City workers cleared weeds from the old African Cemetery No. 2 on East Seventh Street on Aug. 21, 1963. Earlier in the summer, residents and local businessmen had complained that the overgrown cemetery was a source of hay fever and a playground for the lawless. The eight-acre cemetery was first used as early as the 1820s and contains more than 5,000 graves, of which 1,200 are identified but fewer than 600 are recognized with markers. More than 100 graves are those of military veterans, with 49 being U.S. Colored Troops of the Civil War. The Colored Peoples Union Benevolent Society No. 2 bought the property for use as a cemetery in 1869. The last burials in the cemetery took place in 1974. In 1973, Lexington’s city government took control of the cemetery. In 1979, African Cemetery No. 2 Inc. was organized to save the cemetery. In June 2003, a Kentucky historical marker was placed on the site. The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 31, 2004. Herald-Leader Archive Photo