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Photograph of Peshtigo Fire Cemetery
Photograph by self, CC BY-SA 2.5. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Peshtigo Fire Cemetery

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

From the record

“The Peshtigo Fire Cemetery is a cemetery in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. The cemetery is the burial location of the charred remains of victims of the Peshtigo Fire, of October 8, 1871, the deadliest natural fire in the history of the United States.”

Wikipedia article Peshtigo Fire Cemetery, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 12 National Register listings published here for Marinette County · listed in 1970 · category: Site.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 site, 1 object as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Oconto Ave. between Peck and Ellis Aves., Peshtigo, 54157
  • When was it listed? October 1970
  • Category. site
  • City. Peshtigo city
  • National Register reference number. 70000037 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

178 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 178 fires within 5 miles of Peshtigo Fire Cemetery between 1992 and 2020, burning about 91 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 8 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 burning63
Equipment and vehicle use36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined23
Railroad operations and maintenance15
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
Arson/incendiarism8
Fireworks7
Smoking7
Recreation and ceremony3
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Natural2
Other causes2

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
3 September 2007Railroad operations and maintenance2.2 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
11 September 1998Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
1 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 August 1997Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
28 August 2001Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
24 August 2009Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesPANTS FIRE
15 August 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
13 August 2004Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Every fire recorded in Marinette County

Mines and quarries near this property

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Peshtigo Fire Cemetery: 5 occurrences, 2 past producers, 1 unknown, 1 producer. 1 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
Jackie Foster Inc.PitsSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Marinette Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Marinette Sand PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Nob Hill Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Park Point Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Peshtigo Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Rade Macker PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Sandy Hill Sand DepositSand and Gravel, ConstructionOccurrence
Trout Creek Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Marinette County

Storms near this property

29 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Peshtigo, the town this property stands in, in 29 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 1 lightning, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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
May 2007Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo$25,000A camper was tipped over and a 4 foot diameter tree blown down which crushed a van.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo$10,000Thunderstorm winds caused tree and power line damage throughout Peshtigo. One tree fell on a garage and another damaged a fence. The most concentrated tree damage was near Peshtigo High School and along Maple Street.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo$6,000Thunderstorm winds downed several trees near Peshtigo. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo$2,000no account filed
May 2025HailPeshtigo-Nickel size hail fell in Peshtigo. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
August 2022HailPeshtigo-Nickel size hail fell near Peshtigo.
July 2021HailPeshtigo-Half dollar size hail fell near Peshtigo.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Thunderstorm winds downed trees and power lines in Peshtigo. The time of this event is an estimate based on radar data.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Peshtigo. The time of this report is an estimate based on radar data.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Thunderstorm winds downed numerous trees near County Road VV in Peshtigo. Some of the trees took down power lines as they fell.
October 2014HailPeshtigo-Hail, as large as walnut size at times, fell for 8 minutes at Peshtigo, leaving the ground covered with hailstones 2 to 3 inches deep.
June 2012HailPeshtigo-Thunderstorms produced walnut size hail at Peshtigo.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Law enforcement reported numerous trees and power lines were knocked down across the entire county. The worst damage occurred in Peshtigo.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Thunderstorm winds downed trees in Peshtigo.
August 2009HailPeshtigo-Hail up to half dollar size was reported north of Peshtigo.
June 2007HailPeshtigo-At Highway 64 and Bagley Road.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-Many trees down in Grover Township.
July 2006HailPeshtigo-no account filed
August 2006HailPeshtigo-no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-no account filed
August 2005HailPeshtigo-no account filed
September 2004HailPeshtigo-no account filed
April 2001Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-no account filed
July 2000Tornado (F0)Peshtigo-no account filed
August 1999LightningPeshtigo-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-no account filed
March 1998HailPeshtigo-no account filed
July 1995Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-no account filed
September 1994Thunderstorm WindPeshtigo-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Marinette 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
F.J. Lauerman House6.4 miles1979
Milwaukee Road Depot6.4 miles2005
Dunlap Square Building6.7 miles1992
Mary and Harry Brown House6.7 miles2015
Lauerman Brothers Department Store6.7 miles1992
Bijou Theatre Building6.8 miles1993

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 70000037 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Marinette CountyAll 12 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.