Spring Grove Cemetery

Spring Grove Cemetery covers 166 acres in Cincinnati and is known for introducing the lawn plan of cemetery design. Chartered in 1845 after cholera epidemics strained burial facilities, it first followed a traditional layout of many roads, fenced family plots and multiple markers. In 1855 Adolph Strauch became superintendent and reshaped it. He removed hedges and fences, limited each lot to one monument, laid out roads following the contours of the land, widened the main entrance road to 120 feet and turned spring-fed swamps into five acres of ornamental lakes. His methods were later adopted internationally. The grounds hold notable architecture, including the Norman Gothic main gates by James Keys Wilson, a Romanesque Revival chapel by Samuel Hannaford, the 1859 Public Vault by Alfred Mullet, and private mausoleums in Gothic, Greek Doric and Baroque-influenced styles such as the Fleischmann and Burnet monuments. These structures are placed among smaller monuments to achieve the pictorial harmony Strauch sought.