Arlington Memorial Park & Pet Cemetery Rockford

08/06/2026

We want to take a moment to acknowledge the pets we assisted in June after they made their journey over the rainbow bridge. Harvey, Jeeves, Rizzo, Rocky, Lightning, Deeder, Jackson, Sophia, Layla, Miss Kitty, Maverick Wolf, and April.

08/05/2026

The cemetery office opens for business in downtown Rockford in 1927. The office would remain downtown until the mid-1970s. In the 1970s, the former chapel and crypt turned equipment storage building was converted to an office. It is still the office for both Arlington Memorial Park and the Charles Street Pet Cemetery; it's the small brick building that looks like a house just as you come into the cemetery. Article is from The Rockford Daily Republic, October 14, 1927, page 6.

07/30/2026

Do have spare time on Saturday and want to help pets? Kibble Korner Pet Food Pantry (the county's only dedicated food pantry for pets) needs some help with loading and unloading pet food.

Hello friends….. we are looking for help this Saturday, August 1st around 1 PM to unload pet food at a storage unit behind Farm & Fleet off of Riverside Blvd., Loves Park.
Do you have a group that’s looking for volunteer hours……or a Boy Scout troop, or highschoolers needing hours as well?
There are 2 large U-Haul trucks that we will be unloading so all the help we can get would be awesome.
The more help we have the quicker it goes. It should only take a couple of hours.
If you would like to give us a heads up, please text Cheryl at 815-621-1544.
Thank you!!!

07/28/2026

June 2, 2027, will mark the 100th anniversary of Arlington Memorial Park. It was on this day, that the local newspapers announced that a group of local men were planning to develop and open a new cemetery on Rockford’s far east side, where the US Grant Highway and Mulford’s Crossing met. People could also reach the cemetery by interurban since it ran past that area since people would ride the line all the way to Elgin. The purposed cemetery was also going to be planned and developed on the memorial park system, the latest style in cemetery planning and the same system Willwood Burial Park used.
The men involved in creating the cemetery were listed in the article. They were Edwin S. Cedarleaf, John Wester, B.B. Early, Hugo L. Olson, and W.A. Brolin. All but one of them were local industrialists. All the industrialists had ties with the Sundstrand companies among their other business and civic pursuits. B. B. Early, the non-industrialist was a local attorney who also served on various local civic boards. The group had recruited M***a I. Payne to assist them; he had served as Willwood’s secretary and superintendent until he was approached by the Arlington group. Besides working for Willwood, he was involved in its organizing. Prior to Willwood, he had worked for a cemetery in Peoria.
Of this group, Edwin S. Cedarleaf, Hugo L. Olson and W.A. Brolin would eventually be buried at Arlington along with M***a I. Payne, the first superintendent. John Wester is buried at Scandinavian Cemetery and B.B. Early is at Greenwood Cemetery.
We will be writing other snippets of history about Arlington Memorial Park and its people over the next several months as we prepare for our 100th anniversary next year.

07/23/2026

We've put up banners on either side of our entrance to promote the new Monument Garden section of Cremation Garden. Feel free to stop in and take a look and/or contact the office for further information. We will be promoting it along with the cemetery as a whole as we approach our 100th anniversary in June of 2027.

07/06/2026

We have added a package in Monument Garden for a single inurnment in an above ground monument. Lowest price is a light grey granite pillar, middle price is for a black granite pillar, and highest price is for a BC mahogany pillar.

07/06/2026

We still need to get parking stripes painted on, but the tape is down. You can now use the parking lot for easier access to Cremation Garden, Monument Garden, the Columbarium and the cemetery office.

07/02/2026

Wishing everyone a Happy and Safe 4th of July Weekend.

07/02/2026

We want to take a moment to acknowledge the pets we assisted in June after they made their journey over the rainbow bridge. Loki, Snoopy, H***h, Pickles, Rosie, Rusty, Cubby, Mayzie, Salem, Sabrina Marie, Lucky One, Scout, Carmen, Bitty, Sylvester, Boomer, and Angel.

07/01/2026

Don't forget, the office at the cemetery will be closed on Friday, July 3rd for the holiday. It will re-open Monday, July 6th at 8 am. The cemetery grounds, as always, are open from dawn until dusk, every day.