With the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot now on the National Register of Historic Places, another local landmark is looking to get listed as a statewide historic site. An ad hoc group called the Cemetery Historical Listing Group is attempting to garner city support to have the Benicia City Cemetery placed on the California Register of Historic Places and possibly the National Register. The request has already been supported by the Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Commission and if approved by the Historic Preservation Review Commission (HPRC) at its Thursday meeting, it could go before the City Council in the future.

The Cemetery was established in 1847, the same year that Benicia was founded as a city. For the past 170 years, it has been the final resting place of countless people, including several notable figures. Sea captain and general store proprietor Edward Von Pfister, freight business captain Samuel Blyther, Young Ladies’ Seminary operator Mary Atkins Lynch and famed syndicated columnist Elsie Robinson are among those interred in the cemetery. It is also the burial place of many people who played major roles in California’s early statehood when Benicia was near the epicenter of the Gold Rush, served as California’s state capitol and was a U.S. Army post, according to a staff report by Acting Senior Planner Vic Randall.

The State Register includes various buildings, sites and structures that are important to California’s cultural history and thus worthy of preservation. Among the places in Benicia listed on the State Register are the Arsenal, the Capitol building, the Masonic Hall, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Turner/Robertson Shipyard.

Randall believes the nomination would potentially allow for better maintenance at the Cemetery.

“The Cemetery Historical Listing Group sees this listing as an opportunity to qualify for grants needed for restoration work,” he wrote. “They are proposing to not include the newer grass section of the cemetery in the nomination.”

The nomination has received letters of support by Benicia Historical Society President Larry Miller and Benicia Historical Museum Executive Director Elizabeth d’Huart.

“Several of those buried in the Benicia City Cemetery played significant roles in the California Gold Rush, the establishment of an early State Capitol, the installation of the first Western District (pre-statehood) US Army Arsenal, and as founders of the education community known as the ‘Athens of the West”; also the building of Benicia into an important early Western transportation and communication hub,” d’Huart wrote.

Randall recommends that the HPRC approve a request for the City Council to support the nomination.

In other matters, the HPRC will hear an update on the Downtown Historic Conservation Plan historic design guidelines and process and appoint a commissioner to serve on the project’s Community Advisory Group.

The HPRC will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26 in City Hall’s Commission Room, located at 250 East L St.

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