Quest for a Final Dotte Resting Place

Weather in Kansas City can be downright awful in the summer.  It keeps folks hiding in the cool indoors without much to do beyond thinking about what they would rather be doing.  In this instance, it enabled an opportunity to follow up on a long lost relative.  The general grounds location was known, but the exact location of entombment remained elusive, requiring a trip out to the humble grounds of the Wyandotte County Historical Museum to chat with the keepers of those records associated with the burial at Oak Grove Cemetery.  It ranks among the oldest in the metropolitan area.

A variety of uniquely Kansas City, KS artifacts are sprinkled throughout the museum displaying the growth of the city.  A special collection celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1951 on this particular visit.  Thinking about the frequency shown, another massive influx of water is due within the next ten to fifteen years, if any such cycle is relevant in this scenario.

Bonus tour of an excellent little museum aside, the folks maintain some fantastic records, much of it digitized.  The attendant quickly located the information sought and the quest moved back to the cemetery.  Why would he have been interred in a Public Vault though?  The question would linger and continues to do so. 

Prior reconnaissance work made locating the crumbling final resting place relatively simple.  It had deteriorated further since the last visit, at a time when it stood only as a curiosity.  Someone had broken into the vault and used the space.  However, it provided a means of gathering a little documentation of the situation.  Stone is torn away at one corner creates an escape hatch and the front facade is leaning, considering collapsing.  It may be nothing more than a pile of rubble in a few years.  Seems that not all parts of the past are as important as others.

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Further Reading

The Dotte Museum

jusTodd on Medium

Barton P. Cohen Research Library & Archive

Wyndotte County Historical Museum - Unified Government