The public will be gratified to learn that the arrangements for a rural cemetery in this vicinity are completed, and that, from its suitable distance from the city, the convenient access to it on a gravel way without any railroad crossing, and the appropriate features of the grounds, with […]
Crown Hill
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“This combination of hill, plain and knoll, makes as admirable a site for a cemetery as can be conceived in a country where there are no mountains, or cliffs or gorges to add grandeur elements of scenery.”
Over 200,000 persons are buried or entombed at Crown Hill, including President Benjamin Harrison and poet James Whitcomb Riley, whose grave and monument stand atop the Crown Hill.
“Not richly endowed by nature with varied scenery, the grounds have been admirably handled and developed by art. This, of course, has been largely due to the good taste and judgment of the two Chisletts, father and son, superintendents…
“The living who pass its portals find themselves at once in an atmosphere entirely distinct from that they left behind, and the dead who find their final resting place amid its quiet borders must feel grateful, if the dead experience human emotions, that their mortal remains have been buried in […]
In 1875 an impressive limestone Gothic Vault, today known as the “Gothic Chapel,” was designed by Diedrich A. Bohlen and built by German craftsmen. It was erected in the very center of the cemetery.
Chislett laid out the grounds according to the “modern style of improvement in cemeteries”. Curvilinear roadways defined irregularly shaped burial sections. The drives and other improvements responded to the site’s topographic features. Strawberry Hill, now Crown Hill became the centerpiece of the design.
“A study of trees will always result in a study of nature as a whole –the most luring, healthful and instructive of all studies. A study of nature’s laws carries one back to the beginning of time. Her laws are just in that she has no favorites. From her laws […]
“A cemetery is a place to which we carry those we have loved, and so it should be beautiful, quiet and restful.” Separated from the city by its brick and iron wall, Crown Hill Cemetery is a part of the city and community, but also a place distinct and sacred.
Main Entrance – Inside View The principal entryway to Crown Hill was established in 1885 at 34th Street and Boulevard Place, as a stunning Gothic Portal to announce a visitor’s arrival to the cemetery.
A brick and wrought iron fence, begun in 1914 and completed in the late 1930s, surrounds three sides of the south grounds as well as the southernmost end of the north grounds–both areas being separated by 38th Street. George E. Kessler designed this fence, which underwent restoration from 1985 to […]