Woodland Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, having been established in 1848, before Des Moines was the state capital. It is a municipal cemetery owned and operated by the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department. It covers at the corner of 20th Street and Woodland Ave and is the site of over 80,000 graves.

History

The cemetery was created in 1848 when five local farmers donated of land to create it. It was originally called Fort Des Moines Cemetery. The first burial took place in 1850, the burial of Thomas Casady, the infant son of Iowa state senator Phineas M. Casady. The city took ownership of the cemetery in 1857, and purchased an additional 36.5 acres in 1864. It has since been expanded to and now houses over 80,000 graves. The City Receiving Vault, which was used to store bodies when the ground was too frozen for graves to be dug, was built in the 1880s. Woodland Des Moines City Receiving Vault

Woodland Des Moines City Receiving Vault

Within the grounds are subsections. These include St. Ambrose Cemetery (relocated from elsewhere in Des Moines in 1866), the Emmanuel Jewish Cemetery founded in 1871, and an

Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Order of Odd ...

Cemetery. In 1986, the city council of Des Moines designated the cemetery a local historic landmark. Various restoration projects have been undertaken in recent years. A new arch over the entrance was constructed in 2012. An effort to restore the mausoleum of Samuel Merrill, the seventh governor of Iowa was started. A project to add markers to hundreds of previously unmarked children's graves on "Baby Hill" from the earliest days of the cemetery concluded successfully in April 2017. A number of historic neighborhoods are near the cemetery, including Sherman Hill to the east, Woodland Place to the west, Ingersoll Place to the southwest.

Notable interments

Woodland Des Moines The Savery Mausoleum

* Rollin V. Ankeny (1830 – 1901), soldier * Nathaniel B. Baker (1818 – 1876), politician * Martha Callanan, (1826 – 1901), woman's suffrage advocate, newspaper publisher * Chester C. Cole, Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court *

Rose Connor Rose Connor (March 4, 1892 – December 29, 1970) was an American architect. Called "one of the earliest and most successful women architects of the 20th century", her architectural work was largely residential projects in Southern California, ...

(1892 – 1970), architect * Ira Cook (1821 – 1902), land surveyor, businessman, politician * Marcellus M. Crocker (1830 – 1865),

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 ...

general * Albert B. Cummins (1850 – 1926), 18th governor of Iowa * Ida L. Cummins (1853 – 1918) Women's and children's rights activist * Alvah Frisbie (1830 – 1917), Pioneer minister *

Josiah Given Josiah Given (August 31, 1828 – February 3, 1908) was a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court from March 12, 1889 to December 31, 1901, appointed from Polk County, Iowa. He also served as colonel of the 74th Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Americ ...

(1828 – 1908) attorney, soldier and

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

justice *

Cora Bussey Hillis Cora Bussey Hillis (August 8, 1858 – August 12, 1924) was a child welfare advocate. Her work advanced children's health care, education, and the juvenile justice system in Iowa. She was admitted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1976. Hillis ...

(1858 – 1924) child welfare advocate * Frederick Marion Hubbell (1839 – 1930), prominent Des Moines businessman *

John A. Kasson John Adam Kasson (January 11, 1822 – May 18, 1910) was a nineteenth-century lawyer, politician and diplomat from south-central Iowa. Elected to the U.S. House six times, he repeatedly interrupted his congressional service to serve in the D ...

(1822 – 1910), politician * John MacVicar (1859 – 1928), progressive mayor of Des Moines (elected 1896, 1898, 1900 and 1928) * Samuel Merrill (1822 – 1899), 7th governor of Iowa * Calista Halsey Patchin (1845 – 1920), first woman reporter for the Washington Post *

Emory Jenison Pike Emory Jenison Pike (December 18, 1876 – September 16, 1918) was a United States Army officer during World War I who received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Vandieres, France on September 15, 1918. A 1901 graduate of West Point, and ...

(1876 – 1918), a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

recipient of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

Charles A. Rawson Charles Augustus Rawson (May 29, 1867September 2, 1936) was an unelected United States Senator from Iowa for nine months in 1922. Born in Des Moines, he attended the public schools and Grinnell College. He engaged in banking and the insurance ...

(1867 – 1936), unelected Senator for Iowa in 1922 * Annie Nowlin Savery (1831 – 1891), women's suffrage activist and philanthropist * James C. Savery (1826 – 1905) businessman who built the

Savery Hotel The Savery Hotel, now known as the Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This is the third hotel in the city with that name and the second at this location. The prominent ...

Hoyt Sherman Major Hoyt Sherman (November 21, 1827 – January 25, 1904), a member of the prominent Sherman family, was an American banker. Biography Hoyt Sherman was born in 1827 in Lancaster, Ohio, the son of Charles R. Sherman, Judge of the Ohio S ...

(1827 – 1904), banker, namesake of

Hoyt Sherman Place Hoyt Sherman Place, the home of Hoyt Sherman, was built in 1877 and is located in Des Moines, Iowa. History In 1850, Hoyt purchased five acres of land in Des Moines for $105. In 1877, Hoyt Sherman Place, the family home, was completed with the ...

* Hiram Y. Smith (1843 – 1894), politician * Seward Smith (1830 – 1887), lawyer, politician * Sumner F. Spofford, one of the first mayors of Des Moines * S. S. Still (1851 – 1931), osteopath * James M. Tuttle (1823 – 1892), soldier *

Henry Cantwell Wallace Henry Cantwell "Harry" Wallace (May 11, 1866 – October 25, 1924) was an American farmer, journalist, and political activist who served as the Secretary of Agriculture from 1921 to 1924 under Republican presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvi ...

(1866 – 1924), politician * James B. Weaver (1833 – 1912), politician * George G. Wright (1820 – 1896), politician *

Lafayette Young Lafayette "Lafe" Young (May 10, 1848November 15, 1926) was a newspaper reporter and editor, and (briefly) a Republican Senator from Iowa. Early life and education Young was born in Monroe County, Iowa. His early education was acquired in the ...

(1848 – 1926), journalist *

Sarah Palmer Young Sarah Graham Palmer Young (August 19, 1830 - April 6, 1908) worked as a regimental nurse during the American Civil War. In 1867, she published ''The Story of Aunt Becky's Army-Life'', an account of her wartime experiences. Early life and marriage ...

(1830 – 1908), nurse and writer

References

External links

Des Moines Municipal Cemeteries
* {{Find a Grave cemetery, 96709 Cemeteries_in_Iowa Geography of Des Moines, Iowa