Local News in Brief : Cemetery Declared an L.A. Landmark

The Wilmington Cemetery, believed to be the oldest active graveyard in Los Angeles County, was declared a city landmark Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council.

The cemetery, established 131 years ago near Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington by Phineas Banning, the father of the Port of Los Angeles, is the resting place of members of several prominent families of early Southern California, including the Bannings, Sepulvedas, Narbonnes and Carsons.

Banning, who established the graveyard to bury his first child, was interred there for a short while, but his second wife moved his remains to Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. The cemetery has about 300 plots remaining, which are generally available only to residents of the cemetery’s assessment district, which includes most of Wilmington.

Nearby residents began pushing for the landmark designation about 1 1/2 years ago when the graveyard had to close its gates for a month because of financial problems. It has since rebounded, thanks to loans from the city and county and an annual $8.09 assessment on all taxable parcels in the district.