Established by a Leo Benedict, a local businessman, in 1909, Memorial Cemetery is one of several Black cemeteries on Moncrief Road in Jacksonville, Florida. By 1911, the cemetery was run by the Memorial Cemetery Association.

The association utilized the Afro-American Life Insurance Company to manage the day to day operations of the cemetery. Abraham Lincoln Lewis served as the president of the company. When it disbanded, the Lewis family continued to manage the cemetery. They managed it until the 1980s when the family turned to a non-profit to run the cemetery. It disbanded and now the city of Jacksonville runs it.