Woodmere Cemetery

File:19th U.S. Infantry monument.jpg

19th U.S. Infantry monument at Woodmere cemetery

Woodmere Cemetery is located at West Fort Street and Woodmere in the southwest section of Detroit, Michigan, in what was originally the township of Springwells. Woodmere Cemetery is currently operated by the Midwest Memorial Group.

History

The Woodmere Cemetery Association was organized on July 8, 1867 by a group of prominent Detroit businessmen who purchased approximately 250 acres to establish a rural cemetery for the city of Detroit. The layout for Woodmere was designed by Adolph Strauch, who also designed Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Construction began in 1868 and the cemetery was dedicated on July 14, 1869.

The first burials occurred prior to the official opening of the cemetery. The first burial was for Anna Maria Schwartz, who was buried in Section C in November 1868. She was soon joined by approximately 2,000 removals from Detroit's City Cemetery that were reburied at Woodmere. In addition to these burials, the city of Detroit also contracted for approximately five acres for the burial of the city's poor. Section C is the oldest section in the cemetery and where the large Elks' Rest monument can be found. Once Section C was filled, Woodmere ended its contract with the city to bury the city's poor.

Notable Sections

The U.S. Army section is at the southern end of the cemetery, adjacent to Dearborn Avenue. This section was purchased by the U.S. Army and contains veterans from the Civil War as well as World War II. In 1896 the Civil War soldiers buried at Fort Wayne were moved to Woodmere as the cemetery there had fallen to decay and the records were in shambles. The flagpole in this section divides the Grand Army of the Republic section on the left from the U.S. Army section on the right.

Temple Beth El purchased two sections at Woodmere, Section Beth El and part of the adjacent Section NF. Many of the mausoleums in Section NF were vandalized in December 2012. The bronze doors were removed, leaving the mausoleums open to the elements. These doors were presumably sold for scrap.

The American Moslem Society purchased a section at the northwest corner of the cemetery within view of their mosque on Vernor Highway. This mosque was established in 1937 and it is the oldest mosque in Michigan.

Victims of the Ford Hunger March killed on March 7, 1932 are buried in the Ferndale section at the north end of the cemetery adjacent to Vernor Highway. The victims are Joseph York, Joseph Bussell, Kalman Leny, and Joseph DeBascio. The United Auto Workers also placed a headstone on an empty space in the same row as the others for Curtis Williams, a marcher who died several months later due to unrelated causes. Williams was cremated at Woodmere, but his ashes were not interred there. A marker is located along the fence outside of the cemetery near these graves.

Notable Burials

• John J. Bagley (1832-1881), Michigan Governor (1873-1877)
• Charlie Bennett (1854-1927), American professional baseball player
• David D. Buick (1854-1929), founder Buick Motor Company
• Hamilton Carhartt (1857-1937), founder of Carhartt Inc.
• Dexter M. Ferry (1833-1907), founder of D.M. Ferry & Co.
• Henry M. Leland (1843-1932), founder of Cadillac and Lincoln luxury car brands
• Frederick Matthaei (1892-1973), founder of Matthaei Botanical Gardens
• Philetus Norris (1821-1885), founder of Norris, Michigan (now Hamtramck)
• James E. Scripps (1835-1906), founder of The Detroit News
• Private Eddie Slovik (1920-1945), only WW II U.S. soldier executed for desertion
• David Vartanian (1890-1966), Titanic survivor
• James Vernor (1843-1927), inventor of Vernor's Ginger Ale
• David Whitney (1830-1900), lumber baron
• Three British Commonwealth war graves, of two Canadian Army soldiers of World War I and a Royal Canadian Air Force airman of World War II.

External links

• Woodmere Cemetery Research
• Find a Grave