Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, located at Chestnut Expressway and Barnes Avenue since 1919, houses the graves of some of Springfield’s oldest African American families. During the days of Jim Crow laws, city-owned cemeteries only allowed African American citizens to be buried in designated areas.

Lincoln Memorial Cemetery contains about 1,200 graves with gravestones dating back to the 1850s. The cemetery turned 100 years old last year and its volunteer board of directors held a rededication ceremony with new fencing around it and a new monument.