(As recorded in the 1989 Hillsboro Sesquicentennial Book)

Hillsboro Cemetery is located on Vreeland Road approximately one mile from the intersection of Business 21 and Main Street. The cemetery came into existence around 1850 as indicated by old cemetery stones. However, the land comprising the cemetery was not deeded to the people of Hillsboro until May 13, 1874. The deed is recorded in the Recorder of Deeds office
in Book 7, page 163, wherein John Eisentraut and Amelia, his wife, conveyed to the people of Hillsboro and surrounding vicinity the following: One care of ground to be taken is as near as possible with the Hillsboro and Victoria gravel road as the Western boundary at what is now know and used as the Hillsboro Graveyard and to occupy the same ground now occupied as a graveyard. To be used by thee public of Hillsboro and vicinity as a graveyard and for no others purpose and I hereby dedicate and set apart said acre of ground for that purpose forever. 

The wrought iron fence along the front of the cemetery was made by Henry Hurtgen, a Hillsboro blacksmith. His shop was located where the Jefferson County Health Department is located at Second and Maple. (Submitted by Marie Walker, 1989) The 1929 deed recorded in Book 109 at page 46 of the Jefferson County Land Records provided that successor trustees to those names in the deed should be nominated respectively by the Hillsboro Baptist Church, the Hillsboro Methodist Church, and the First Presbyterian Church. The original part of the cemetery known as the Old section and the new section operated
independently until 1976 when a bicentennial project of citizens of the City of Hillsboro raised money for the Old section, and then by court decree entered by the Circuit Court of Jefferson County on December 14,1977, the Hillsboro Cemetery Old section and new section, were combined with three trustees named in the decree who would be succeeded by nominees from the three churches. The decree is provided that the cemetery did qualify for Perpetual Care status, and it has operated as one cemetery since that time. The cemetery is available for burial of people of all faiths from the Hillsboro community. The trustees serve without compensation. Bryan Schubel, Samuel Richeson, and Charles Woods were trustees of the cemetery for many
years. 

While the cemetery now has interest income to pay the expense of lawn care, it is still assisted by citizen workdays on which major repairs and renovations are accomplished. (Jack Stewart, 1989)

In 2021, the Cemetery trustees approached the City of Hillsboro and proposed that the City of Hillsboro should consider assuming responsibility of the Cemetery. After discussions were held, the city agreed to assume responsibility for the cemetery.