Grove Street Cemetery

Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace the crowded burial ground on the New Haven Green. The first private, nonprofit cemetery in the world, it was one of the earliest burial grounds to have a planned layout, with plots permanently owned by individual families, a structured arrangement of ornamental plantings, and paved and named streets and avenues. By introducing ideas like permanent memorials and the sanctity of the deceased body, the cemetery became "a real turning point... a whole redefinition of how people viewed death and dying", according to historian Peter Dobkin Hall.[3] Many notable Yale and New Haven luminaries are buried in the Grove Street Cemetery, including 14 Yale presidents; nevertheless, it was not restricted to members of the upper class, and was open to all.[3]

Grove Street Cemetery
The Egyptian Revival entry gateway
Location200 Grove St., New Haven, Connecticut
Coordinates41°18′49″N 72°55′39″W
Area18 acres (7.3 ha)
Built1796
ArchitectHezekiah Augur; Henry Austin
Architectural styleEgyptian Revival, Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.97000830
Significant dates
Added to NRHPAugust 8, 1997[1]
Designated NHLDFebruary 16, 2000[2]

In 2000, Grove Street Cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark.[4]

Today, it is managed by Camco Cemetery Management.

History

Establishment (1796)

For the first 160 years of permanent settlement, New Haven residents buried their dead on the New Haven Green, the town's central open space and churchyard. In 1794–95, a yellow fever plague swept the town. The increased demand for burial space prompted James Hillhouse, a businessman and U.S. Senator, to invite other prominent families in the town to establish a dedicated burial ground on farmland bordering the town.[5] In 1796, thirty-two families purchased a tract just north of Grove Street, the tract was enclosed by a wooden fence, which was prone to rotting and needed to be replaced frequently. At first consisting of 6 acres (0.024 km2), the cemetery was quickly subscribed and thereafter expanded to nearly 18 acres (0.073 km2).

In 1821, the monuments on the green were removed to the Grove Street Cemetery.[6]

Gateway and fence construction (1845–49)

Completed in 1845, the entrance on Grove Street is a brownstone Egyptian Revival gateway, designed by New Haven architects Henry Austin and Hezekiah Augur, both of whom are buried at the cemetery.[5] The style, popular in New England in that era, was chosen to reinforce the antiquity of the site.[7] The lintel of the gateway is inscribed "The Dead Shall Be Raised." The quotation is taken from 1 Corinthians 15.52: "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed." Supposedly, Yale President Arthur Twining Hadley said of the inscription,"They certainly will be, if Yale needs the property."[8]

In 1848–49, the perimeter of the cemetery was surrounded on three sides by an 8-foot (2.4 m) stone wall.

Historic landmark

The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.[1] It was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Secretary of the Interior in 2000, citing its history and the architectural significance of its gateway.[2][1][4]

Conflict over perimeter fence

In 2008, Yale announced plans to construct two new residential colleges just north of the cemetery. In 2009, university administrators and affiliates suggested to the cemetery proprietors that an additional gate be constructed in the north section of the historic wall that surrounds the burial ground to permit pedestrians to walk through the cemetery from the main Yale campus to the planned new colleges. In addition, the proprietors considered a proposal brought forward by one proprietor that would replace portions of the stone sections of the wall bordering Prospect Street with iron fencing similar to that already running along the cemetery's southern border on Grove Street.[9] The proposal, withdrawn following a public meeting, included architectural and landscaping designs by Yale Architecture School Dean Robert A.M. Stern.[10]

Notable burials and memorials
Family plots from 1848–1850
  • James Brewster (1788–1866)— founder of Brewster & Co.; industrialist and railroad promoter.
  • Kingman Brewster, Jr., (1919–1988)—President of Yale University
  • William Bristol (1779–1836)—Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut.
  • Walter Camp (1859–1925)—football coach known as the "Father of American Football".
  • Leverett Candee (1795–1863)—Industrialist. First practical use of Goodyear's vulcanization of rubber
  • Arthur E. Case (1894–1946)—professor and author
  • Jedediah Chapman (d. 1863)—Civil War Union Army Officer killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.
  • Thomas Clap (1703–1767)—Rector & President of Yale College - buried in the City Burial Ground on the Green, stone later moved here.
  • Harry Croswell (1778–1848)—Crusading political journalist and Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in New Haven
  • David Daggett (1764–1851)—United States Senator, mayor of New Haven, Connecticut.
  • Naphtali Daggett (1727–1780)—clergyman, President pro tempore of Yale College.
  • George Edward Day (1814–1905)—Bible revisor
  • Jeremiah Day (1773–1867)—President of Yale University.
  • Amos Doolittle (1754–1832)—silversmith, engraver of Revolutionary scenes. "The Revere of Connecticut."
  • Timothy Dwight IV (1752–1817)—President of Yale University.
  • Timothy Dwight V (1829–1916)—President of Yale University.
  • Amos Beebe Eaton (1806–1877)—Civil War Union Army Brigadier General.
Gravemarker of E. H. Trowbridge and Grace Allen Quincy Trowbridge
Monument to Glenn Miller, who formed the 418th Army Air Forces Band at Yale, and made New Haven his headquarters for concerts, parades and his radio show.
South side of Eli Whitney monument
  • James Kingsley (1778–1852)—professor of Hebrew, Greek and Ecclesiastical History at Yale.
  • John Gamble Kirkwood (1907–1959)—chemist.
  • Charlton Miner Lewis (1866–1923)—Yale professor and author.
  • Elias Loomis (1811–1889)—mathematician and astronomer.
  • Daniel Lyman (1718–1788)—Surveyor, Deputy to the General Court, Court Referee, Justice of the Peace and caretaker of the State's public records.
  • Samuel Mansfield (1717–1775)—first sheriff of New Haven
  • Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899)—paleontologist.
  • Henry Czar Merwin (1839–1863)—Civil War Union Army Officer killed at the Battle of Gettysburg
  • Glenn Miller (Alton G. Miller) cenotaph -- (1904–1944)—Jazz bandleader, trombonist.
  • Dr. Timothy Mix (1711–1779)—Colonial soldier who died on a British prison ship.
  • Jedidiah Morse (1761–1826)—clergy, "Father of American Geography". Father of Samuel F. B. Morse.
  • Theodore T. Munger (1830–1910)—clergyman.
North side of Eli Whitney monument
Grave of Noah Webster

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. "Grove Street Cemetery". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
  3. "Grant, Steve (26 December 2008). "History Disinterred". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. Bruce Clouette (September 29, 1999), National Register of Historic Landmark Nomination: Grove Street Cemetery / New Haven City Burial Ground (pdf), National Park Service and Accompanying 32 photos, from 1997 and undated (32 KB)
  5. Pinnell, Patrick (1999). The Campus Guide: Yale University. Princeton University Press. pp. 108–09.
  6. Blake, Henry Taylor, Chronicles of New Haven Green from 1638 to 1862: A Series of Papers Read Before the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, 1898 , p. 28
  7. Giguere, Joy (2014). Characteristically American: Memorial Architecture, National Identity, and the Egyptian Revival. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 82–83. ISBN 9781621900771. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  8. Taylor, Frances Grandy (23 September 2000). "Grove Street Cemetery At Yale Becomes U.S. Landmark Today". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  9. Appell, Alan (7 October 2009). "Plot-holders Slam Cemetery Plan". New Haven Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  10. Appell, Alan (13 October 2009). "Cemetery Wall To Remain Undisturbed". New Haven Independent. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  11. The Grove Street Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 4, 2005

Further reading
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