Woodland Cemetery (Des Moines, Iowa)

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Headstone in Woodland Cemetery

Coordinates: 41 ° 35 '22.1 "  N , 93 ° 38' 53.1"  W The Woodland Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Des Moines , Iowa . It was founded in 1848 even before Des Moines was designated the state capital. It is a communal cemetery belonging to the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department. It has 69 acres (28 hectares ) and is located at the intersection of 20th Street and Woodland Ave. The cemetery contains more than 80,000 graves.

history

The cemetery was established in 1848 when five local farmers provided a total of 5.5 acres (2.2 hectares) of land. The original name of the cemetery was Fort Des Moines Cemetery . The first funeral took place in 1850. The city took ownership of the cemetery in 1857 and added 36.5 acres to it in 1864. Since then it has been expanded to 69 acres (28 hectares) today. Today it houses more than 80,000 graves. The City Receiving Vault, which was used to hold the deceased when the ground was too frozen to dig a grave, was built in the 1880s.

Stone and brick gate with an iron door, with the inscription CITY RECEIVING VAULT
City Receiving Vault

There are various sub-areas within the site. These include St. Ambrose Cemetery, which was relocated to another location in Des Moines in 1866, the Jewish cemetery founded in 1871 and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery.

In 1986 the Des Moines City Council declared the cemetery a local cultural monument. Various repair measures have been carried out since then. In 2012, the arch over the entrance was renewed and the restoration of the mausoleum of Samuel Merrill , the seventh governor of Iowa, began. A project that provided grave plaques to hundreds of previously unmarked children's graves from the early days of the cemetery was completed in April 2017.

There are a number of historic neighborhoods in the vicinity of the cemetery, including Sherman Hill to the east, Woodland Place to the west, and Ingersoll Place to the southwest.

Notable tombs

Stone mausoleum with four Ionic columns and an oxidized door made of copper or bronze and the inscription SAVERY above
Savery mausoleum

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d Des Moines Municipal Cemeteries - Cemetery Highlights ( English ) City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation. Archived from the original on May 22, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c History buffs unite around historic governor's grave (English) . In: Des Moines Register , March 26, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2019. 
  3. ↑ a b Woodland Cemetery Infant Monument project completed (English) . In: Des Moines Register , April 23. Retrieved February 15, 2019. 
  4. ↑ a b c d e Cemetery Stories: The history behind local final resting spots (English) . In: Iowa Living , October 9, 2013. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2019. 
  5. ^ A b State Historical Society of Iowa : Stories in Stone from Woodland Cemetery ( English ) Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. October 11, 2016. Archived from the original on January 7, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  6. ↑ David Hudson, Marvin Bergman, Loren N. Horton: The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa ( English ). Published for the State Historical Society of Iowa by the University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 2008, ISBN 9781587297243 , pp. 259-260, 333-334, OCLC 296752419 .
  7. ↑ Annie Savery: Pioneer Feminist (English) . In: Des Moines Register , Aug. 4, 1996, p. 2C. Archived from the original on January 13, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019. 
  8. ↑ Maj Hoyt Sherman ( English ) Find A Grave. February 15, 2019. Archived from the original on April 18, 2016.

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