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Bellefontaine Cemetery

Coordinates: 38°41′51″N 90°14′01″W / 38.69737°N 90.23363°W / 38.69737; -90.23363
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Bellefontaine Cemetery
The Wainwright Tomb is on the NRHP.
Map
Details
Established1849; 175 years ago (1849)
Location
4947 West Florissant Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
CountryUnited States
Coordinates38°41′51″N 90°14′01″W / 38.69737°N 90.23363°W / 38.69737; -90.23363
TypePublic
Size314 acres (127 ha)
No. of graves87,000
WebsiteOfficial website
Find a GraveBellefontaine Cemetery

Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine has several architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as the Louis Sullivan-designed Wainwright Tomb, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The cemetery contains 314 acres (1.27 km2) of land and over 87,000 graves, including those of William Clark, Adolphus Busch, Thomas Hart Benton, Rush Limbaugh, and William S. Burroughs. It has many Union and Confederate soldiers from the American Civil War, and local and state politicians. It has the largest collection of private and family mausoleums and sarcophagi in Missouri.[citation needed]

Overview

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The cemetery contains the graves of many prominent American pioneers, businesspeople, politicians, and generals who are significant figures in the history of St. Louis and the United States. Its oldest graves are from 1816, located on pioneer Edward Hempstead's family lot. Many of the wealthiest families at Bellefontaine have ornate mausoleums which overlook the Mississippi River and have Classical, Romanesque, Gothic, and Egyptian architectural styles. Mausoleums include the Wainwright Tomb, designed for Charlotte Dickson Wainwright by the famed Chicago school architect Louis Sullivan in 1892; the Busch Mausoleum, designed for Adolphus Busch and Lilly Anheuser by Barnett, Haynes & Barnett in 1915; and the Brown Brothers Mausoleums, designed in 1910 by Isaac Taylor and in 1928 by Mauran, Russell and Crowell. Many of the several large family plots are marked by tall obelisk monuments with elaborate bases. Guided tours of the cemetery's main historical and architectural highlights are open to the public. Visitors can also obtain self-guided tour brochures at the cemetery office.[1]

History

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19th century

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On March 7, 1849, banker William McPherson and lawyer John Fletcher Darby assembled a group of some of St. Louis's most prominent citizens to found the Rural Cemetery Association of St. Louis. This association sought to respond to the needs of the rapidly growing city by establishing a new cemetery several miles outside city limits. St. Louis was experiencing huge population growth during this time and city leaders thought that the existing graveyards, which were mostly concentrated along Jefferson Avenue near the city center, were an impediment to urban development. Many were also convinced that city cemeteries represented a public health hazard, as with miasma theory. These problems were compounded during mid-1849, when a cholera pandemic killed more than 4,000 people in the city. With existing cemeteries running out of space, and with many residents fearing that fumes from nearby cemeteries could cause them to fall ill, the drive to create a new cemetery gained pace.

In 1849, the Rural Cemetery Association purchased the former Hempstead family farm five miles northwest of the city, with the intent to turn it into a large rural cemetery, modeled after Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts. The association initially called it Rural Cemetery,[2] but because the 138-acre (56 ha) Hempstead farm was along the road to Fort Belle Fontaine, ultimately named it after the fort.

Within a few months, the Association had hired landscape architect Almerin Hotchkiss, who helped design Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, to begin drafting and implementing a master plan for Bellefontaine. Hotchkiss became superintendent of the cemetery for the next 46 years, designed most of Bellefontaine's roadways and landscaping, and oversaw maintenance of the grounds.

The first burial at Bellefontaine Cemetery was on April 27, 1850, and the official dedication was several weeks later. Older graves within St. Louis were reinterred to Bellefontaine, including some from the cemetery by the Old Cathedral near the Mississippi River. Bellefontaine had graves of several victims of the 1855 Gasconade Bridge train disaster, the worst railroad disaster in Missouri history. Several brewing families are interred, including the Anheusers, Buschs, Lemps, and Griesediecks.

The cemetery steadily acquired more land for growth and, by 1865, had reached its permanent size of 314 acres (127 ha).[3]

20th century

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In 1909, the St. Louis architectural firm Eames and Young was commissioned to design a new chapel.

21st century

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The Hotchkiss Chapel, named for the cemetery's first architect, was renovated in 2009, and an indoor columbarium was added on the back. The chapel is used for weddings and memorial services. A new lakeside garden and columbarium were completed in 2010. Two new outdoor columbaria have opened for inurnments, and a green burial natural interment section is planned. With more than 100 acres (40 ha) of open, unused land, the cemetery has room for traditional casketed and vaulted ground burial for 200 years at current rates of usage. Some of this extra land has been converted into prairie and woodland.

As of 2012, Bellefontaine Cemetery contained more than 87,000 graves, with about 100 added each year. It contains over 14 miles (23 km) of paved roads and has more than 180 species of trees and shrubs in an accredited arboretum.

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.[4]

Notable burials

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Further information: Category:Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery
The Busch Mausoleum was designed by Barnett, Haynes & Barnett.
David R. Francis
Paramore Mausoleum

A–K

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L–Z

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Architecture" Archived June 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine accessed 18 June 2013
  2. ^ Billon, Frederic Louis (1888). Annals of St. Louis in Its Territorial Days, from 1804 to 1821. p. 390. ISBN 978-0598280671.
  3. ^ "Biography of Almerin Hotchkiss, The Cultural Landscape Foundation", accessed 18 June 2013
  4. ^ "Weekly List of Actions, 8/11/14 through 8/15/14". National Park Service. Retrieved August 31, 2014.
  5. ^ Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes, p. 47
  6. ^ "Donnell, Forrest C. – Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov.
  7. ^ "Mrs. Susan Marsh, St. L. Poet, Dies; Rites Tomorrow". mdh.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "Captain William Massie". March 28, 2010.
  9. ^ Eriksmoen, Curt (September 2, 2012). "Riverboat captain 'carried' bullet that killed Hickok". The Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  10. ^ "National Park Service" (PDF).
  11. ^ "Henry A. Silver's Funeral". St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat. May 30, 1885. p. 10. Retrieved March 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  12. ^ "Mrs. Susan Vashon Dead". The New York Age. December 5, 1912. p. 1. Retrieved February 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

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