Fort Snelling National Cemetery

Fort Snelling National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory adjacent to the historic fort and Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. It is the only National Cemetery in Minnesota. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it covers 436.3 acres (176.6 ha), and as of June, 2024 had over 260,000 interments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Fort Snelling was a frontier fort first established in 1819. Its original purpose was to keep the peace on what was then the western frontier. During the American Civil War it served as a recruiting camp area for Minnesota volunteers. The cemetery was officially established in 1870.

In 1937, the citizens of St. Paul petitioned Congress to construct a National Cemetery in the area. Members of veterans groups, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, and the American Legion, worked together to establish the national military cemetery. The effort began with Theresa Ericksen, who fell on the ice in 1935 when visiting with other veterans. F.W. Pederson, who was commandant of the Veterans home in which Ericksen lived, asked Ericksen where she would like to be buried. Ericksen replied, "In the old post cemetery at Fort Snelling." Through letters to Ernest Lundeen and others, they came up with the idea of a Minnesota national cemetery. A committee was formed made up of veterans, including Ericksen. Soon, cemetery construction began.

Two years later, the new plot was dedicated, and the burials from the original post cemetery were moved to it. In 1960, the Fort Snelling Air Force Station transferred 146 acres (59 ha) to the cemetery; another 177 acres (0.72 km²) were acquired in 1961, expanding the cemetery to its current size.

There was a tradition of placing a flag on every grave on Memorial Day, but as the cemetery grew, the staff was forced to stop. In 2017, the nonprofit Flags for Fort Snelling revived the tradition; volunteers placed 200,000 memorial flags in 2019.

The cemetery contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a Royal Canadian Air Force airman of World War II.