Alexander Ralston in the design for Indianapolis reserved 5 acres of land in the southwest quadrant of the mile-square city for a municipal cemetery. By the 1860’s a growing city had outgrown this early cemetery which had grown to 25 acres. In 1863 plans were made to acquire a new and larger site, outside of the city limits. John Chislett, cemetery superintendent of Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh who had previously laid out Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne in 1859, came to Indianapolis to assist in laying out the new cemetery. 240 acres were purchased, and Chislett’s son Frederick was brought in to oversee the development of the cemetery grounds.