The Stanford Mausoleum, located in the Northwest of the
Stanford University campus in the
Stanford University Arboretum, holds the remains of the university's namesake
Leland Stanford, Jr.
Leland Stanford Jr. (May 14, 1868 – March 13, 1884), known as Leland DeWitt Stanford until he was nine, was the only son of American industrialist and politician Leland Stanford and his wife Jane Stanford, Jane. Following his death from typhoid ...
and his parents
Leland and
Jane Stanford
Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford (August 25, 1828 – February 28, 1905) was an American philanthropist, co-founder of Stanford University in 1885 (opened 1891) along with her husband, Leland Stanford, as a memorial to their only child, Leland ...
.
Once per year, the
mausoleum is opened to the public and a wreath laid (usually in October during the reunion weekend) as part of the annual Founders' Day activities.
History
The original intent of the Stanfords was to build a family mansion here. They had only gotten as far as planting a
cactus garden
A cactarium or cactuario (from Latin, ''cactarium'') is a garden dedicated to the planting of cacti. While they generally specialize in collecting cacti, they can also include other desert plants such as sabla, agaves or Crassulaceae, although thi ...
(still present) before the death of their only son. They changed their plans to building a university in his name instead. Nearby is a memorial (the ''
Angel of Grief'') to Jane Stanford's brother, Henry Clay Lathrop. This memorial is a 1908 copy of a 1901 copy of an 1894 statue by the prominent American sculptor
William Wetmore Story.
Appearance
The mausoleum has
sphinxes on both the front and the back. The back ones are Greek and female with naked breasts. They were originally on the front but the Stanfords disapproved of them and replaced them with Egyptian style male sphinxes and moved the female sphinxes to the back.
Halloween Mausoleum Party
Stanford Mausoleum is also the site of the traditional Mausoleum Party, informally referred to as Maus, a student
Halloween party held each year at 10:00pm on the last Friday or Saturday of October. After being temporarily cancelled from 2002 to 2005, this tradition was revived in 2006.
It is sponsored and planned annually by the Stanford Sophomore Class.
References
External links
*
Virtual Reality of Stanford Mausoleum a QuickTime panorama by Erik Goetze
Stanford Mausoleumat Stanford Buildings & Ground Maintenance
Founders' Celebration by Stanford University, with information about the annual opening to the public of the Mausoleum
{{Stanford Places
Buildings and structures in Palo Alto, California
Mausoleums in the United States
Mausoleum
Monuments and memorials in California
Cemeteries in Santa Clara County, California