Kenosha’s First Cemetery

Green Ridge Cemetery, Kenosha’s first City Cemetery, dates back  to 1838 when Senator Charles Durkee honored his wife Catherine’s request to be buried at the north end of the current cemetery. Senator Durkee later donated several acres of his land around her grave to the city for use as a cemetery. The first settlers in the area selected the area as a burial ground for their loved ones as early as February 1836.

In 1906, the Kenosha Cemetery Association was formed with their first order of business being how to improve and beautify the cemetery. Also in 1906, the front portion of the stone cottage, designed by the noted national architect Max Dunning, along with the stone and wrought iron fence were completed. The following year, Kenosha City Council voted to appropriate $2,500 per year for ten years for cemetery improvements. In 1933, an addition to the cottage, which now serves as the cemetery office, was completed. In 1989, the construction of the Green Ridge Mausoleum and Columbarium began. Three columbarium were added in 2024.

Visitors to the cemetery will recognize the names of many notable Kenoshans buried here:

  • Nathan R. Allen – built Allen tannery in 1856, the largest tannery in the country
  • S.C. Johnson – founder of Johnson Wax
  • Zalmon G. Simmons – founder of the Simmons Beauty Rest Mattress Company & noted philanthropist whose contributions included the Gilbert M. Simmons Library
  • Henry, Charles and Willis Cooper – founders of Jockey International
  • Gilbert S. Lance – Kenosha philanthropist – owner of Cooper’s 1923- 1960, predecessor of Jockey International
  • Charles Durkee – served as the first U.S. Senator from Wisconsin and the first territorial governor of Utah. His property is included in the grounds of the Kemper Center
  • Stanton Palmer – one of the four founders of Snap On Tools, who also served as the first president
  • Walter H. Alford – first president of the City Council who was responsible for the development of city parks in Kenosha
  • John V. Ayer – great, great grandfather of President Gerald R. Ford who established a warehouse business in Southport.
  • Edward Bain -established Bain Wagon Works in 1852, one of the largest wagon manufacturers in the world
  • Referend Abner Barlow – a pioneer preacher in Pleasant Prairie area who had fought in the Revolutionary War
  • Mary D. Bradford – an innovator of educational programs, suffragist and first female Superintendent of Schools in 1910.
  • John Bullen, Jr. – came west from Hannibal, N. Y. with the original group of settlers, by 1836 founder of Kenosha which was known then as the “Pike Creek” site.
  • General John Bullen – father to John Bullen, Jr.; served in the War of 1812 and built Bullens Bridge over the Fox River.