About Us
Union Cemetery - Established 1806
For more than 200 years, Union Cemetery has offered professional and dignified burial services in central Ohio. From traditional burials to a scattering garden for cremains to mausoleum space, we offer you and your family a variety of options at reasonable prices and exceptional service.
Ours is a historic, centrally located 128-acre cemetery where you can respectfully memorialize your family members in an environment that encourages quiet reflection and peace of mind.
Union Cemetery is owned and operated by the not-for-profit Union Cemetery Association and maintains excellent working relationships with local funeral directors and clergy. Our courteous, helpful, non-commission staff performs hundreds of burials each year and is committed to reducing the stress a death can place on you and your family.
History
What is known today as Union Cemetery, just west of the Olentangy River in Columbus, Ohio, first became a burial site in 1806 when Northwest Territory pioneer and Revolutionary War veteran Balser Hess was buried there on the site of his family farm. Additional members of the Hess family and other families were buried at the site over the next 40 years.
In 1847, Union Cemetery was established on land purchased from the Hess family. During the next several years, the number of gravesites grew and family burial sites began to be replaced by organized cemeteries. The Union Cemetery Association was created in 1878 to manage the cemetery. The association’s trustees purchased other small parcels of land in the years that followed, including 75 acres on the west side of Olentangy River Road in 1946. This addition is located about one-half mile north of the old cemetery’s north border and accepted its first interment in 1954. The first of three mausoleum buildings was completed there in 1985.
More than 200 years after Balser Hess was interred on his homestead, Union Cemetery continues to offer diverse, personal and professional burial services. It has grown to encompass more than 128 acres and is now the final resting-place for more than 70,000 people. Additional land is in reserve for future development.
Find more history at: http://www.centralohiogravesearch.com/uploads/union-cemetery-history.htm
Holiday Wreaths Now Available
If you are on our mailing list or email list you should have already received your letter and order form. You can also download the form from our website here on home page and send it in with payment. We hope to have online ordering available for 2025.