Established 1903 Owned by City of Fairbanks Added to NRHP 25 October 1982 | Type Public Founded 1903 | |
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Location 7th Avenue and Clay Street, Fairbanks, Alaska Country United States of America Website Clay Street Cemetery Commission | ||
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Clay Street Cemetery is a cemetery located in Fairbanks, Alaska that is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was established in 1903 and contains the remains of many of Fairbanks' founders, including Mary Pedro, wife of Felix Pedro, the miner who discovered the gold that led to the city's founding.
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History
The Clay Street Cemetery was established in 1903 as the first cemetery of the new town of Fairbanks, founded two years before. The cemetery was located on the southeastern edge of the original townsite. Residences were built over time adjacent to the northern and western property lines. For many years, a large sawmill operated directly south of the cemetery.
The cemetery officially closed in 1938, when the City of Fairbanks established the Birch Hill Cemetery, which was far from the actual city limits at the time. Burials at Clay Street have continued, mostly sporadically. The last casket burial was of Irene Mary Sherman, a lifelong Fairbanks resident and the self-proclaimed "Queen of Fairbanks", in 1995. Burials of cremated individuals continue to occur to the present day.