This "State Reform School" was established in 1879 and the facility opened in the summer of 1881. In 1901 it was named "The Boys' Industrial School at Topeka", (also known as B.I.S.). The name was changed to "The State Industrial School for Boys at Topeka", in 1907. The "Youth Center at Topeka" was the name it was known by in 1980. Then in 1997, it was named the "Topeka Juvenile Correctional Facility". In 2008, it became known as the "Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex", which is its present name. The boys came here due to behavior, truancy, broken homes, or breaking the law.

Of the many thousands of boys that have lived here over the years only twelve are buried in this cemetery according to school records. Others were sent home to their families upon their death.

The thirteenth boy listed on the memorial is Bennie Lee Graham who is actually buried at Mount Hope Cemetery, Topeka, due to the facility's cemetery being inaccessible and overgrown with brush at the time of his death.

In 1987, students and staff, after completing a year-long research project called "The Boys Time Forgot", held a rededication ceremony on the grounds of this cemetery which had been unnamed ever since its establishment in October, 1884. A memorial was dedicated to these thirteen young men. The cemetery is currently well maintained.

On October 18, 2011, at the request of Juvenile Justice Authority Commissioner, Curtis L. Whitten, the Honorable Sam D. Brownback, Governor of the State of Kansas, signed an executive order naming the cemetery at the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex as "The Bennie Lee Graham Memorial Cemetery", effective immediately, henceforth and for all time and eternity.
Iron gate with newly named cemetery was added May 14, 2012.
Updated information provided by: Father Joseph E. Chontos, Jr., Clinical Chaplain, Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex, Topeka, KS. (October 2011)