02-10-14 Council Agenda & Packet

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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024 -0018 South Bend City Cemetery St. Joseph, Indiana Name of Property County and State that proved costly and time consuming to maintain. In this case, the landscape is not dense and the paths are laid out in a meandering pattern, providing changing vistas with a variety of three - dimensional monuments. Spring Grove Cemetery, a rural cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio had been in place for fifteen years when Strauch applied his lawn park concepts to the cemetery in 1855. He stressed clearing the dramatic landscape, manipulating the grounds to be more of a natural green lawn with plantings kept to a minimum to allow sunlight to filter through. Restraint was employed both with landscaping as well as monuments. Individual plot owners would no longer maintain their respected properties but the cemetery would be maintained as a whole allowing for a more unified landscape. Exceptions to the rural layout of the cemetery are the military burials. These sections feature orderly, linear burials marked by government issued stones. The predominately Civil War section is in the northeast portion of the site near the Linden gate. Once a more formal entrance to the cemetery, the Linden gate is now reduced to a chain link service vehicle access /egress point. The large Civil War soldier's statue once overlooked parade grand stands and greeted parade marchers at the terminus of Memorial Day and Armistice Day parades. The second section of military burials is southwest of the first; three rows of government issued marble and brass stones of uniform size and design lie flush with the ground that undulates slightly in a northerly direction. Romantic designs called for grave markers and monuments of marble, limestone, and sandstone which are all represented at City Cemetery. One notable and not often found material is "white bronze ". In fact, these stones are made almost entirely of zinc, and not bronze at all. One of the country's most prolific manufacturers of these markers was located in nearby Chicago which may explain their significant presence here. Stylistically, icons and themes throughout City Cemetery are also typical of the romance of the Victorian period. Obelisks and other Greco - Roman inspired markers are common and represent America's renewed interest in antiquity. They were often chosen to convey social status demonstrating that the deceased was worthy of this most reverent manner of commemoration. Other Greek motifs are common including garlands, urns and the representation of draped cloth. There is evidence of one churchyard custom of enclosing family plots with a fence and /or coping. Often, a central stone displays the family's name and individual stones mark the individual burials carved either with initials, full names, or simple designations such as "Baby ". During the period following the Civil War, Late Victorian architectural styles and romantic motifs began to influence many facets of American society, including its cemeteries. The industrial revolution facilitated less expensive and speedier fabrication of items, and expanded rail lines brought items to more distant audiences. Interest and training in classical architecture such as the Beaux Arts style became popular and more widely implemented. Late Victorian trends in landscapes were also evolving. Variety of material and appearance and a preference for buildings over traditional landscapes came into favor. Subtlety and a gentle transition from landscape to structures was lost. Late Victorian designers employed realistic forms, detailed surfaces, and individual objects in isolation, whether in a planting, an object, a structure, or a building. Section 8 page 21