Calvary Cemetery

Calvary Cemetery is a quiet resting place for over 4,000 burials. The cemetery is divided into nine sections plus an infant section. Opened in the 1800s, the four center sections with many historic memorials and monuments were known as the South East, North East, North West and South West sections until the 1970s when they were renamed Sections 1 through 4. At that time Section 5 and 6 were added to the west and north of the original sections as well as a baby section on the south end of Section 5. Sections 7, 8 and 9 were plotted in 2007.

A beautiful granite columbarium with burial niches for cremated remains was added to the cemetery in the spring of 2015.

St. Stephen’s Calvary Cemetery has undergone a facelift that has beautified and enhanced the entrance and access.  If you are visiting Calvary Cemetery for the Memorial Day Mass or to visit the graves of family and friends, you will see these improvements.  As you approach the new entrance on Garfield Street you will see a new tall granite cross identifying Calvary Cemetery and St. Stephen’s Church.  A new iron fence with large stone pillars frame the safer entrance and exit for visitors and funeral processions.  As you enter, you will notice that roadways have been improved, with added pull-off parking spots, and widened in some areas.  Many new trees were added around Sections 7 and 8, and a few unsafe trees removed in older parts of the cemetery.  From the new entrance you will see the Columbarium with walkways to the patio and benches.

As of Monday, May 21, 2018, the entrance from Highway 10 permanently closed for the remodeling of the Highway 10 Corridor. We suggest the following route to the new Garfield Street entrance:

From Highway 10, go north on Thurston Ave., and take the second turn on your right, which is the new Greenhaven Parkway. Follow Greenhaven Parkway and take a right on Garfield.  Follow Garfield until you reach Calvary Cemetery on your left.

Calvary Cemetery Map

Calvary Cemetery Rules & Regulations

Calvary Cemetery Grave Decorations Clean-Up Beginning October 1, 2019:

All non-conforming items will be removed from graves.  During the cleanup, staff will remove all items except for one plant stand per grave site containing one pot of flowers. Unsightly arrangements will be removed. (Exception: Small commemorative American Flags during Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veterans Day.)  One wreath for the Fall/Christmas season may be placed on the plant stand and removed by April 1, 2020.  Thank you for helping to keep our cemetery beautiful!

Trinkets are not allowed and will be removed by Cemetery Authority.

This will be enforced effective October 1, 2018.

See Calvary Cemetery Rules and Regulations document dated January 1, 2017 (above).

Columbarium

Due to the increased demand for cremation, St. Stephen’s Catholic Church has added a Columbarium to Calvary Cemetery in Anoka, MN.

Visit our Columbarium Page to find out more.

Silent Cities – 1975

Anoka County Historical Society & St. Stephen’s Catholic Church

According to a WPA survey completed in 1937, Calvary Cemetery began as a one acre plot that was consecrated and blessed by Father Hurth, an early missionary in the Anoka area in 1856.  The area was known as Benton County then, since it was before the organization of Anoka County in 1857.

Ten years later, the cemetery was increased in size to eight acres and belonged to St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Anoka.  At this time, the cemetery was in a “natural state” meaning it had no fence, walls, or orderly layout.  Fr. Maurer, a mission priest from the Dayton mission, expanded the cemetery through a land transfer on September 13, 1872.  In 1873, Father McDermott (the first full time resident pastor for St. Stephen’s Catholic Church) began an improvement plan where he got a fence put in and created an orderly layout for the cemetery roads and lots.

 The rock wall that runs along the front side of the cemetery today was built by Alfred Keillor in the early years of the last century.  He was a stone mason and cement man in the area and we know he built this wall, but we are not sure of when exactly.  We do know he built the stone wall that runs along the yard of the house on South Ferry Street in 1912, so it is believed he built this one about that same time.  If the Keillor name is familiar, we can say yes, Alfred was a relative of Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion fame.

The original plat for the cemetery dated 1866.

For more information or to purchase a gravesite, please call the parish office at 763-421-2471.