At a public meeting held in the early court house on August 4, 1854 a movement was launched for a new and more adequate cemetery. The most attractive site in all of Peoria lay in the valley beyond Birkets Hollow and in the beautiful wooded hills above. Much of the land was owned by William A. Hall, Thomas Baldwin, and Hervey Lightner.

In order to become operational as a cemetery, the large size of Springdale required the owners to procure a charter from the Illinois State Legislature. To accomplish that Peoria lawyer Alexander McCoy was hired and on February 14, 1855, he succeeded in getting the Charter passed. Springdale Cemetery was officially in business.

Little did they know that Springdale would grow to be one of the State's largest cemeteries. Springdale is a final resting place to all nationalities: English, German, African, French, Irish, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Italian, Greek, Russian, Polish, Scandinavian and many more.

Springdale is also the resting place for some Peoria legends including: Lydia Bradley, Captain Moss, Governor Ford, Senator Bloom, John Gwynn, Romeo Garrett, Captain Detweiller, and many more.

Also among all of these lie the thousands of people who built our fine community and surrounding areas, each one of them with special stories. Springdale is also the final resting place for several name sakes of our city streets and landmarks.

More than a century has gone since the cemetery became a reality. Today within its confines over 78,000 citizens lie in peace along the 230 acres of hills and valleys and 6.5 miles of roads. Our first recorded burial was April, 1857. Some architectural highlights are: a beautifully restored public mausoleum, 9 statues, 7 tree monuments, a Gatehouse, and 15 private mausoleums throughout the grounds. The public mausoleum was built in 1929 with additions added in 1965 and in 1973. On Wednesday, April 15, 1998 the city's Historic Preservation Commission unanimously voted landmark status to the Gatehouse.