FOREST CITY CEMETERY

This is one of Sarpy County's oldest cemeteries. Begun in the early 1860's, it was part of the town of Forest City which disappeared over a century ago. Forest City had the misfortune of being located a couple miles away from where the railroad eventually passed, resulting in the beginning of a new town, Gretna, and teh abandoning of the old one. The cemetery is the only reminder of the pioneers who called Forest City home.

The cemetery is located on Schram Rd. at about 231st St.. two miles west of Gretna. It is in the Northeast Quarter of Sec 3, Twp 13, Range 10. It contains one of only two mausoleums in the county. In 1922 Doris (Prehn) Schnack died and her husband Marcus erected the structure based on a design common in his native Germany. He died in 1941 and is buried in the mausoleum beside his wife. The only other mausoleum in Sarpy County is a small family one in St. John's Cemetery.

It was a public, nondenomination cemetery and the last burial took place nearly fifty years ago. The earliest Catholic settlers (Irish and German) in the area didn't have a Catholic cemetery, except the Thomas Catholic Cemetery, which was primarily a Thomas family cemetery. The area adjoining the Forest City Cemetery immediately to the south was purchased and Holy Sepulchre, Sarpy County's first Catholic Cemetery, was established. Today the old Forest City Cemetery is maintained by Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Gary Iske, Sarpy County Genealogical Society, 1995.

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