St. John's Lutheran Cemetery

St. John's Lutheran Cemetery is one of the last reminders of what was once a thriving Lutheran community in the Buttonville area and the struggles that many of the original settlers faced when trying to establish a new community in Markham.

The first St. John's Lutheran Church in Buttonville was of log construction and built circa 1820 on land donated by Captain Schutze, a veteran of the War of 1812. In 1853 the Lutherans built a new frame for the church on the site of the log church and in 1892 that church was replaced by another of brick. In 1932 after the congregation relocated, the old church was torn down leaving only the graveyard and remnants of its foundation to mark the site.

Located at 8933 Woodbine Avenue, St. John's Lutheran Cemetery framed by mature trees and set to the south of the village on a height of land over a tributary of the Rouge River, remains a strong and picturesque reminder of the earliest settlers. As a cemetery the principal physical attributes of the St. John's Lutheran Cemetery are the early headstones of marble and granite.