Community Outreach

Old Victor Pioneer Cemetery. One of 27 such cemeteries in Poweshiek County, Iowa is Old Victor Pioneer Cemetery in Warren Township. Old Victor is a special place for its inseparable wealth of cultural and natural history. Many of the burials date back to the 1860's and 1870's, at which time the deceased were laid to rest in prairie sod on the top of a hill. Over the last 140 years, however, the stones and the prairie deteriorated due to difficult access to this 0.5-acre land-locked cemetery. The Poweshiek County Pioneer Cemetery Commission, Warren Township Trustees, and Center staff are renewing efforts to repair the stones, provide access to the cemetery, and restore the prairie.

Community involvement. Grinnell Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as well as college student members of the Environmental Action Group, have all helped to control woody species invading the cemetery. In the fall of 2002, Cemetery Commission members and Gene Adkins, Warren Twp trustee, collected seed from local remnants to plant in the cemetery.

Prairie restoration. With the land around the stones restored to prairie, relatives will once again be able to visit the gravesites of their ancestors and be reminded of how rapidly our landscape changed and how important it is to preserve places like Old Victor.

View photos of Old Victor restoration efforts