent purchases. By 1880, the cemetery contained almost eight acres of land.
In 1872, the 43 adults and 53 children buried at Emanu El's Cooper Street cemetery were re-interred at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in a section known as "Campspring Cemetery," which was presumably the name of Emanu El's original cemetery. At the entrance to this section of the cemetery is a marble monument bearing the following inscription:
"The remains of 43 adults and 53 children exhumed from the cemetery on Pratte Avenue and Cooper Street, consecrated in 1848, re-interred by the Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association, November 1, 1872."
In 1886, a third synagogue, Temple Israel, organized in St. Louis and hey joined the cemetery association two years later. Due to the cemetery's growth, the addition of a third congregation, and the original charter set to expire the next year, the Cemetery Association re-incorporated in 1888. The new charter rechristened the association as New Mount Sinai Cemetery Association and received a perpetual charter. The cemetery association still operates under this charter today.
Structures on Site
Several structures were built on the cemetery grounds over the years. A chapel opened in 1905 which has a storage vault below to temporarily hold 4 caskets. However, the chapel is no longer in use. A building housing the cemetery offices opened in 1916 as a rest house and luncheon spot. This was built to accommodate the horse drawn funerals that took an entire day. Also on the grounds, are a well-kept home, a garage, an implement building, plus two large greenhouses for the cemetery caretaker, which were built in 1938.
There have been 10,925 people buried in the cemetery as of 2010. Besides the public mausoleum and single graves, there are 1,441 platted family lots, 40 private mausoleums, 2 memorial mausoleums, and 24 sarcophagi. The newest section of the cemetery, encompassing 5.5 acres of single graves and family lots, opened in the spring of 2008.
Over 11,000 people are buried in this Jewish cemetery. Besides the public mausoleum and single graves, there are 1,441 platted family lots, 40 private mausoleums, 2 memorial mausoleums, and 24 sarcophagi. The newest section of the cemetery, encompassing 5.5 acres of single graves and family lots, opened in the spring of 2008.
Notable People Buried at the New Mount Sinai Cemetery.
- Julius Gordon, Rabbi of Shaare Emeth
- Leon Harrison, Rabbi of Temple Israel
- Ferdinand M. Isserman, Rabbi of Temple Israel
- Bertram Klausner, Rabbi of B'nai El
- Julian Miller, Rabbi of B'nai El
- Julius Nodel, Rabbi of Shaare Emeth
- Joseph R. Rosenbloom, Rabbi of Temple Emanuel
- William & Tille Rosenstein, merchants from Brunswick, Missouri
- Adolph Rosentreter, Rabbi of B'nai Amoona
- Alvan D. Rubin, Rabbi of Temple Israel
- Samuel Sale, Rabbi of Shaare Emeth
- S. H. Sonneschein, Rabbi of Temple Israel
- Moritz Spitz, Rabbi of B'nai El