Historedia
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First Cremation in the United States

When
1876-12-06
Where
LeMoyne Crematory
Part of
First cremation in the United States at LeMoyne's crematory

The inaugural cremation occurred on December 6, 1876, at LeMoyne's facility in North Franklin Township, Pennsylvania.

Francis Julius LeMoyne completed his crematory in 1876 on his land in North Franklin Township. The first cremation in the United States was performed there on December 6, 1876, establishing a precedent for cremation practices in the country.

Sources

  1. Francis Julius LeMoyne Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-05
  2. North Franklin Township, Pennsylvania Wikipedia, revision of 2026-05-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.