Pioneer Memorial Gardens Cemetery was established in 1905 with the original one acre now referred to as “The Pioneer Section”. In 1954, a wildfire destroyed the small building that held the records and even burned some wooden stakes that were marking graves at the time. The City of Moses Lake was overwhelmed with the problems that created and decided to turn the cemetery over to the Oddfellows, a fraternal organization with a mission to care for the dearly departed. The Oddfellows purchased the rest of Farm Unit 241 in Block 41 and expanded the cemetery to about 8 acres and put in irrigation off the Columbia Basin Project canal that runs just west of the cemetery. An additional expansion of approximately one acre and a columbarium, “The Garden of Tranquility” was added by the Oddfellows shortly before they sold the cemetery to the current owner, Susan Freeman in 2001, however by this time, the farm unit had been sold.
The new owner purchased land north of Road 2 NE and a Conditional Use was issued to expand the cemetery in that direction, with about 5 additional acres. The new owner also expanded the original cemetery by an additional 2.5 acres and about half of it was dedicated by Monsignor Skehan as a Catholic burial place. That Garden is named “Garden of the Sacred Heart” with “Family Estates” to the west and “Garden of Hope” to the east.
Abundant space is available for purchase.
The cemetery continues to be operated privately. This means no taxing district supports the cemetery and therefore the costs of operating must be covered by the income from the cemetery.