Soldiers’ lot · VA-listed site
Oakdale Cemetery Soldiers' Lot
Davenport, Iowa
Location
Oakdale Memorial Gardens, 2501 Eastern Avenue
Davenport, IA 52807
Visiting
- Address
- Oakdale Memorial Gardens, 2501 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, IA 52807
- Phone
- 309-784-0000
- Visiting hours
- Open daily from sunrise to sunset.
- Office hours
- Monday thru Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
- Time zone
- Central Time
- Burial space
- Closed
- Accessibility
- Not yet verified
- Official page
- cem.va.gov
Flowers and grounds policy, from the VA
Cemetery policies are conspicuously posted and readily visible to the public.
Floral arrangements accompanying the casket or urn at the time of burial will be placed on the completed grave. They will be removed when they become unsightly or when it becomes necessary to facilitate cemetery operations such as mowing.
Flowers and containers: Fresh cut flowers may be placed on the gravesite at any time. Temporary flower containers are provided for your convenience and are the property of the cemetery. Please do not remove these containers from the cemetery grounds. Under no circumstances will items be tied, wired, glued, or otherwise attached to the headstone or marker. Permanent flower containers are no longer permitted.
Artificial flowers: Artificial flowers will be permitted on the gravesite during the period of November 1 through March 31. Christmas Decorations, wreaths, grave blankets (no larger than three feet by five feet), etc., are permitted from Thanksgiving through March 1. Decorations removed from the gravesites will be discarded 30 days after the pick up date.
Potted plants: Not allowed to be placed at the gravesite at any time.
Unauthorized decorations: The following items are not permitted on the gravesite: Potted plants (except as above), statues, permanent plantings, vigil lights, breakable items (i.e., glass/ceramic vases), balloons, toys, stuffed animals, shepherd's hooks or similar devices, U. S. Flags (except on Memorial Day weekend), other similar commemorative items or markers, and items degrading to the country.
Perpetual care: Guidelines provide for grounds maintenance, cutting the grass and trimming around the headstones/markers, and all areas of the cemetery on a weekly basis. This includes the removal and disposal of unauthorized grave decorations and artificial arrangements (except during periods specified above). Fresh cut floral arrangements will be removed from the gravesite and disposed of by cemetery personnel when they become withered, faded, or otherwise unsightly. Any decorations or floral items that have been displaced from the gravesites, due to wind or other factors out of our control, will be removed from the graves, held for 30 days and disposed of by cemetery personnel.
Weapons Policy
VA regulations 38 CFR 1.218 prohibit the carrying of firearms (either openly or concealed), explosives or other dangerous or deadly weapons while on VA property, except for official purposes, such as military funeral honors.
Possession of firearms on any property under the charge and control of VA is prohibited. Offenders may be subject to a fine, removal from the premises, or arrest.
General information, from the VA
The private and community cemeteries that contain NCA soldiers' and government lots, and Confederate cemeteries, do not always have staffed offices on site. When administrative information for the larger cemetery is available, it is provided below.
Oakdale Memorial Gardens
Phone: 563-324-5121
Website: https://oakdalememorialgardens.org
NOTE: Link will take you outside the VA website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website.
This soldiers' lot is overseen by Rock Island National Cemetery.
Please contact the national cemetery for more information.
Directions from Nearest Airport
From the Quad-Cities Airport: Take Interstate 74 West (See Note below). After crossing the Mississippi River, take the Locust Street/Middle Road exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the West: Follow Interstate 80 East to Interstate 74 East. Take Interstate 74 East to the Locust Street/Middle Road exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the East: Take Interstate 74 West until the Locust Street exit. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
From the North: Take Interstate 80 West which intersects with Interstate 74. Follow Interstate 74 East to Locust Street. Drive West on Locust Street to Eastern Avenue. Turn right (North) and you'll find the Oakdale Memorial Gardens a short distance on the right (East) side of the road.
Note: Although Interstate 74 is labeled on Highway signs as being Interstate 74 East and Interstate 74 West, the road is actually North-South through the Quad-Cities.
Pay your respects
Visitors to veterans’ graves sometimes leave a coin on the headstone to show that someone came. You can leave a symbolic coin here. No money is involved, and nothing about you is published. About the custom, and what each coin is said to mean.
History
Reproduced from the VA National Cemetery Administration’s page for this cemetery, retrieved November 11, 2026. This is the VA’s text, unedited; it is not independent research by this site.
Oakdale Cemetery was incorporated on May 14, 1856, in Davenport, Iowa, by a group of local businessmen. The original 40-acre plot has grown over time, and today the cemetery is composed of 78.3 acres. Jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke, who grew up in Davenport, is among the prominent local citizens interred in the cemetery.
The soldiers' lot is located in Lot 14 of Oakdale Memorial Gardens, as the cemetery is known today. Originally, soldiers were interred in multiple areas of the cemetery, before the burials were consolidated into the soldiers' lot. As of December 1865, 174 Civil War soldiers were buried in the soldiers' lot.
Around 1888, roughly 160 remains in Oakdale Cemetery were removed to Rock Island and Keokuk National Cemeteries. In 1900, the remaining interments were consolidated into the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) plot within the cemetery, the location of all subsequent government burials. In 1940, the GAR conveyed all interests in the plot to the Oakdale Cemetery Association, and the United States acquired the lot in 1941. Today, interments within the soldiers' lot include 71 Civil War dead, seven of whom were killed during the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, and were the first Iowan casualties of the Civil War.
Notable burials and memorials
Reproduced from the VA’s page for this cemetery, retrieved November 11, 2026, including Medal of Honor recipients where the VA lists them. Links lead to the VA’s own records. To correct an entry, contact the VA; to tell us our copy is out of date, report it.
Nearby veterans cemeteries
Sources
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Find a Cemetery: all national cemeteries, and each cemetery’s own page. U.S. government work (public domain). Retrieved November 11, 2026. Used for: name, address, phone and burial-space status, hours, policies, history and notable burials.
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. Oakdale Cemetery Soldiers' Lot (official cemetery page). Retrieved November 11, 2026.
- Map position: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. VA National Cemetery Sites (dataset).