Angie Baker (left) and Courtney Clements pose for a photo at the cemetery. (Staff photo: Corey Buchanan)

Local history buffs want people in the local community to consider visiting the Oswego Pioneer Cemetery and learn more about the people who are buried there.

In turn, they’ve created a guide that can be viewed at the cemetery and provides a description of the important women who helped shape the community. They view it as a starting point and hope more work can be done to highlight the individual histories among the 1,300 people buried at the site off of Stafford Road.

“These are the people who built our town. We wouldn’t be here without them,” resident and Oswego Heritage House volunteer Courtney Clements said.

Some of the women highlighted include Emily Davis, who was the first female Lake Oswego resident to vote following the passing of women’s suffrage, Catherine Hallinan, whose family is the namesake of the Hallinan neighborhood, Mary Prosser, the owner of Oregon’s first iron mine, and Nancy Bullock, who purchased the 618 acres of land that would become Marylhurst with her husband.

The tour dovetails from Clements’ work to unearth histories of local women at the heritage house.

“Part of the goal is, there are interesting things to tell about the people buried here. This cemetery needs more attention,” said volunteer Angie Baker.

Some of the other notable residents who are buried at the cemetery include Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient Linus Pauling and inaugural mayor of Lake Oswego, Jerome Thomas. Many other former community leaders also rest at the cemetery. The first grave was dug in 1856.

The city of Lake Oswego has agreed to take over management of the cemetery and that transition process is underway. Baker and Clements hope that with the city’s management and more people flocking to the Stafford Road area due to the opening of the Lake Oswego Recreation & Aquatic Center, there will be additional investment in highlighting the site.

“We see this as a starting point. This is an interesting resource and there are interesting stories here. This is a volunteer effort, but we hope this spurs something bigger,” Clements said.