Listed on the National Register in 2003, the cemetery had, already many years previous, fallen into a state of neglect, "a tangle of neglect and debris". It was a Helenan, Lucy Baker, who organized its cleanup and resurrection, culminating in her having it listed on the register.
The cemetery is surrounded by a wrought iron fence, erected in 1928, with both large automobile and small pedestrian gates at the Benton Avenue end for access. Inside, by the time of its National Register listing, there were 896 interments, while
Find A Grave lists 1,487 (1472, according to the cemetery's website), today many unmarked. Any headstones in the cemetery dated prior to 1870 are reinterments from the older cemetery which were relocated here. The earliest headstone is that of Henry or Harry "Ed" Slater, born on an unknown date, who died June 6, 1865, while the last burial was that of Mable Louise "Lou" Walsh Murphy, born Oct. 9, 1925, who died December 5, 2007. The first burial in
Benton Avenue Cemetery (not counting reinterments) was that of John R. Bitzer, born December 9, 1833, who died January 16, 1870.
Though many notable people of Helena and environs are buried here, as are a great many of the pioneers of the town, Benton Avenue Cemetery, too, was the scene of disinterments when the newer, and in the view of many at the time, grander, Forestvale Cemetery was opened in 1890, the year after Montana's achieving statehood. The graves of several prominent families were subsequently moved from Benton Avenue to Forestvale.
In the cemetery are several individually fenced family plots, stone markers, metal (zinc) markers and, at one time, wooden markers. As of 2003 there remained one wooden marker, legible only in a graphite rubbing, which reads: "
Sacred to the memory of Azubah S., wife Ben J. Dailey.". Near the west fence in the southwest section is a very unusual wooden obelisk. At the center of the southeast quadrant is the cemetery's only mausoleum, bearing two family names, Connor and Dingle.
BENTON AVENUE CEMETERY
Scattered wooden markers, tall marble obelisks, and iron fences enclosing family plots memorialize the pioneers who rest in this early burial ground. Lewis and Clark County established the cemetery in 1870. In 1875, remains from the original mining camp cemetery on Warren Street were disinterred and moved to Benton Avenue; a few of these graves date to the 1860s. Benton Avenue then became Helena’s main nonsectarian, Protestant burial ground. Frequent interments continued through the 1890s. Among the prominent Helenans buried here are John Kinna, Helena’s first mayor; Lewis Reeder, the builder of Reeder’s Alley; and Edwin Toole, brother of the state’s first governor. Masons, a cornerstone of the state's foundation, are a strong presence in the northeast section. Stones predating statehood are often designated M.T. (for Montana Territory), and graves of veterans from all branches of the service represent varied military experience. Poignant memorials to children speak to the heavy toll of epidemics in the early community. After 1900, few placed loved ones in this simple pioneer burial ground. The iron fence, added in 1928, marks the symbolic end of Benton Avenue’s active history. By 1966, when Helenan Lucy Baker organized volunteers to preserve the cemetery, it was a tangle of neglect and debris. In 1998, the newly reorganized Benton Avenue Cemetery Association took the lead in recognizing and maintaining this Helena landmark. Under its leadership in 2003, Lucy Baker’s dream of National Register listing came to fruition.
From the NRHP plaque at the cemetery