ussian immigrants known as, the Spiritual Christians Molokans have been In the Glendale area since the early 1900s. Now they want to make sure their old cemetery will be protected from development and preserved for the future.
     The cemetery, across from Independence High School on 75th Avenue, has been in there since shortly after the Spiritual Christians Molokans arrived in this area in 1911.
     "The city is coming up around it," said Church of the Spiritual Molokans* of Arizona president Bill John Tolmachoff Tolmochoff. "We want to see that it is preserved. [* The term "Molokan" is a misnomer.]
     "It is in kind of an usual spot. Years ago there were farms all around it but now there are buildings and a high school. We just want to make sure it is not forgotten."
         Tolmachoff Tolmochof and other members of the congregation church have petitioned the city to designate the cemetery as an historic site. There are approximately 800 sites city-wide (continued on page A16) identified as of historic or architectural interest.
      The Glendale Historic Preservation Commission will review the request. If the request is approved, the cemetery would be designated on the city's zoning map and recognized as historically significant. The process could take from six months up to a year to complete.

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Photo by Bill Dosham
Glendale's Spiritual Christians Church of the Spiritual Molokans wants to protect a cemetery it has used since 1911 across 75th Avenue from Independence High School.

     The historic designation would provide "extra protection" for the site if someone wants to develop the area, according to Tom Lemon, the city's staff liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission. "If someone comes in for any kind of development activity, they would have to go through a public-hearing process to develop the site," Lemon said.
     This extra protection would help to ensure that the site is not destroyed if development does occur, Lemon said.
     The cemetery is just under two acres in size, according to Tolmachoff Tolmochof.
     The congregation church is unsure just how many people are buried in the cemetery since many of the early graves were marked with wooden stakes which have been knocked down or rotted away over the years.

     The Spiritual Christians Molokans (which means "milk drinkers" in Russian) are a dissident group which broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church and came to the United States seeking farm land and religious freedom.
    The group, of which about 20 families remain in Glendale today, was brought to Arizona from California by the Greene and Griffin real estate firm. The Spiritual Christians Molokans grew sugar beets, among other crops, on their farms to pay for part of the cost of their trip and to provide product for Glendale's sugar-beet factory.
     The men wore long beards and the women ankle-length dresses in accordance with their religious beliefs and Russian customs.
      The original settlers, on property that was then two miles west of the town of Glendale, were the Tolmachoffs, Popoffs, Treguboffs, Kulikoffs and Conovoloffs. Maryvale is named after Mary Tolmachoff Tolmochoff-Long the wife of developer John F. Long. Other families include: Bogdanoff, Galitzen, Gozdiff, Kotoff, Mendrin, Prohoroff, Shubin, Pivovaroff, Rudometkin, Slivkoff, Susoeff, Teckenoff, Uraine, Valov and others.

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