History

CHRONOLOGY OF HISTORIC CROWN HILL CEMETERY

1863 Sept. 25: Cemetery is incorporated as a non-profit, non-denominational, and non-sectarian with a Board of thirty corporators.
  Oct. 16: First 236 acres of land are purchased from three local farmers for $51,000.
  Dec. 31: Fredrick Chislett, landscape architect and first superintendent, moves his family into a cabin on the south approach of "The Crown."
 
1864 June 1: Dedication ceremony for the new cemetery.
  June 2: Lucy Ann Seaton becomes the first burial, her funeral conducted by Rev. Hanford Edson.
  July 30: Main entrance and lodge (on the Michigan Road) is completed.
  Oct. 30: East Entrance to the cemetery is open
  Fall: First private mausoleum for the Smith family is completed in Section 5.
 
1865 Feb. 19: Josephine Jones becomes the first Black interment at Crown Hill.
 
1866 May 1: Gatehouse at the east entrance is completed
  July 1: A total of 480 burials are recorded with 71 monuments and 85 memorials
  Aug. 27: U.S. Government purchases land for a National Cemetery. The first 707 soldiers are removed to this place in November.
 
1867 Sept. 9: A residence for the superintendent on the grounds is approved with completion in 1869.
1868 May 30: First Memorial Day is celebrated at the National Cemetery.
1869 June 1: Grounds are expanded to 256 acres.
1872 Apr. 12: Crown Hill Board votes to help finance the replacement of a wooden bridge over Fall Creek with an iron one so that large monuments can be brought to the cemetery.
1875 Jan. 7: Gothic chapel designed by D.A. Bohlen is commenced and completed by year's end.
1877 Nov. 13: Cemetery donates several lots to various benevolent societies.
1878 Apr. 26: Oliver P. Morton become the first of ten Indiana governors interred at Crown Hill.
1880 Jan. 20: First telephone installed at the cemetery
1885 Nov: New Archway and Waiting Station is completed at the east gate, which becomes the main entrance.
1886 Apr. 30: All property south of Maple Road (38th St. )has been purchased and amounts to 393 acres.
1889 July: A total of 157 acres on the north side of Maple Road is purchased.
1901 April: Original main entrance on Michigan Road is razed and replaced by a new west entrance of the southwest corner of  South Grounds.
1911 Oct. 11: Fourty acres on north side of Maple Road purchased.
1912 Feb: Reburial of 1,100 Indianapolis pioneers are made from Greenlawn Cemetery. 
1912 Nov 7: Autos are permitted entrance to the cemetery.
1914 May: A new superintendent's residence is planned south of the Waiting Station on Boulevard Place.
1914 June: First sections of the brick and wrought iron fence are completed on the north and south sides of 38th St.
1917 Oct. 17: James Whitcomb Riley become the first burial on "The Crown."
1918 April: First automobile is purchased for the cemetery.
1925 Fall: Bridge / underpass Subway beneath 38th St. is commenced. It is completed by the summer 1927.
1931 Oct. 27: Confederate dead, numbering 1, 616 prisoners of war who died at Camp Morton in the city , are reburied from Greenlawn.
1933 Feb. 7: Last cemetery work horses are sold.
1935 Nov. 16: First family interment is made in the North Grounds (Section 223).
1942 Oct: Military bivouac or "War Show" consisting of more than 250 pyramidal tents and 2,600 soldiers is erected on the North Grounds to aid in recruiting efforts.
1950 June: Last two dwellings (including the superintendent's home) are razed.
1951 Jan. 13: Community Mausoleum dedicated.
1957 April: Entrance north of 38th St. opened.
1962 Spring: First of several Garden Crypts is erected east to the Community Mausoleum.
1968 April: Southwest entrance (at 32nd and the old Michigan Road) is closed and removed..
1968 July: Ground broken for the New Administration Building at the 38th St. Office moved to this location in March 1970
1972 May 2: Restored Gothic Chapel is dedicated.
1973 Feb. 28: Crown Hill Cemetery is designated a National Historic Place.
1985 Apr.10: Crown Hill Heritage Foundation incorporated to aid with preserving Crown Hill's heritage.
1987 April: Equatorial Sundial placed in front of the Community Mausoleum
1988 Spring: Crown Hill Cemetery is recognized as a museum of local and state history.
1990 Fall: The Lewis E. Enkema Fountain placed inside the 34th St. entrance.
1991 May 27: Dedication of the monument in the new military section.  Honors are extended to the United States Army, Navy, Air force, Marines, and Coast Guard.
1992 Fall: Historic brick fence restoration completed.
1993 Spring: Crown Hill Funeral Home dedicated.
  Oct. 3: Rededication of the Confederate lot (bronze plaques at this site contain the names of  those interred here).

 

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