Fairview Cemetery

1530 Salnave Road, 47.48223239177459, -117.60302085629384

Fairview Cemetery

History of Fairview Cemetery

By Helen Babb Boots, Cheney Cemetery Association Historian

October 1988

In 1880, rapid growth was taking place in Cheney. The townsite of Cheney had been surveyed, and within a few weeks a flourishing young town had sprung into existence. It was in November 1880, by a vote of the people, that Cheney had become the Spokane County seat. Cheney reported a population of 225 inhabitants. [NW Tribune Nov 1880]

So it was appropriate that in December 1880 at a meeting of citizens, a committee was appointed to select, purchase, and place on a legal basis a burying ground. This committee selected 10 acres on the S.E. quarter of the S.E. quarter of Section 14, one mile west of town. The people of Cheney felt this site to be a good one.

The Northwest Tribune newspaper, in a notice of 31 December 1880, announced a cemetery meeting for the citizens of Cheney and surrounding county to meet at the Tribune office in Cheney 8 January 1881 for the purpose of organizing a cemetery association. This association was to select suitable grounds and arrange them for the purpose of a public burial ground. The notice emphasized that this was a project in which all should interest themselves. Also, the people from the surrounding country were requested to cooperate with the citizens of Cheney on this movement.

There was also a notice in the paper stating for this time forth burials would be in the designated cemetery and no longer to be made on private property.

People were then permitted to purchase lots in the cemetery and received Warrant Deeds for the land. The cemetery land was purchased from Thomas J. McFeron. The cemetery committee named the 10 acres they had purchased, Fairview Cemetery. Theses deeds were recorded in the Records of Deeds of Spokane County.

The President of the first Cheney Cemetery Association was J.W. Payne. A notice in the Northwest Tribune stated:

Fairview Cemetery, one-half mile west of Range's addition, is now surveyed and the plat recorded in the auditor's office. Lots can be had at reasonable prices. For further particulars apply to D.F. Percival or A. Blefgen, Cheney. T.J. McFeron. [NW Tribune October 1883]

The cemetery had many burials, but in 1913 the Cheney Free Press carried a lengthy article concerning the need for a cemetery association:

Cheney Should Have a Cemetery Association

Cheney is a good place to live in, but a poor place to die. The best that can be said for the bleak spot on the hill where we have established our silent suburb is that it is sightly.

Those who have fainted as they sought to reach the sky-line where the last words were to be spoken over the dead, have been willing that the place be less lofty, that it might be made more sightly in other ways. To secure a better location for this cemetery, or at least to improve the present one and get the grounds into the hands of a cooperation that will have an interest in making it more approachable and attractive requires the formation of a cemetery association, such as may be found in almost every city as old as Cheney.

Another article from the Cheney Free Press of the time was headlined Better Cemetery at Cheney, the following is from that article [CFP May 1913]

Probably every person living in the community and many who have moved away will be glad to know that Fairview Cemetery is to be cared for and that a responsible man has been at work there for several days.

Backed by the Commercial Club, which has been the source of so many helpful movements for the good of Cheney, a committee appointed by the Club has undertaken to supervise the work of improvement.

About five hundred persons have been buried in Fairview Cemetery and while many grave have received excellent care, some have been sadly neglected. Many times before has the situation been discussed and suggestions have been made but no real work resulted. Now an appeal has been made to all those who own lots or have relatives buried there to pay a small sum towards the work.

We most sincerely hope that this movement of the Commercial Club will result in the formation of a Cemetery Association which will secure land adjacent to the present location, and keep up the work of caring for and improving the cemetery. While the grounds in their present condition may not be beautiful yet, the location has some advantages that must have been considered by those who originally chose the spot. The place has been pronounced by Spokane undertakers to be an ideal location on account of its slope and perfect drainage, and surely the grounds' panorama of the Coeur d'Alene mountains, Steptoe Butte, Mt. Spokane, and Mica Peak, with nearby fields, valleys, and woodlands is unsurpassed.

Every citizen of the community will want to see this improvement made and each one is invited to help in its accomplishment. Contributions to this end will be received by Mrs. J.M. Perry [Marie Salisberry Perry], treasurer of the Committee.

