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Photograph of Prairie Grove Cemetery
Photograph by Valis55, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Prairie Grove Cemetery Historic Section

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

From the record

“The Prairie Grove Cemetery is a historic cemetery on West Buchanan and Kate Smith Streets in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas. Located just west of downtown Prairie Grove, the cemetery is the burial ground for many of the area's early settlers, with the oldest known burial occurring in 1818.”

Wikipedia article Prairie Grove Cemetery, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 160 National Register listings published here for Washington County · listed in 2016 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Fires near this property

22 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Prairie Grove Cemetery Historic Section between 1997 and 2020, burning about 212 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Arson/incendiarism5
Equipment and vehicle use2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 September 1998Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
4 September 1998Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
10 September 2004Arson/incendiarism4.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
5 August 2011Debris and open burning6.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
28 August 2000Equipment and vehicle use13 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
28 August 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
26 June 2012Debris and open burning1.0 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
2 April 1997Arson/incendiarism40 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named

Every fire recorded in Washington County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Prairie Grove Cemetery Historic Section: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnkSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Washington County

Storms near this property

53 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Prairie Grove, the town this property stands in, in 53 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 24 hail, 18 thunderstorm wind, 7 flash flood, 2 lightning. The reports record 2 deaths and 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 2006LightningPrairie Grove1 killed, 1 hurtLightning struck a fishing boat killing one of the occupants and injuring the other.
April 2017Flash FloodPrairie Grove1 killedMany roads were flooded from Savoy to Prairie Grove to Farmington. A man was swept off off Highway 16 by flood waters, and was drowned.
October 2024Tornado (EF1)Prairie Grove$300,000This tornado developed north of Highway 62 over the southwest side of Prairie Grove. It moved northeast across the southern portion of town and dissipated north of Illinois Chapel Road over open country. Numerous homes were damaged in the path of the tornado, some with significant roof damage. Trees were uprooted, outbuildings were damaged, numerous large tree limbs were snapped, and power poles were blown down by the tornado. Based on this damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 95 to 105 mph.
June 2013LightningPrairie Grove$100,000Lightning struck a house, causing a fire that severely damaged it. An elderly woman in the house was killed by the fire after she called 911.
April 2008HailPrairie Grove$50,000Golfball size hail damaged automobiles and homes.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$15,000Strong thunderstorm wind damaged homes, destroyed a barn, and blew down trees onto homes.
October 2019Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$5,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees and power lines.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$5,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down trees and power lines.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$2,000Strong thunderstorm wind blew down power lines.
May 2019Tornado (EF1)Prairie Grove$2,000This tornado blew down trees and power poles. It was observed by several people. Based on the damage, maximum estimated wind in the tornado was 85 to 95 mph.
September 2005Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$2,000Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down several trees and a fence.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$500Trees were blown down in Prarie Grove.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$100Thunderstorm winds blew down a tree.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove$100no account filed
September 2025Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Portions of several roads in and around town were flooded.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-Strong thunderstorm wind snapped numerous large tree limbs.
August 2023Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-Strong thunderstorm wind blew down a large tree.
June 2019Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Several roads were flooded and closed in Prairie Grove.
April 2017Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Heavy rainfall resulted in portions of several roads to be flooded.
July 2015Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Portions of Bill Campbell Road were flooded in Prairie Grove.
May 2011Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Several roadways were flooded in and around Prairie Grove.
October 2009Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-Strong thunderstorm wind gusts snapped large tree limbs.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-Thunderstorm winds estimated at 70 miles an hour blew down several trees.
May 2001Flash FloodPrairie Grove-Heavy thunderstorm rains caused water to flow over several roads in the Prairie Grove area.
April 1994HailPrairie Grove-Several homes and businesses sustained roof damage.
November 1993HailPrairie Grove-Thunderstorm winds knocked down several large trees. Some of the trees fell onto vehicles. Several buildings also sustained roof damage.
April 2026HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
August 2024HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
March 2016HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
March 2015HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
December 2015HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
March 2015HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
June 2012HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 2010HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
September 2009HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 2009HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 2008HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 2008HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
July 2005HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 2003HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 2002HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 1999HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 1999Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 1999HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
March 1998Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 1996HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
November 1995HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
December 1995HailPrairie Grove-no account filed
April 1995Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
October 1993Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
May 1993Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
September 1993Thunderstorm WindPrairie Grove-no account filed
October 1993HailPrairie Grove-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washington County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
North Mock Street Historic Districtunder 500 feet2018
Southern Mercantile Building0.1 miles1990
Prairie Grove Commercial Historic District0.2 miles2018
Prairie Grove Airlight Outdoor Telephone Booth0.7 miles2015
Prairie Grove Battlefield Park0.7 miles1970
Borden House0.9 miles1977

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 15000292 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Washington CountyAll 160 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.