Iron gates in front of the oldest Latvian cemetery in the United States. Many Latvian pioneers and their descendants are buried here.

Latvian historians consider this the first cemetery in the United States developed for Latvian immigrants. It is thought the Latvian immigrants first took notice of this area of Wisconsin in about 1897 when scouts from the Pennsylvania enclave were sent to check out Lincoln County. The scouts returned to Pennsylvania with high praise for the area and the migration to Lincoln County began within months. The Latvian settlers founded the Martin Luther congregation in about 1900, the same year they were granted land for a church and cemetery. The first Latvians were buried there in 1902, according to church records, but the cemetery was not dedicated until 1903. In 1906, the first church ever built by Latvians in the United States was erected on the spot where the monument now stands. The Latvian colony has subsequently fizzled out and the church is no longer there, having been torn down in the early-1960's, but the cemetery still accepts burials to this day (May, 2012).

The inscription on the dedication monument states ...
"TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE LATVIAN PIONEERS
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT SLEEP IN THE LORD
AMERICA'S FIRST LATVIAN CEMETERY"