Coming Home to - City of Gladstone

Many unknowns remain regarding the Fountain Waller andNew Stark Cemeteries. One perplexing question relates to thesmall stone enclosure within the Fountain Waller Cemetery. Thisenclosure is quite small and is flanked by another smaller enclosuretopped with iron fencing. Many tales regarding who is or wasburied there exist today. One story states that Fountain Wallerand his family were buried there, but later moved to New Stark byhis sister. Another tale says Fountain Waller and his sister wereburied there. However, Fountain Waller deeded the parcels forthe cemeteries prior to his death and designated which was tobe used for his family. In his will he requested that he be buriedbeside his wife and daughter, so it stands to reason they have alwaysbeen at New Stark. An early transcription of the Fountain WallerCemetery shows that two Lewis Waller’s and a George Wallerwere buried within the enclosure. Remnants of these stones arestill there. So, who is buried in the walled space and why they wereburied this way will probably remain a mystery. There are additionalgravesites in both cemeteries that are unmarked, and people thatshould be buried there but no record or evidence that can be found.The advanced deterioration of these two cemeteries will probablynever bring forth the answers and missing pieces of the lives ofthose that rest within them.There are other cemeteries in the area, dotted here and there, butthey are small and not much is known regarding their history.There are burial grounds that have been lost over time, moved ordestroyed, as our modern metropolis grew. Those that survived thegrowth of our times are amazing reminders of our past and how ourtowns grew to what they are today.1940The Pendergast machine falls from power when a reform movement sweeps thecity election, a year after Tom Pendergast is imprisoned for income-tax evasion.He returns home after serving 15 months and dies in 1945.27 | Spring 20091942The Park Board hires William T.A. Cully of the Bronx Zoo in New York as zoo director. He replacesNorman “Tex” Clark. Under Cully’s leadership, the zoo begins to expand. In 1948, the facility opensits popular Children’s Zoo. The seal pool is added in 1951