The Glenwood Cemetery has been called Park City’s storybook, and with good reason. The story of each person buried there is a chapter in the history of our town. As you stroll through the Glenwood today, the cemetery is beautifully maintained, both as an historic cemetery and a wildflower sanctuary.

But it wasn’t always that way. There was a time when the Glenwood lay in total disrepair. Headstones were knocked from their bases, overgrown vegetation covered many of the gravesites, and litter was strewn everywhere.  

Restoration and preservation efforts in recent years have saved the Glenwood. In order to know our history, it is critical that we preserve our cemeteries.

The Glenwood was established in 1885 by a coalition of Park City’s fraternal organizations at a time when the city’s mining industry was flourishing. These fraternal organizations formed the Glenwood Cemetery Association with a board of directors that orchestrated the original creation and planned for future maintenance. Each lodge contributed $25 annually as an assessment fee and an occasional additional amount for improvements.

For the next 40 years, the Glenwood was properly cared for under the guidance of the association.

Then in May 1925, The Park Record carried an article titled “Out of Funds,” describing the financial situation of the Glenwood Cemetery Association and informing readers that the usual Decoration Day cleanup would not be done. Essentially, the association was unable to collect the funds from the remaining fraternal organizations to properly care for the cemetery.

As the price of silver dropped, mining in Park City had slowed down and people were leaving town. All the fraternal organizations, except the Elks, soon abandoned their Park City chapters, leaving no one to continue to take care of the Glenwood Cemetery.

In 1928, The Park Record described the conditions of the Glenwood as “woefully neglected, a disgrace to the community” and announced that the Elks had formed a committee to look at ways to make the cemetery more presentable by repairing the broken-down fences and hauling away accumulated trash. The committee enlisted the help of the Boy Scouts and concerned citizens to make the Glenwood as presentable as possible for Memorial Day.

In 1931, the discouraged Glenwood Association asked the City Council to take over control and supervision of the cemetery, but the City would only agree to keep the road open and arrange for a sexton to dig graves for a fee. Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts continued with their cleanup tasks every Memorial Day.

During the 1930s, considerable work was done at the Glenwood by some of the original fraternal organizations — Masons, Elks, Moose and Odd Fellows — with help from the federal Civil Works Administration.

In 1946, the Glenwood Association once again asked the xity to take over the maintenance of the cemetery. Again, they declined. It appears that the association disbanded soon after that, leaving no one remaining to care for the Glenwood Cemetery.

For the next 40 years, the Glenwood was neglected and seriously vandalized.

By 1976, it was almost unrecognizable as the sacred burial place for more than 900 Park City miners. The Elks got involved once again under the leadership of Mel Fletcher and started the preservation ball rolling. Mel described the work effort as “clearing the wild growth of weeds, trees and vines.” Mel hoped to see the cemetery brought back to being a lovely area.

The developing Park City Historical Society began to show an interest with a tour of the cemetery on Heritage Day in May 1976. Soon the Historical Society, with assistance from Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, the Hibernian Society, and the Elks Lodge, organized Glenwood cleanup days and a fund-raising campaign, resulting in the re-establishment of the Glenwood Cemetery Association. The volunteer committee continued improvements and received several awards for its preservation and stewardship efforts.

Since 2016, the Glenwood Cemetery, a designated National Historic Place, has been owned by the Park City Historical Society & Museum. The Glenwood Committee of the Museum Board of Trustees exists with the purpose of protecting, preserving, and fostering appreciation for the Glenwood.

For several summers now, we have contracted with the nation’s foremost expert in cemetery preservation to right, repair and restore the headstones and markers that are most damaged.

To date, more than 200 stones have been preserved and set in the ground in a safe and ideal manner. In addition to the headstones, many of the stone copings that surround individual plots have also been dug out and reset at their original level.

Not only are we providing attention to what our visitors can see above ground, we are also focused on what’s unseen below ground. We have worked with a heritage consultant to conduct ground-penetrating radar in several key areas within the cemetery looking for potential burials.

So far, we have discovered more than 50 potential burials that are unmarked with no above-ground stones visible — a huge revelation! Each of these locations has been GPS-tagged. One of our plans is to indicate each location with an above-ground marker signifying the potential burial below.

Today, thanks to grants and donations from residents and visitors, funds exist to maintain the cemetery’s five acres, stabilize and repair broken headstones, and plan for improvements. Plans include fresh gravel on the roads, interpretive signs, removal of dead trees and noxious weeds, and special events to promote public interest and education, in addition to the continuing work.

Through preservation efforts, the Glenwood Cemetery will remain as a historic Victorian cemetery and continue to tell the stories of the people who created Park City.

The Park City Museum is hosting a lecture titled “Preserving Utah’s Cemeteries” given by USHPO Utah Cemeteries Program Manager Amy Barry on Wednesday, May 21, from 5-6 p.m. at the Museum’s Education and Collections Center at 2079 Sidewinder Drive.

Barbara Martz is a Park City Museum researcher.

The post Way We Were: The Glenwood Cemetery, Park City’s storybook appeared first on Park Record.

Memorial Day, originally declared Decoration Day, was first observed as a national holiday on May 30, 1868, as a day to lay flowers on the graves of soldiers who died during the Civil War. Mary Ann Williams of Columbus, Georgia, is credited with originating the idea two years earlier.

Southern women visited Civil War battlefields and laid flowers on the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers, an idea which was soon practiced throughout the nation. In 1971, the celebration was changed from May 30 to the last Monday in May, and so we celebrate this year on Monday, May 27.

Park City has celebrated Memorial Day in a grand way for many years. The Park Record reported in 1882 that townspeople gathered in the City Cemetery to decorate all the graves with flowers children had gathered from the hillsides. Flags marked the soldiers’ graves of the three Civil War soldiers — two who fought for the North and one who fought for the South.  A celebration was held with remarks offered by the Rev. Hill, followed by the impromptu singing of “America” at the soldiers’ graves.

After the Glenwood Cemetery was founded in 1885, the Decoration Day celebrations became more elaborate, due in part to the participation of Park City’s fraternal organizations. Businesses were closed and a parade was added to the celebration.

In 1892 Park City went all out. On June 4, 1892, The Park Record headline read “Honor to the dead …The largest and most imposing procession ever witnessed in Park City.”

Citizens gathered in town in the morning, anticipating the big event. School children, carrying flags and flowers, lined Main Street to welcome the parade participants. There were two uniformed marching bands, the Grand Army of the Republic, city officials, and members of eight fraternal organizations. After the parade passed, the school children followed, and the citizens brought up the rear.

This procession made its way to the Glenwood Cemetery, where hundreds assembled for an impressive ceremony of songs, remarks, prayers and decorating of the graves. At the conclusion of the Glenwood ceremony, the procession lined up in reverse order and marched back to the top of Park Avenue and Main Street, where it disbanded.

Such elaborate celebrations continued in the following years, but on May 30, 1895, 18 inches of snow fell in town and the events were cancelled. The following year, however, celebrations were back in full swing.

Although we have no Memorial Day parade anymore, we still have the opportunity to honor the dead. The museum is hosting a ceremony at the Glenwood Cemetery, where guests will place flags on the graves of 31 veterans. Glenwood gates will be open for vehicles from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Friday, May 24, through Monday, May 27. Docents will be present in the afternoon to share Glenwood history and help locate graves.

Happy Memorial Day from the Park City Museum!

Barbara Martz is a Park City Museum researcher.

The post Way We Were: Memorial Day once fit for a parade appeared first on Park Record.