Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

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-19th century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries, which tended to be churchyards. Rural cemeter ...

and

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. At a size of 733 acres (2.97 km2), it is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverton National Cemetery and Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. The cemetery dates back to 1844 and is recognized as a US

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

due to its age, architecture, and notable burials.

History

The cemetery dates from 1844, when members of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society formed a cemetery association. They took their inspiration from contemporary rural cemeteries such as

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery, located in Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, is the first rural or garden cemetery in the United States. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brahmins, and is a National Historic Landmark. Dedicated in ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The numerous springs and groves suggested the name "Spring Grove". On December 1, 1844,

Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States from 1864 to his death in 1873. Chase served as the 23rd governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, r ...

and others prepared the Articles of Incorporation. The cemetery was designed by Howard Daniels and formally chartered on January 21, 1845. The first burial took place on September 1, 1845. In 1855, Adolph Strauch, a renowned

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

, was hired to beautify the grounds. His sense and layout of the "garden cemetery" made of lakes, trees and shrubs, is what visitors today still see. He created a more open landscape by setting limits on private enclosures and monument heights. The results of the redesign earned Strauch praise in the U.S. and abroad, including from

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, Social criticism, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the U ...

and the French landscape architect Edouard André. On March 29, 2007, the cemetery was designated a

. The Spring Grove Cemetery Chapel is listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places. On October 23, 2013, cemetery staff removed a large and potentially disturbing ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' headstone from the grave of U.S. Army Corporal Kimberly Walker and another for her still-living sister a day after her funeral. The family believed they had permission from a worker, who management said had erred. In February 2014, both parties agreed to reinstate the statues with granite slabs largely hiding them from passersby.

Description

Spring Grove encompasses of which are currently landscaped and maintained. Its grounds include 12 ponds, many fine tombstones and memorials, and various examples of

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

. As of 2005, its National Champion trees were '' Cladrastis kentukea'' and ''

Halesia ''Halesia'', also known as silverbell or snowdrop tree, is a small genus of four or five species of deciduous large shrubs or small trees in the family Styracaceae. Range They are native to eastern Asia (southeast China) and eastern North Ameri ...

diptera''; its State Champion trees included ''

Abies Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

cilicica'', ''

koreana'', ''

Cedrus ''Cedrus'', with the common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitud ...

libani'', '' Chionanthus virginicus'', '' Eucommia ulmoides'', ''

parvifolia'', ''

Metasequoia ''Metasequoia'', or dawn redwood, is a genus of fast-growing coniferous trees. It contains one extant (living) species, ''Metasequoia glyptostroboides'', which is one of three extant species of conifers known as redwoods in the world. ''Metaseq ...

glyptostroboides'', '' Phellodendron amurense'', ''

Picea A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' is the sole genus ...

orientalis'', ''

polita'', ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as c ...

flexilis'', ''

griffithi'', ''

monticola'', ''

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

cerris'', ''

nigra'', ''

Taxodium ''Taxodium'' is a genus of one to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of extremely flood-tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. The name is derived from the Latin word ''taxus'', meaning " yew", and the Greek word ' ...

distichum'', ''

Ulmus Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

serotina'', and ''

Zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from the Georgian language, Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Ze ...

serrata''.

Notable burials

''See also :Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery.'' * Jacob Ammen,

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

general * Nicholas Longworth Anderson, Civil War colonel * Joshua Hall Bates, Civil War general * Richard M. Bishop, Cincinnati Mayor and Ohio Governor * George K. Brady,

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer. Briefly commander of the Department of Alaska * Emma Lucy Braun, botanist * Charles Elwood Brown, Civil War brevet brigadier general and U.S. Representative * Sidney Burbank, Civil War colonel *

Jacob Burnet Jacob Burnet (sometimes spelled Burnett) (February 22, 1770May 10, 1853) was an American jurist and statesman from Ohio. He served as a U.S. Senator. Early life Burnet was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Dr. William Burnet. He graduated ...

, US Senator * Samuel Fenton Cary,

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

, prohibitionist *

Kate Chase Katherine Jane Chase Sprague (August 13, 1840 – July 31, 1899) was a Washington, D.C., Washington socialite, society hostess during the American Civil War. During the war, she married Rhode Island Governor William Sprague (1830-1915), William S ...

, daughter of Salmon Chase and Washington, D.C. Civil War socialite *

Chief Justice of the United States The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution g ...

* Henry M. Cist, Civil War brevet brigadier general *

Levi Coffin Levi Coffin Jr. (October 28, 1798 – September 16, 1877) was an American Quaker, Republican, abolitionist, farmer, businessman and humanitarian. An active leader of the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio, some unofficially called Coffin ...