In May 1914, Mrs. J.M. Perry, Secretary and Treasurer of the Cemetery Committee, reported that cards had been sent to all the owners of lots in Fairview Cemetery whose addresses could be obtained and to all organizations in Cheney requesting contributions. It was stated two weeks of work had been done in May [1914 Commercial Club], and some permanent improvements, started the previous year, had been completed. All donations, in response to the cards Mrs. Perry sent out, were reported in the newspaper. Mrs. Perry's husband had died in 1912 and was buried in Fairview.

In October 1915 Mrs. Laura E. [Stewart] Tyler, Treasurer of the Cemetery Improvement committee, appealed for funds for Fairview. She noted the lots had been marked and further noted it was necessary to have some work done each year to keep the place in as good a condition as such grounds can be kept without a caretaker or a sufficient water supply. Mrs. Tyler stated a man was hired twice or three times a year, as funds will permit, to do this work. It was requested people donate to the cemetery fund even though they kept up their own family graves. [CFP]

In April 1916 Mrs. Tyler again, advised the citizens of Cheney and surrounding area that Fairview Cemetery was in very bad condition. She stated, "We who have friends there should consider it a privilege and not a duty to keep up this plot of land. A neglected graveyard is a detriment to a place and people. The natural location of the cemetery is all that could be desired, and with a little effort on our part, we can at least make it respectable." She also discussed the damage squirrels and badgers had done and expressed the need to rid the cemetery of such pests. [CFP]

The foregoing articles would apply to the current, 1988 situation at Fairview Cemetery.

During the years, each Memorial Day, citizens and the surrounding area gathered for a service in town and many would walk, as a group, out to the cemetery and place flowers on their loved ones graves. Many people had spent hours before Memorial Day cleaning the plot of the loved ones. However, the entire cemetery was never completely groomed. For the rest of the year, seldom did anyone trim the grass or weed the plots and care for the bushes and flowers.

In time, the Memorial Day activities dwindled and as family died or moved away, the tradition ended and the cemetery remained uncared for.

It was in 1938, Cheney Mayor Dr. Oscar E. Johnson saw the need for the care of the cemetery. He suggested the possibilities of enlarging the present community cemetery [Fairview] and arranging for perpetual care of the plots. The idea was to be studied by the city council. The suggestion was to be part of the parks department's responsibilities. However, this idea was not welcomed by the parks department and was never deployed.

Over the years many clubs and organizations in Cheney tried to clean up the cemetery as their organization's community service project, but in time each of these efforts has failed.

In 1976 Larry Snider, a student at Eastern Washington State College, undertook the task of cleaning up the cemetery. He spent 30 hours a week on the project, but again, there was no follow-up, so his efforts soon grew up to be unsightly again.

A move started in 1979 and 1980 to get a cemetery district organized. However, reverse publicity killed this plan. The opposition voice was strong, stating "all this expense and uproar over a cemetery few people have paid any attention to. . . .is ridiculous." They also stated, "rather have our county commissioners spend tax payer's money on the living rather than the dead." At a meeting, a large number of senior citizens were present and all were in favor. Only two people spoke against the proposition. One stated, "Let the dead pioneers rest in peaceful knowledge they are not a tax burden on the living." Thus the idea of a cemetery district was dropped.

Vandalism has been a major problem for the cemetery. Through the years, the lack of cooperation from the local police force and county sheriff has made it impossible to curb the vandalism and thousands of dollars of damage has been done to gravestones and plots.

After years of needing some way to discourage people from partying in the cemetery, a Boy Scout named Devin Warren, in 1983 constructed the rock entrance to the cemetery. A few years later the gate was put in. These features have helped to curb the vandalism though not completely eradicated it.

Not to be discourages, those interested in the need to care for the cemetery spent nearly five years with ideas and plans before a new Cheney Cemetery Association was organized. Our hope for success is in our younger members.

1940-11 - A recommendation that the city purchase, at $4,500, from D.E. Easton a 40-acre tract adjoining the present cemetery and to develop a part of it at once was made by the community cemetery committee to the city council Tuesday evening.

1983-09-08: Cheney Eagle Scout candidate Devin Warren, son of Dennis and Cloene Warren of 208 Holladay Drive, has finished work on his Eagle project, which was to construct new gate posts at Fairview Cemetery on Salnave road. With the help of many other volunteers, a total of over 550 hours of labor were put into the project. Devin, a member of Cheney Troop 318 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, poses above with his parents and brother, Chad.

Fairview Cemetery entrance, 1996