Below is an aerial view of Laurel Hill Cemetery, located at 21st and Polk Street in Omaha; it is squarely in the old South Omaha city limits.  It’s also known as Sautter’s Cemetery and the Old German Cemetery. 

Today you can see the cemetery from the Kennedy Freeway, just before the first Bellevue exit. They are clearing out some of the trees at the bottom of the cemetery, and the view from the interstate is much less obstructed; you can just see the lanes of the highway at the bottom of the aerial picture. There have been many rumors that the graves at the bottom of the cemetery were just plowed over by the construction companies when the Interstate was built, rather than being moved. I certainly don't doubt this, knowing what construction companies have done in other places here in town and across the country.

If you have Microsoft Excel, click here to see the layout of the cemetery. In the photo below, the main gates are at the top of the picture, a little right of center. This orientation now matches the Excel map at the link above.

According to the Greater Omaha Genealogical Society book, "Graveyards of Douglas County," the cemetery was begun in 1866 by Christian Sautter on his farm in South Omaha.  Mrs. Sautter gave the cemetery to the lot owners in 1936.  All the early records were destroyed by fire in 1910.  Mr. Sautter attempted to reconstruct the records from memory. 

Helen Zentz, the past-President of the Laurel Hill Cemetery Association, was working to put together a card file of all extant records in the 1970's-80's.  These were eventually collected into book form in 1990 by Margie Sobotka, called, appropriately enough, "The Laurel Hill Cemetery Book." At this time the book is out-of-print, but if there is enough demand it's possible they might do another printing. The Omaha Public Library Main Branch has all the known records on microfilm, as well as a copy of the book.

Laurel Hill is fighting a battle with time, vandalism and the elements.  Helen Zentz has retired and there is a new group of people working with the cemetery, asking for volunteers to help keep the cemetery in good shape and donations to restore or replace some of the older, unreadable headstones.

Lack of funds is still threatening to close this historic cemetery down for good.  Relatives of the people interred there contribute what they can, but with rising costs it's not enough.  It is an important part of Omaha’s heritage (Fred Astaire’s grandmother is buried here!), and needs everyone's help. If you would like to help in any way, please write or send a donation (this is a non-profit group) to:

The Laurel Hill Cemetery Association

P O Box 7053 - South Omaha Station

Omaha, Nebraska 68107