In 2024, a small one-acre of ground, in Foristell, Missouri, a special place called Smith Chapel Cemetery, which has been lovingly cared for since 1871, was listed on the National Parks Services’ National Underground Railroad. Because of that, they applied for and were granted by Congress, a grant to restore the cemetery by professional Cemetery Restorer, Jerry Prouhet and for historian, Dorris Keeven-Franke, working with Professor Grace Wade Moser at the local St. Charles County Community College and two semesters with over 75 students each semester, to help in the restoration, create Oral histories, write research on relative topics, and the people that are buried in the cemetery, and to help create four information signs. The four signs will identify the history of the property at the front gate, the former site of the one-room African American Douglass Schoolhouse, the site of the Smith Chapel A.M.E. Church, and the history of the Cemetery and are being paid for by the National Park Services grant.
The students have spent hours tenderly cleaning headstones, locating fallen headstones, cleaning and pulling weeds, and recording history. This class, with Professor Moser, referred to as Service Learning, immerses the students in their local history in a way no regular history class ever can. The dates they study are the ones etched in stone, sometimes even concrete pieces that have placed to mark a loved one’s life. They have visited with the descendants, now members of the Wesley Smith Church on Hwy J in Wright City, because many of them are descendants of those buried at Smith Chapel. On October 11, 2025, the students and members of the community worked with Prouhet, Cemetery professional, to right the headstone of a man named John Sanders, who had been laid to rest in Smith Chapel Cemetery on June 29, 1929.
Sanders had died after a Crane accident from internal injuries at the St. Louis City Hospital on June 25th, leaving a wife named Pinkey, a widow. At the time of the accident, John was living in St. Louis, but would be brought home, and after funeral services by the Nieburg Funeral home in Wright City, laid to rest among other family members. He was the son of Price Sanders, and was born in Missouri on May 3, 1872 according to his headstone.
The stone had toppled and had been lying on the ground for well over 70 years, according to his descendant Bill Sanders, who was there to witness the restoration by Prouhet. Sanders is the caretaker of the Cemetery and has many relatives in the cemetery. The students are learning genealogy techniques as well; but information is scarce for African American families. If you are interested in learning more about Smith Chapel Cemetery in Foristell Missouri, visit https://smithchapelcemetery.com/ online. They will be sharing more about this project at two programs in November, on Tuesday, November 18th at the Wentzville Historical Society; and Thursday, November 20th at the Warren County Historical Society.
Smith Chapel Cemetery 