Bellevue Cemetery is a historic cemetery in
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
and
Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen () is a 23 square mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Middlesex County and just south of ...
. Established in 1847 and owned by the city of Lawrence, it is the first and principal cemetery of the city and a notable example of a
rural cemetery
A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...
. In conjunction with adjacent cemeteries and Lawrence's
High Service Water Tower and Reservoir, it provides part of the small city's largest area of open space.
The cemetery was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2003.
[
]
Description and history
Bellevue Cemetery is located in northwestern Lawrence, with a small strip of land in southern Methuen. It is bounded on the east by May Street, and on the north by Barker Street and St. Mary's Cemetery. To the west and south are residential areas, with the park containing the High Service Water Tower and Reservoir also to the south. The cemetery is just over in size, and is roughly U-shaped, with St. Mary's Cemetery and the center of the U. The oldest portion of the cemetery is a section between May Street and Reservoir Street, and was established in 1847. The area west of Reservoir Street and south of Barker was acquired in 1893. The "Old Yard" was laid out in the park-like landscape setting of winding lanes amid terraced hillsides in the then-popular rural cemetery
A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...
style, while "New Bellevue" has a slightly less formal feel.[
Major buildings and structures in the cemetery include the c. 1922 main gates, built of brick and iron, and the "Hearse House" in the Old Yard, which now houses the cemetery offices. Near the Hearse House is the now-unused Cremation Tomb, built into a hillside with a plain granite facade and bronze cremation urns above the door. In the New Bellevue section, the 1893 Brick Stable is an imposing Classical Revival structure with Queen Anne details, which anchors the cemetery's main maintenance yard. Other buildings in the yard are a garage, gasoline house, and tool house, all built before 1940.][
]
Noted burials
It is the final resting place of many victims of the Pemberton Mill
The Pemberton Mill was a large factory in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It suddenly collapsed and occupants were crushed or burned alive on January 10, 1860, in what has been called "the worst industrial accident in Massachusetts history" and "one of ...
disaster of January 10, 1860. It is also the burial place of comedic movie actress Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, sh ...
, whose performance in title role in Laurel and Hardy's movie ''The Bohemian Girl'' was truncated due to her death, believed by some to have been a murder. It is the burial place of U.S. Congressmen William Shadrach Knox
William Shadrach Knox (September 10, 1843 – September 21, 1914) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Massachusetts who served from 1895 to 1903.
Knox was the son of William Shadrach Knox Sr and Rebecca Wa ...
, William A. Russell, John K. Tarbox, and Fenner Ferguson.
See also
*
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Methuen, Massachusetts
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts
References
External links
Bellevue Cemetery
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Organizations established in 1847
Cemeteries in Essex County, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts
1847 establishments in Massachusetts