Woodland Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 6901 Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. Established in 1853, it became Cleveland's main public cemetery after its founding and remained so for the next half-century. It fell into extreme disrepair, and most of its outstanding architectural features dismantled or demolished. In 1986, Woodland Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery has since undergone restoration.
Creating the cemetery Purchasing the land In 1832, Colonel George Bomford purchased of land in Newburgh Township, a civil township on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio. Bomford later sold to John Whipple, and to Benjamin Franklin Butler, the United States Attorney General.
In 1848, the Erie Street Cemetery was Cleveland's main public cemetery. Once located on the edge of the city, Erie Street Cemetery was now nearly enclosed by city streets. There was no room for expansion, and the cemetery was rapidly filling. City officials began looking to purchase land in July 1848. The city twice made offers to buy land at Kelly Street and Kinsman Avenue (now Woodland Avenue) from owner J. W. Allen, but he refused to sell. City officials twice reached a tentative agreement to buy part of the land owned by W. H. Otis, but the city council declined to act on either agreement. A cholera epidemic in 1849 led to many deaths in Cleveland, which heightened the need for a new city cemetery.
The Plain Dealer newspaper reported on June 14, 1851, that the city was close to reaching a deal to purchase on the north side of Kinsman Avenue just east of St. John Cemetery. A "level plain of wood land", the burial ground was to be called Green Lawn Cemetery. The report proved accurate: On July 22, 1851, Butler offered to sell his land to the city. After further negotiations, Butler sold the land to the city on August 20, 1851, for $13,639.50 ($ in dollars). The city paid Butler half the price in cash, and half in 10-year, 7 percent bonds. The total cost of the land was $23,189 ($ in dollars).
Laying out the cemetery By the beginning of January 1852, the city had hired landscape architect H. H. Blackmore to survey the cemetery grounds. Design work appeared to be complete by the end of February, at which time Blackmore was paid $40 ($ in dollars) for his work. The city council approved the sale of timber from the land in April in order to finance improvements, and by July work on grading roads and pathways, platting, and landscaping were well under way. A second landscape architect, Howard Daniels, was hired in October 1852 to complete the design of the cemetery. Paid $22 a day ($ in dollars), Daniels employed a civil engineer, two drafters, and an assistant while working on the property. Daniels designed Woodland to be a rural cemetery, with winding paths, plenty of trees, and room for monumental funerary monuments.
By April 1853, the entire had been cleared of nearly all trees, and of the site enclosed by a split-rail fence. A boxwood hedge was planted along the fence. Of the enclosed area, were ready for burials. The burial area was broken down into four sections (all of them with plots laid out), and of road wound through the site. A small gate was placed in the middle of the eastern side of the cemetery. Wells were dug to provide water to the site. Two circles were established in the cemetery. One of the smaller circles was on Main Drive near the Kinsman Avenue entrance, with another small circle to its west. A much larger circle was in the center of the cemetery, and officials intended to build a chapel there at a future date. A small mausoleum-like receiving vault, Gothic Revival in design, was built just east of the Kinsman Avenue entrance.
On May 18, the city council tentatively decided on the name "Woodland Cemetery" for the new burying ground because of the heavily wooded nature of the land. The name was formally adopted on June 8.
Woodland Cemetery was opened and dedicated on June 14, 1853. More than 2,000 people attended the ceremony, among them Cleveland Mayor Abner C. Brownell, the entire city council, and most of the city's clergy. Samuel Starkweather, attorney for Benjamin Butler (and a former mayor) attributed the cemetery's existence to council member Staughton Bliss, city cemetery sexton James A. Craw, and architect Howard Daniels. The total cost of the burial ground's construction was about $4,430 ($ in dollars).
Operations Early improvements
Prices for burial plots at the new cemetery ranged from $8 ($ in dollars) to $400 ($ in dollars). The first burial at Woodland Cemetery was that of 15-month-old Fanny Langshaw on June 23, 1853. A large number of monuments and mausoleums, many of which received high praise from The Plain Dealer for their aesthetic beauty, were erected in the cemetery in its first two years.
The first major improvements to Woodland Cemetery came in 1855, when the city erected a wooden visitors' and office building on the grounds. Located near the Kinsman Avenue entrance, it consisted of a cemetery office, as well as a reception room and waiting rooms for use by the public. The total cost of the structure was $515 ($ in dollars). That same year, the city sexton began work on an extensive fresh water project in the cemetery. The sexton planned for several fountains to be added to Woodland, and set aside the large circle in the middle of the cemetery for the largest fountain. A fish pond was envisioned for the as-yet undeveloped northern section of Woodland. A committee of the city council began studying the cost and feasibility of piping water to the cemetery in 1863.
