PALMDALE TO CLEAN UP EARLY CITY CEMETERY.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- The city will step in to clean up and secure the community's 120-year-old cemetery, a legacy of early pioneers that has fallen on hard times.

Allowing city staffers to begin cleanup perhaps as soon as the first week of September, the City Council approved a resolution Wednesday night declaring the abandonment of the cemetery at Avenue S and 20th Street East as a place for future burials.

``For a while the city was not in a financial position to do anything,'' said Councilman Steve Hofbauer. ``Things are lining up and now is the time to do something.''

The cemetery, established by the city's first settlers in the 1880s, has fallen into a state of disrepair. It has been frequently vandalized and is marred by trash and debris, despite efforts by volunteers to keep it clean.

The degree of city involvement beyond the cleanup will be an issue that will take time to resolve.

Mayor Jim Ledford favors making the cemetery part of a historical park that is planned on an adjoining site.

``To me, this is a fascinating opportunity for the city of Palmdale,'' Ledford said. ``I would like to see the city facilitate community involvement. It's our history. We all share in that.''

The resolution approved Wednesday made three findings - that the site is not an endowment care cemetery; that the site has not had more than 10 human interments within the past five years; and that the site presents a threat or danger to the health, safety, comfort or welfare of the public.

The last burial of record was Jan. 17, 2001, city officials said. The cemetery no longer accepts burials because of the possibility of disturbing unmarked graves.

Ledford asked local historians and residents with knowledge of the cemetery to step up and aid the city in preserving the site.

There is a possibility that there are grave sites outside the cemetery, just east of the site. Ledford said at some point, a survey should be done to look for unmarked graves.

The cemetery was created by the settlers of Palmenthal, founded in the 1880s by German and Swiss immigrants from Nebraska and Illinois.

City officials said a search of records indicates the Jonas family, one of the pioneer families that settled in Palmenthal, donated 20 acres to a local church for a cemetery.

Over the years, the ownership became confused, mainly because decades ago the cemetery was seized -- incorrectly -- for failure to pay property taxes.

The present owner is Don Jones, a Tehachapi man who is the son of one of the previous owners. Jones has agreed to turn over his claim to the site to the city.

The city has acquired 14 acres adjacent to the cemetery with the idea of establishing a historical park there.

The community's first school - a one-room schoolhouse built in the 1880s and now in McAdam Park - might be moved to the proposed historical park, where there also could be exhibits detailing the railroad's impact on Palmdale's development.

Palmdale officials are in discussions with local historian Glen Settle about the possibility of relocating three of the city's early buildings from a site in Rosamond to the historical park site. The buildings are a railroad station and homes that belong to the Ritter and Munz families, early settlers of the community.

City officials are trying to determine the cost of relocating and restoring the buildings which had been relocated to Rosamond as part of a ghost town tourist attraction that operated from the 1950s to the 1980s.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Grave sites for members of Palmdale's pioneering Ritter family will be among those protected by the City Council's decision to clean up the 120-year-old cemetery.

(2) The cemetery at Avenue S and 20th Street East in Palmdale was established in the 1880s by the city's first settlers.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer