CEMETERIES

   

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City Cemetery transcribed by Denise Wells

    Location:  On Kentucky Avenue, between West street and the river.

    Of the establishment of this Cemetery, and other principal facts of its history mention is made on page ____ of the historical sketch in the first part of this volume.

    It was, until the opening of Crown Hill Cemetery, the principal burial ground of Indianapolis.

    The original tract consisted of but four acres.  As need arose for more space, several additions were made by incorporated companies, the City having only a sort of general administrative supervision over these additions, and the expenses of of [sic] keeping the grounds in repair being borne by the proprietors and lot owners.

    The site is a favorable one, and the added ornaments, in the matter of shade trees, shrubbery, drives, etc., extensive; but since the opening of Crown Hill Cemetery, the City Cemetery has fallen into comparative disuse.

    The names of many of the prominent citizens of by-gone days are recorded on the memorial stones here; among others that of Ex-Governor Whitcomb.

    With the exception of about one hundred, the lots are all sold; but less than half of them are occupied, as yet, by graves.

    There is no record of the number of interments in this cemetery.

    Of the additions to the cemetery, the principal are as follows:

    The Union Cemetery, consisting of five acres, laid off in February, 1834, by Nicholas McCarty, Sr., Isaac Coe, James Blake, James M. Ray and John G. Brown.

    The next addition, consisting of seven and one-half acres, was laid off by E. J. Peck, Esq., President of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railway Company, in February, 1852.

    In September, 1838, a Philadelphia company, under the name of Siter, Price & Co., laid off a third addition, embracing two out lots of the city, which was called Green Lawn Cemetery.

    The original grounds and the several additions above mentioned, are in one inclosure [sic], and are collectively called The City Cemetery.  The entire area of this cemetery is about twenty-five acres.

Holloway, W. R., Indianapolis, a Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables, © 1870, pp. 261-262.


Crown-Hill Cemetery transcribed by Denise Wells

    Location:  Two miles north-west of the city limits.

    The dates of the establishment, dedication, etc., of Crown-Hill Cemetery, with the names of the incorporators and managers, are stated in the general historical sketch, page 125.  (See Chapter XIII, Third Period - to 1871 to be entered under history section.)

    The total area of the grounds is three hundred and forty-nine acres.  The location is the most beautiful and appropriate for the purpose in the vicinity of the city; and its superiors anywhere are very few.  It takes its name from that of the only considerable eminence near the city.  The grounds would appear to have been especially ordained by nature for the purpose of a last resting place.  They combine the attraction of a rural cemetery with convenience of distance from the city limits.  A turnpike road is on the west line, and another on the east; while a street railway to the main entrance brings it within a half hour's ride of the city.  The grounds are cut by small ravines into undulations of convenient size for sections; and the carriage-roads are so surveyed and laid out as to take advantage of this feature.  The sections, therefore, vary in size and figure, and the winding roads aid in producing a picturesque effect.

    It has been the usage, in other principal cemeteries, to lay off the space in square or rectangular lots, without regard to the configuration of the ground; imparting a certain monotony of aspect, which is obviated here by sections of multiform figures, and various size.  This not only varies the aspect of the grounds, but brings about "that true fraternity and comity of interests between the rich and poor which should especially prevail in the city of the dead."

    Large and magnificent lots, valued at thousands of dollars, are joined by small plots which are within the means of the humblest citizens; and the elaborate and costly monuments on the former add greatly to the beauty of the more unpretentious memorial stone on the latter.  Every section contains its large lots, and small and cheap ones also; and each presents attractions for all classes, so that there can never be a separation of the Cemetery into divisions for different classes.

    A section of the cemetery, on a beautiful and commanding knoll, is set apart for a resting place for the Union soldiers who died while on duty in this city, or whose remains have been brought here for interment.

    To the natural beauties of the grounds, in their picturesque undulations and abundance of forest trees, individual taste and affection have added (under judicious regulations by the managers), the ornaments of evergreens and flowering plants.  Inclosures [sic] of lots have been forbidden, as marring the appearance of a cemetery, and tending with the rust and decay of time, to disfigure rather than to beautify.

    The tendency, in so many cemeteries, to too great a profusion of shrubbery and shade trees, which excludes sunlight, and makes the grounds dark and damp, is confined within judicious limits here.

