How Memorial Day is celebrated locally has changed over the years. In the early 1900s, a service was held at the Methodist Church. Then a procession led by school children, followed by members of the Benton Post of the Grand Army of the Republic (Union Civil War veterans). At the cemetery the children would assist in the decorating graves. Actually, it was the G.A.R. that started the movement to decorate graves and for many decades it was known as Decoration Day.
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