The Monroe Street Cemetery is a historic

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

located at 3207 Monroe Avenue in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It was designated a historic landmark by the City of Cleveland Landmarks Commission in 1973.

History

Samuel P. Lord was one of the 57 investors in the

Connecticut Land Company The Connecticut Company or Connecticut Land Company (e.-1795) was a post-colonial land speculation company formed in the late eighteenth century to survey and encourage settlement in the eastern parts of the newly chartered Connecticut Western Re ...

, a land speculation business formed in 1795 to take control of, survey, and encourage settlement in the

Connecticut Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. The Reserve had been granted to the Colony under the terms of ...

. Lord's investment entitled him to a portion of the Reserve, and he was allotted land along the west bank of the

Cuyahoga River The Cuyahoga River ( , or ) is a river located in Northeast Ohio that bisects the City of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. As Cleveland emerged as a major manufacturing center, the river became heavily affected by industrial pollution, so mu ...

. His son, Richard Lord, emigrated to the area in 1818. With his brother-in-law,

Josiah Barber Josiah Barber (1771 – 10 Dec 1842) was the first mayor of Ohio City, Ohio."Josiah Barber"
''Encyclope ...

, Richard Lord founded Brooklyn Township on June 1, 1818, on part of Samuel Lord's land. Burials at the site of the cemetery began about 1818. In January 1836, Lord and Barber sold of land to the township for $160 (about ($ in dollars) for use as a cemetery. Ohio City was incorporated from part of Brooklyn Township on March 3, 1836, and the cemetery became part of the new city. The burying ground was called Ohio City Cemetery. Ohio City professionalized the cemetery: The grounds were divided into plots, rules for administration and burials were enacted, a sexton was appointed, and a

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...

purchased. Because

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

to the land was vested in the township, a dispute arose over who controlled the cemetery. This was resolved in 1841 when Ohio City adopted legislation formally taking title to the burial ground. Ohio City was annexed by the city of Cleveland on June 5, 1854. Title to the cemetery now transferred to the city of Cleveland, which renamed it the West Side Cemetery. The city of Cleveland made several improvements to the cemetery. It was fenced to prevent local farm animals from roaming the premises, paved walks added, and the plantings improved. By 1879, the cemetery had expanded to . Monroe Street Cemetery was Cleveland's only graveyard on the west side until

West Park Cemetery Westpark Cemetery is a large cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the resting place of some of the country's well-known citizens. It is a non-denomination designated burial ground, and thus has Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Chinese b ...

opened in 1900, after which the grounds became more commonly known as the Monroe Street Cemetery. Monroe Street Cemetery was Cleveland's second-busiest cemetery in the first half of the 20th century. As the cemetery filled and other, modern cemeteries became available, burials fell off and the cemetery fell into some disrepair. The gatehouse and arch at the entrance to the cemetery is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

structure designed by noted local architect

Joseph Ireland Joseph Ireland (c.1780–1841) was an English architect who designed Roman Catholic Church buildings in the early nineteenth century. He specialized in Romanesque revival architecture and worked with Joseph John Scoles. Life Ireland was born i ...

. It was constructed in 1876 at a cost of $4,300 (about ($ in dollars), and was identical to the gatehouse and arch constructed at Cleveland's

Erie Street Cemetery Erie Street Cemetery is a historic cemetery in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It is the city's oldest existing cemetery. History The cemetery was established in 1826 at what was then the edge of the city, taking its name from East 9th Street's origin ...

. The gatehouse partially collapsed in 2010. As it was the only way into the cemetery, the cemetery closed to the public. The city initially lacked the funds to save the gatehouse structure. Cemetery advocate Ken Silliman discovered the cemetery had a long-untapped endowment fund, and the city used these funds to rebuild the gatehouse in 2016.

About the cemetery

The cemetery as of 2022 is in size, making it one of the 10 largest cemeteries in Northeast Ohio. At one time, the cemetery had a

receiving vault A receiving vault or receiving tomb, sometimes also known as a public vault, is a structure designed to temporarily store dead bodies in winter months when the ground is too frozen to dig a permanent grave in a cemetery. Technological advancements ...

and office, both made of stone, but these no longer exist. As of 2010, the cemetery was closed to new burials except for those who had already purchased and had room in plots. Sources vary as to the number of burials. ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' newspaper believed there to be 31,000 in 2010 and 32,000 in 2016, while author Alan Fodor estimated more than 31,400 in 2022. There are more than 500 veterans of the

United States armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

buried there. Two

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

veterans are buried there, as are about 400 individuals who fought in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. The cemetery contains a large number of impressive Victorian headstones, monuments, and memorials. Richard Lord's mausoleum appears relatively small, but has a substantial below-ground crypt. The most expensive mausoleum is that of H.L. Whitman.

Notable burials

Josiah Barber Josiah Barber (1771 – 10 Dec 1842) was the first mayor of Ohio City, Ohio."Josiah Barber"
''Encyclope ...

(1771—1842), mayor of Ohio City * John Beverlin (1813—1891), mayor of Ohio City * William B. Castle (1814—1872), last mayor of Ohio city and the first mayor of Cleveland after the annexation of Ohio City * Alfred Greenbrier (1808—1888), mixed-race (

African African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

) farmer, abolitionist, and

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

"station master" * David Griffith (1792—1877), mayor of Ohio City * John Michael Kick (1840—1875), first Cleveland police office killed in the line of duty * Richard Lord (1780—1857), mayor of Ohio City * Irvine U. Masters (1823—1865), ship-builder and mayor of Cleveland * Needham Standart (1797—1874), mayor of Ohio City * James A. Thome (1813—1873), pastor and abolitionist

References

;Notes ;Citations

Bibliography

External links

Monroe Street Cemetery Foundation of Cleveland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe Street Cemetery Cemeteries in Cleveland 1836 establishments in Ohio