    The Cemetery is a public institution in which every person who purchases a burial plot has as great an interest as any of the incorporators or managers -- the second of the articles of incorporation being as follows:  "The distinct and irrevocable principle on which this association is founded, and to remain forever (except as hereinafter allowed), is that the entire funds arising from the sale of burial lots and the proceeds of any investment of said funds, shall be and they are specifically dedicated to the purchase and improvement of the grounds for the Cemetery, and keeping them durably and permanently inclosed [sic], and in perpetual repair through the proper management of the same; and that no part of such funds shall, as dividends, profits, or in any manner whatever, inure to the corporation."

    The exception provided for in the foregoing article is the provision of the thirteenth article, that "after twenty-five years shall have expired from the organization of this corporation, by a vote of twenty-five of the incorporators living in the county of Marion, Indiana, and after a fund has accumulated which will amply and permanently provide for the preservation, sustaining and ornamenting the Cemetery, such alteration may be made, at any annual meeting, in the principles and limitations of these articles as that out of the surplus funds of this Cemetery or association, contributions and appropriations may be made by the managers in aid of the poor of Indianapolis."

    The success of the enterprise will appear from a comparison with other well known cemeteries.  The receipts from the sale of lots in Greenwood Cemetery, during the first five years after it was opened, were $54,298.17, and the like receipts in Spring-Grove Cemetery, during the first twelve years, $128,892.49.  The like receipts in Crown Hill Cemetery, from the date of its dedication to January 1st, 1870 (four years), were $172,060.70.

    The Crown Hill Street Railroad, built chiefly by the Cemetery Company, at a cost of $17,000, was permanently leased to, and is now operated by, the Street Railway Company, of Indianapolis.

    Crown Hill Cemetery has been under the immediate care of F. W. Chislett, as Superintendent, ever since its establishment; and its condition is the best evidence he could desire, of his efficiency.

    The number of interments to January 1st, 1871, aggregated two thousand one hundred.

    It contains many elegant monuments; and, whether in respect of natural beauty of site or added ornaments, ranks conspicuously among the cemeteries of the country.

Holloway, W. R., Indianapolis, a Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables, © 1870, pp. 259-261.



Lutheran Cemetery transcribed by Denise Wells

    On the first of May, 1870, the Trustees of St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church purchased ten acres of ground, situated a short distance south of the city, on the Three-notch road, between Madison and Bluff roads, for a cemetery for the members of that society.  The grounds have been laid off in rectangular lots, generally forty by sixty feet.  The number of interments at the date of this writing is five hundred and five.

Holloway, W. R., Indianapolis, a Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables, © 1870, p. 262.


The Catholic Cemetery transcribed by Denise Wells

    Location:  Two miles south of the city.

    The grounds of this cemetery consist of eighteen acres; of which five acres belong to the German (St. Mary's) congregation, and the remainder to the other Catholic congregations.  The whole tract was purchased in the year 1860 by the Rev. Aug. Bessonies, pastor of St. John's Church, at a cost of about $2,500.  The value of the tract to-day would be about $4,000.

    The grounds have no striking natural aspects.  The site is sufficiently undulating for all essential purposes, and art has done much to ornament the spot, in the way of evergreens, shade trees, &c.  The whole is neatly inclosed [sic], and contains a number of elegant monuments.

Holloway, W. R., Indianapolis, a Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables, © 1870, p. 262.


The Hebrew Cemetery transcribed by Denise Wells

    Location:  Three miles south of the center of the city.

    The grounds consist of three acres.  As its name implies, this cemetery is devoted to the uses of a burial place for the Jewish population.

    It was established in 1856, and was the first property purchased by the Hebrew congregation of Indianapolis.

    It handsomely laid off in lots, but a small proportion of which have been required for interments, the Jewish population of the city being proportionably small.

    The grounds are appropriately inclosed [sic], and if not picturesque either by nature or art, are nevertheless maintained in a neat and tasteful condition.

Holloway, W. R., Indianapolis, a Historical and Statistical Sketch of the Railroad City, a Chronicle of Its Social, Municipal, Commercial and Manufacturing Progress, with Full Statistical Tables, © 1870, p. 262.