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

* George B. Cox, Cincinnati political boss and associate of

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

* Rich Dauer, professional baseball player * Arthur F. Devereux, Brevet Brigadier General during the Civil War; from

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

* Daniel Drake, physician and writer * Charles L. Fleischmann,

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...

manufacturer * Joseph Benson Foraker,

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

, Judge,

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Captain * Manning Force, Civil War Brevet Brigadier General,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient * George Benson Fox, Civil War officer, 75th Ohio Infantry, manufacturer, Ohio General Assembly Swan by Geyser Lake shore at Spring Grove Cemetery

Swan by Geyser Lake shore at Spring Grove Cemetery

* James Gamble, co-founder of Procter & Gamble Company * Kenner Garrard, Civil War general *

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

, American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. *

Heinie Groh Henry Knight "Heinie" Groh (September 18, 1889 – August 22, 1968) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from 1912 to 1927, spending nearly his entire career with the ...

, Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame third baseman * Theodore Sommers Henderson,

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

Andrew Hickenlooper Andrew Hickenlooper (August 10, 1837 – May 12, 1904) was an Ohioan civil engineer, politician, industrialist, and a Union Army Lieutenant colonel (United States), lieutenant colonel of artillery and engineers. In recognition of his service, i ...

, Civil War general *

Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...

, Civil War general and commander of the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the primary field army of the Union army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the Battle of ...

at the

Battle of Chancellorsville The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Confederate General Robert E. Lee's risky decision to divide h ...

* Waite Hoyt, professional baseball player; Hall of Fame pitcher * Miller Huggins, Hall of Fame baseball manager of

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

during

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

era * Isaac M. Jordan, one of the seven founders of

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

fraternity * John William Kilbreth, U.S. Army brigadier general during World War I *

Bernard Kroger Bernard Heinrich "Henry" Kroger (January 24, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American businessman who created the Kroger chain of supermarkets. Kroger was a pioneering grocery innovator who introduced self-service shopping to the public in 1895. ...

, founder of

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

supermarkets * Alexander Long,

* Nicholas Longworth, Father of American grape culture * Joseph Longworth, art collector and patron, son of Nicholas Longworth * Nicholas Longworth, politician, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, grandson of Nicholas Longworth * William Haines Lytle, 19th century Ohio, general, politician, poet * Joseph Mason, artist, who was an uncredited assistant to

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin, April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American Autodidacticism, self-trained artist, natural history, naturalist, and ornithology, ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornitho ...

in illustrating the Birds of America *

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court An associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States is a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, other than the chief justice of the United States. The number of associate justices is eight, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1 ...

* Alexander McDowell McCook, Union army general *

Charles Pettit McIlvaine Charles Pettit McIlvaine (January 18, 1799 – March 13, 1873) was an Episcopal bishop, author, educator and twice Chaplain of the United States Senate. Early life and family McIlvaine was born on January 18, 1799, in Burlington, New Jer ...

, Episcopal bishop, author, educator and twice Chaplain of the United States Senate *

John McLean John McLean (March 11, 1785 – April 4, 1861) was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice of the Ohio and United States Supreme Courts. He was often discu ...

* Thomas Satterwhite Noble, painter * George Hunt Pendleton, Congressman and US

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

* Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, poet * Thomas C. Powell (1865–1945), railroad executive and member of the War Industries Board * William Procter, co-founder of

Procter and Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/cons ...

* Skip Prosser,

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

head coach at the time of his death, former assistant and head men's basketball coach at

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier had an enrollment of approximately 5,600 undergraduate an ...

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

, professional baseball player *

Henry Stanbery Henry Stanbery (February 20, 1803 – June 26, 1881) was an American lawyer from Ohio. He was Ohio's first attorney general from 1846 to 1851 and the United States Attorney General from 1866 to 1868. A native of New York City who was raised in Z ...

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

* Adolph Strauch, landscape architect, designer of Spring Grove Cemetery * Dudley Sutphin, Cincinnati attorney, judge and

French Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

medal winner * Alphonso Taft, politician, father of

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

* Charles Phelps Taft II, Mayor of Cincinnati and son of President William Howard Taft * Louise Taft, second wife of Alphonso Taft and mother of William Howard Taft * Mary Lee Tate, painter and teacher * John Morgan Walden,

of the

* Godfrey Weitzel, Civil War general * Frances Wright, pioneering

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, abolitionist, and freethinker

Notes

External links

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum

Spring Grove Entrance
* {{coord, 39.164559, N, 84.522672, W, source:dewiki_region:US_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Arboreta in Ohio Cemeteries in Cincinnati

Botanical gardens in Ohio {{Commons cat, Botanical gardens in Ohio Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the south ...

National Register of Historic Places in Cincinnati National Historic Landmarks in Ohio Protected areas of Hamilton County, Ohio Tourist attractions in Cincinnati Gothic Revival architecture in Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Rural cemeteries Cemeteries established in the 1840s 1845 establishments in Ohio