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Dodge Grove Cemetery
Mattoon, Coles County, Illinois

GPS: 39.492322, -88.381578

917 N 22nd St.
Mattoon, IL 61938

Published: August 26, 2016
Total records: 21,000 (approx)

Dodge Grove Cemetery is owned and operated by City of Mattoon.

History

On April 7, 1862, a resolution was adopted by the Mattoon City Council to purchase ground for a city cemetery. In December of that year it was given the name Dodge Grove. It formally opened in the spring of 1863.

According to William LeBaron, Jr. in "The History of Coles County, Illinois", Dodge Grove received its name as a result of a horse race in Springfield, Illinois. The Whitley family, owners of the "Dodge Filly," had staked their mare in a race and lost. Not wanting to lose the horse, they returned home and turned the horse loose in a grove of trees. The new owner and officers of the law could not find the mare in the grove and "thus the filly dodged capture and the grove captured the name of Dodge."

Francis Ada Robertson, who died at the age of three years and 11 months, was the first person buried in the cemetery on March 20, 1863. Three American Generals of the Civil War are buried at Dodge Grove, along with approximately 260 Civil War soldiers, including one unknown Confederate soldier .

Dodge Grove Cemetery consists of 60 acres.

Cemetery Records

• Dodge Grove Cemetery Records (548 pages, 5.44 MB) published by the City of Mattoon, last updated July 20, 2016.
• Dodge Grove Cemetery Map