Announcements
June 13, 2011
This last weekend Boy Scout Troup 148 were here to landscape around the chapel. It required a lot of work to smooth out the soil, plant perenniel flowers and put down pallet loads of red bark. It is quite amazing how beautiful this has made the chapel. Mt Pleasant Cemetery is indebted to the hard work of these young men. Thanks so much for all you do.
June 6, 2011
This is the day that all artifical flowers need to be off the graves. They will be picked up other wise and discarded.
May 31, 2011
Memorial Weekend went quite well. The cemetery grounds looked great. Gene had sprayed the grounds last fall and this spring and had a good kill on the weeds. The result is that we have grass growing green and tall. This year our handout was a sharp looking four page color newsletter. We handed out over 760 of these on the busy Memorial Weekend. If you did not get this newsletter handout, please call Terry at the office, 605-339-4760 and he will send you one.
May 23, 2011
The new fence is up and looks great. We are missing one panel which will be added as soon as it gets in. But the new fence really completes the look of the cemeter. It gives the cemetery a new look, more professional, a cleaner look. Thanks again to the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation for this wonderful addition.
April 29, 2011
The cemetery has been notified that we have received a grant from the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation to compete the wrought iron fence that runs along the north side of our property. The old chain link fence and some other iron fence that did not match the other will be taken out and the new put in. That will also mean the gates for the west entrance will be new iron gates. This is the fence that run the length of our property along East 12th street. It will give us a nicer appearance and updated look to the cemetery. Thanks so much to Mary Chilton DAR Foundation.
December 31, 2010
As we end the year 2010 we want to wish all of you the best in the coming year. We have made substantial progess in the Cemetery this year, much of it in the infrastructure of the Association. We acquired a new tractor with attachments to help replace much of the former hand labor required to maintain the grounds. We also purchased a late model four-wheel drive truck with a new snow plow to keep the roads clear in the winter. This equipment will not only allow us to better maintain the grounds on a daily basis but to continue to make progress in rebuilding the Cemetery in our ongoing improvement program.
We have also recently updated the website with a new look, one easier to view and navigate. Be sure and view our “Featured Resident” page as more biographies of those who rest here have been added. We also remind you to contact the office if you wish to have a biography of a relative or family buried here included in our permanent archive. We will be happy to help you write and put it together and post it on the “Featured Resident” page. The new website also emphasizes our commitment to the “Green Burial” option which we introduced in the upper midwest and promote as an environmentally and financially friendly alternative to the traditional full funeral and the price that goes along with it. For information check our “Going Green” page and then give us a call to help you explore your options.
Once again, best wishes in the New Year.
September 20, 2010
Fall is coming and the Cemetery will soon change from summer green to the varied colors of yellow through red, letting us know that winter is on the way. Fall cleanup will soon be under way and a great rush will ensue to get as much done as possible before that first snow arrives for what is not completed by that time has to be added to the spring cycle of duties. As a reminder you may place seasonal artificial decorations on gravesites after October 1st and they may remain until April 15th of next year. Remember to remove them by that time as they will be picked up.
As you may have seen in yesterday’s paper the City Forester announced that the Ash Boerer has moved as far west as St. Paul and is killing the ash tree population there. As it will arive in Sioux Falls in a few short years and given the trees here have no resistence the ash population here will be decimated. The City plans to begin removing 5% of the ash trees here every year and replacing them with other varieties of trees compatible with our climate in order to be proactive in its response. We here at Mt. Pleasant feel this is the best response as well and will follow suit by beginning the removal and replacement of the many ash trees on our grounds. A tree nursery will also be planted to provide an affordable means for the hundreds of trees that will be necessary. Anyone wishing to assist in this endeavour by volunteering or donating trees will be greatly appreciated.
I ran across this little story the other day and although it doesn’t directly pertain to Mt. Pleasant it is a delightful anecdote of early Sioux Falls nonetheless. Here it is:
“This illustration is of the last buffalo in Minnehaha County. He was born in Buffalo park, and having special advantages for growth, was a splendid specimen, weighing 2,400 pounds. He never realized his captivity, and his behaviour was unexceptional in the park. In August, 1894, he was sold and put in a box-car and shipped to Buffalo, New York. When he found himself confined in the car he was greatly enraged, and before arriving at his destination the car needed repairs. He was purchased for the park at Buffalo, but when he arrived there the park commissioners were at a loss how to transfer him to his new home, and they wired Senator Pettigrew for information. They finally made a chute for his passage and opened the door of the car, but he did not approve of the arrangement, and being prodded in order to drive him out, he knocked out one end of the car and made his exit.”
Bailey, Dana R. History of Minnehaha County, South Dakota. Sioux Falls:
Brown & Saenger, 1899. pp. 753 – 754
