City officials work on cemetery project

By Staff
Nathan Strickland
People who have trouble finding their deceased loved ones at Russellville’s Knights of Pythias (K.P.) Cemetery will no longer have to spend days searching.
City officials have installed an information center at the corner of Melvin Walker St. and Calhoun Ave. for those who have trouble pinpointing the exact location of their loved one’s burial plot.
Director of the Franklin County Archive Chris Ozbrin said this is truly going to help lots of people.
The project began when Gerald Jackson and Ozbrin got the ball rolling by surveying the cemetery. Ozbrin said Jackson went to the courthouse and got an aerial view of the lot which spreads over 23 acres and had an architect, Donald Parker, to make three copies of a map that sectioned off the cemetery.
Harold Miller then sealed the map and Brad Bentley and Roy Price helped construct the information center that now stands in K.P. Cemetery, which has been established since 1903.
A book of names of everyone who is buried in the cemetery has been constructed and can be found at the Franklin County Archives and at the street department.
Mayor Troy Oliver believes the idea to have an information center to help people find their loved ones was a splendid idea.
Oliver said the city should be grateful for the fine people we have working in this town.
City officials said they are going to try to do the same for Luketown Cemetery in the future.
Oliver said the Russellville Police Department will also assist people in finding loved ones in the cemetery, during after business hours for the street department and Franklin County Archives. For help on finding a headstone contact the Franklin County Archives at 332-8827 or Russellville Street Department at 332-8750.