New Mt. Sinai Cemetery makes a valid claim to be the oldest existing Jewish cemetery west of the Mississippi. In about 1847 the new Emanu El (or Imanu El) Congregation bought a small piece of property at Cooper (Gratiot) and Pratte in the area known as Campsprings as a burial ground. In 1850 B’nai Brith (the congregation, not the national organization) bought a one-acre tract on Gravois Road about six miles southwest of the city limits for the same purpose. Having lost members, primarily to the 1849 cholera epidemic, the two congregations merged in October 1852 and became B’nai El.

In 1869 B’nai El joined with Shaare Emeth Congregation to organize the Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association, providing burial facilities for both congregations. The association purchased more property, about six and a half acres, to add to the original small tract. In 1872 remains from the Campsprings cemetery were re-interred at Mt. Sinai. In 1884 twenty more acres were added.

In 1886 Temple Israel broke away from Shaare Emeth and sought admittance to the cemetery association. The association‘s charter was due to expire in 1889; so the members, now to include Temple Israel, re-incorporated as New Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association. This incorporation came with a perpetual charter.

New Mt. Sinai Cemetery now consists of over fifty-two acres and has had more than 10,500 burials since the first recorded one in 1853. One of three classic rural cemeteries in the region, New Mt. Sinai was designed by Julius Pitzman, the renowned local surveyor and engineer who planned many of St. Louis' parks and private places.

Please visit the New Mt. Sinai Cemetery website.