Highland Cemetery, Casper

In the early 1890’s, saddened by the final resting place of his young wife, then mayor, C.K. Bucknum purchased a quarter section of land east of the Casper limits and donated it to the city to be used for a new cemetery.  Reportedly, the remains of those interred in the old cemetery (located near McKinley and old Yellowstone Highway) were moved to a hill on the north portion of the new cemetery.  Memorials at that time were mainly constructed of wood and few remain today.  Mayor Bucknum chose a different area for his departed wife.  It is located south of what is currently the Conwell Street gate, and is where he and other family members are presently interred.

 

Though largely covered by prairie grasses and sagebrush, it was decreed that this land would become a place of tranquility and beauty; a fitting and dignified resting place for all the people of central Wyoming.  Private citizens, local organizations, and the City of Casper have all added trees, shrubs, turf, and irrigation systems to improve the cemetery’s appearance.  The maturation of the cemetery “urban forest” is without equal in the Casper community.

 

It has been said that cemeteries are the caretakers and protectors of a community’s heritage.  Many of the historically influential people that built Casper, Natrona County, and much of central Wyoming, are interred within the boundaries of Highland Cemetery.  They share these solemn, hallowed grounds with others that have also had a stake and a connection with this area.  A tour of this cemetery reveals many familiar names, given also to schools, museums, businesses, neighborhoods, roads and streets, and even to some of the land itself.