Oak Grove Cemetery

Research and Information Center

1613 Park Avenue

Paducah, KY 42001

(270) 444-5155

Oak Grove Cemetery was established in 1847 with the purchase of 36 acres by the town's trustees for the price of $3.00 an acre.  The city-owned cemetery is now approximately 100 acres.  Paducah's first burial site was located where City Hall now stands.  The City's early growth made it necessary to seek a new location for its cemetery.  The site chosen would become Oak Grove Cemetery.  Click BURIAL RECORDS for burial information based on the last name.  Click OAK GROVE CEMETERY MAP for a map that shows the four additions of the cemetery (Old Addition, New Addition, Mausoleum Addition, and Rushing Addition) and the section numbers.

The community fathers, hoping to create a gracious and serene sanctuary, sent to Scotland for John Porteous, a master landscaper, to design the cemetery grounds.  Mr. Porteous became so enamored with the United States that he sent word back to Scotland requesting his wife and children to join him in Paducah.  The town, honoring Mr. Porteous' dedication, made him the first sextant and built his family a cottage where the gatehouse stands today.

Some deaths were recorded in 1852, but the Civil War put a stop to this.  There are only scattered records from 1861-1911.  In 1911, Kentucky passed a law that required all deaths to be recorded.  Oak Grove Cemetery has internment books dating back to 1909.  Mary Haley (1795-1811) is the oldest legible headstone found in Oak Grove.  She is believed to have been buried at the City Hall location and reinterred in Oak Grove.

Oak Grove Cemetery has an estimated 35,278 platted lots.  Of those lots, 33,027 have been sold as of December 2006.  Oak Grove Cemetery has additional land available that has not been platted. 

Mausoleum 

The mausoleum in Oak Grove Cemetery is known as the West Kentucky Mausoleum.  It was built in 1914 by the Southern Mausoleum Company of Nashville, Tennessee.  The mausoleum is built to house 300.  So far, 162 crypts have been sold.  The mausoleum has been closed to the public since 1991 due to safety issues.  The roof has been repaired, and renovations are underway inside the mausoleum.  It should reopen soon.

Cemetery Burial Records

The pdf documents below are listed in alphabetical order based on the last name.  There are two sets of documents: burials before the year 2000 and burials starting in the year 2000 until the present.  The files were last updated August 6, 2008.  Click Oak Grove Cemetery Map for a map that shows the four additions (Old Addition, New Addition, Mausoleum Addition, and Rushing Addition) and section numbers.