Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery was established in 1886 on a knoll near Alisal in Murray Township as a nonsectarian burial ground chosen for its beauty and views. As the area grew with the railroad, telephone exchange, and the planned development of downtown, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Pleasanton Lodge #255, purchased the cemetery in 1886 for $1,000 in keeping with its commitment to bury the dead. After Pleasanton incorporated in 1894, the cemetery was named Pleasanton Memorial Gardens, and the Odd Fellows maintained it for 120 years. When the chapter disbanded in 1999, IOOF Livermore Lodge #219 became trustee, and in 2007 the City of Pleasanton bought the property for one dollar and renamed it Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery; a master plan adopted in 2014 sought to honor founding pioneers while preserving the site’s natural beauty. In the late 19th century, the surrounding community was a ranching and cattle town focused on grain production, with about 1,000 residents from Spain, Mexico, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, Italy, China, the American East Coast, and Native American communities from as far away as Utah. Local funeral customs made death a community event, with mourning rituals in the home, viewings, and burials arranged by undertakers George Detjens and A.F. Schweer, later Detjens and Graham, whose business continued more than 175 years later as Graham-Hitch Mortuary. The cemetery contains the graves of founding families including the Bernals, Neals, and Roses. Among them were J.A. Rose, a businessman and landowner who settled in Murray Township in 1871, became a major employer, expanded his landholdings, planted the area’s first vineyards, and developed the Rose Hotel, and Joshua Ayers Neal, who settled in Livermore in 1850, helped lay out the town of Pleasanton in 1868 with John W. Kottinger, donated land for the first school, church, and railroad depot, and served on the Board of County Supervisors for Murray Township. The cemetery also honors veterans, including a Civil War veteran buried there in 1888 and about 300 fellow soldiers, and a Veterans Memorial dedicated in 2016 stands at the top of the property.