Prairie Home Cemetery is the oldest

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead () is a city in and county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moorhead is also home to several ...

. The cemetery was founded in 1875 by the Rev. Oscar Elmer, a Presbyterian minister who was the first ordained member of Christian clergy in

Fargo–Moorhead Fargo–Moorhead, also known as the FM area, is a common name given to the metropolitan area comprising Fargo, North Dakota; Moorhead, Minnesota; and the surrounding communities. These two cities lie on the North Dakota–Minnesota border, on op ...

. Rev. Elmer's brother John had drowned in the

Red River of the North The Red River (french: rivière Rouge or ) is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota, it fl ...

while visiting from New York in 1874. The condition of John Elmer's body when it was recovered meant that it could not be shipped back East, as was the usual custom, but had to be buried immediately in a makeshift grave. The following spring, Rev. Elmer organized a cemetery association, which formally created the Prairie Home Cemetery. John Elmer's body was then moved to the new cemetery. The cemetery is still in operation. However, by 1929 the Prairie Home Cemetery Association merged with the Riverside Cemetery Association, which had organized a cemetery across the Red River in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo ( /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/) is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 125,990, making it the most populous city in the state and the 219th-most populous city in ...

in 1884.

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

used the cemetery's name for the title of his long-running radio program ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

''.

References

External links

* * Cemeteries in Minnesota Protected areas of Clay County, Minnesota Moorhead, Minnesota 1875 establishments in Minnesota {{ClayCountyMN-geo-stub