The Harper Mausoleum and George W. Harper Memorial Entrance are a pair of funerary structures in the village cemetery at Cedarville,

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Commemorating one of Cedarville's wealthiest nineteenth-century citizens, they have together been named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

because of their distinctive Egyptian-style design.

George W. Harper

George W. Harper was born in 1825 into a family who had emigrated from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1812. Upon reaching the age of eighteen, after attending the common schools, Harper entered into business dealing cattle in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

and became wealthy. Having married in 1860, he and his wife joined the ranks of Greene County's largest landowners; by 1881, their estate comprised approximately , and they resided in Cedarville's finest dwelling. Harper also owned a bank in Cedarville, the George W. Harper Banking Company, which operated until being bought out by the Exchange Bank in 1896.Broadstone, Michael A.
History of Greene County, Ohio: Its People, Industries, and Institutions
'. Vol. 1. Indianapolis: Bowen, 1918. The Harpers became educational benefactors: soon after

Cedarville College Cedarville University is a private Baptist university in Cedarville, Ohio. It is chartered by the state of Ohio, approved by the Ohio Board of Regents, and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Established in 1887, the school was origin ...

was founded by the

New Light The terms Old Lights and New Lights (among others) are used in Protestant Christian circles to distinguish between two groups who were initially the same, but have come to a disagreement. These terms originated in the early 18th century from a spl ...

Reformed Presbyterian Church circa 1900, the Harpers donated $5,000 to the college to endow a chair in economics.

Mausoleum and cemetery entrance

Harper is commemorated post mortem by two structures in the Cedarville cemetery. Built in 1915, the entrance gateway to the cemetery and a family mausoleum in this rural cemetery are significant examples of

Egyptian Revival architecture Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

; some of their motifs evoke ancient Egyptian concepts of the afterlife, including two

sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

es.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...

: Somerset, 1999, 539-540. Built of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

on stone foundations, The two are connected by the cemetery's main drive, which extends from the entrance at the gateway to a circular drive surrounding the knoll upon which the mausoleum is located. Harper's mausoleum includes structural elements such as columns whose capitals feature palm leaves, a cornice with a design of a vulture and sun disk, and lotus flowers are depicted on the double bronze doors to the mausoleum. The gateway consists of granite posts supporting

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

gates and topped with large granite spheres.

Protection

In 1988, the Harper Mausoleum and Memorial Entrance were listed together on 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 ...

. Although cemetery properties are typically not eligible for inclusion on the National Register, exceptions can be made for distinctively designed cemetery components,National Register Criteria for Evaluation

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

. Accessed 2013-01-07. and the Harper structures were deemed to be important examples of early 20th-century mortuary architecture, and additional significance arises from their place at the heart and at the entrance to the cemetery: they produce a sense of place in cemetery visitors. The properties are one of two Cedarville locations on the National Register, along with the village opera house on Main Street downtown.

References

External links

{{NRHP in Greene County, Ohio Buildings and structures completed in 1915 Buildings and structures in Greene County, Ohio Burial monuments and structures in Ohio Egyptian Revival architecture in the United States Granite buildings National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Ohio Mausoleums on the National Register of Historic Places Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Stone buildings in the United States 1915 establishments in Ohio