In 1859, plans for a streetcar line to serve Woodland Cemetery began to be laid.; ; ; The Woodland Avenue Street Railway, which utilized horse-drawn cars, began operation in 1859, with service to E. 55th Street. Service was extended to Woodland Cemetery in 1862. But easy access brought other problems, like prostitution and grave robbery.
In June 1861, the city installed a gate at the cemetery's south entrance.; The wooden fence was quite dilapidated by 1862. The southern fencing was removed in 1867, after the hedge was tall enough to act as a screen and barrier. The eastern fence remained, however, as the hedge there had not grown as much.
Impact of the Civil War The American Civil War had a major impact on Woodland Cemetery. On March 18, 1862, the Cleveland City Council donated a cemetery lot for the burial of Union soldiers killed in the war. In 1863, the U.S. federal government purchased a lot in Section 14 to accommodate 16 Union dead. It purchased a second lot, , in Section 10 in 1868 for the burial of 32 additional Union dead.
After the 23rd Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry (23rd OVI) lost many of its officers at the Battle of South Mountain and the Battle of Antietam in September 1862, a strong movement arose in Cleveland to honor the regimental dead, many of whom came from the area. On December 30, 1862, the Cleveland City Council authorized the regiment to erect a memorial at Woodland Cemetery.; ; The memorial was designed by local funerary monument sculptor C.H. Brown, who worked for the firm of Jones & Son. The city council selected lot 22 in section 14, near the Woodland Avenue main gate, for the site of the memorial in April 1863. The local funerary monument firm of Myers, Uhl, & Co. sculpted the piece from Italian marble, based on Brown's design. The Cleveland City Council paid for the raw materials, work, and erection of the piece. Future President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes spoke at its dedication on July 28, 1865.; The total cost of the work was between $1,200 and $1,500 ($ and $ in dollars). The Plain Dealer reported that it is probably the first regimental monument ever erected in the United States.
The deaths of Colonel William R. Creighton and Lieutenant Colonel Orrin J. Crane similarly led to an outpouring of grief in Cleveland. Creighton was in temporary command of the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division of XII Corps at the Battle of Ringgold Gap on November 27, 1863. Crane led his men through a deep ravine, suffering significant casualties. He was shot and killed as his remaining men neared the top of the ravine and safety. Creighton attempted to reach Crane, and himself was mortally wounded. On December 2, 1863, the Cleveland City Council set aside several lots in Section 14 at Woodland Cemetery for the burial of Creighton, Crane, and their immediate family members.; Both men were temporarily laid to rest in a vault at the Erie Street Cemetery while monumental headstones were fashioned for them. They were permanently buried at Woodland Cemetery on July 3, 1864.
By the end of 1863, most of the desirable lots at Woodland Cemetery had been sold. The cemetery sexton opened the northern half of the site in early 1864, and by April it had been cleared of underbrush and most of its roads and pathways laid out, graded, and graveled. The site lacked proper landscaping, however, and funds were sought from the city to permit the planting of sod, shrubs, and trees. A fence was built along Quincy Avenue in October of that year.
Water also became an urgent need at Woodland in 1864. The amount of water needed by the cemetery rose as more areas were properly landscaped, and the explosive residential, industrial, and retail growth in the surrounding neighborhood placed a significant burden on groundwater supplies. The wells at Woodland Cemetery now ran dry in mid-summer, and cemetery trustees called for fresh water to be piped to the site. On June 21, 1864, the city council asked the Cleveland Water Works to extend its system to the cemetery as soon as practical. The trustees of the Water Works, however, saw no urgent need. The council asked them for a report on the cost, which the Water Works provided on April 20, 1865. The city council's Committee on Parks and Public Grounds investigated the matter in July, and filed its report on July 25.; The council formally authorized extension of the city water system to the cemetery on August 22. The Water Works still hesitated, and in late August 1866 the city council more specifically authorized construction of a water main to the north edge of the cemetery.
The death of Ohio Governor John Brough on August 29, 1865, in Cleveland led the city council to donate a lot at Woodland Cemetery for his interment. He was buried there on September 1. The Brough family selected a plot near the site designated for a chapel.
Immediate post-war changes The financial exigencies of the war left Woodland Cemetery in need of maintenance. While much work on preparing the northern half of the cemetery had been accomplished, little landscaping work had been done between 1864 and 1866, and the wood fence on the north side was collapsing. The city had added a Deputy Sexton to the cemetery department's staff, and a home for this staff person needed to be built at Woodland. The city council's Committee on Parks and Public Grounds agreed to visit cemetery in June 1866 to ascertain its beautification needs. Their report led the council to authorize in August 1866 a water main to be constructed beneath Main Drive at Woodland.