Published 5:00 am Saturday, August 17, 2024 By Crystal Stevenson Home to some of the oldest graves in Lake Charles, Orange Grove-Graceland Cemetery is located in the heart of Broad Street, surrounded by modern restaurants and shops. Within its gates lay the remains of notable leaders who lived extraordinary lives. The Lake Charles Cemetery Association operates the non-profit cemetery, manages a perpetual-care fund to ensure its future, and maintains the grounds.
Board members are Ted Harless, Sara Judson, Lilynn Cutrer and Joel Davidson. “We’ve got an incredible historic cemetery that has so many resources to provide our community,” Judson said. “Several of us have family members that are buried here so it’s really important not just for our community, but for some of us it’s a personal thing, as well.
” The cemetery was established in 1890 and then expanded and beautified with a $5,000 loan in 1917. Among the more prominent local historical figures buried at the cemetery are Sim O. Shattuck (served in the Louisiana Legislature), Captain James Bryan (the first mayor of Lake Charles), Joseph Wilfred “Babe” Rosteet (served as Calcasieu Parish treasurer, clerk of the police and member of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury and School Board), Alvin Olin King (former Louisiana governor), John McNeese (first superintendent of schools of Imperial Calcasieu Parish) and Tony Jo Henry (the only woman ever to be executed in Louisiana’s electric chair).
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