Woodlawn Cemetery: Bronx, New York

Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City and a designated National Historic Landmark (added to the list on 23 Jun 2011). The cemetery was opened during the Civil War in 1863 in what was then southern Westchester County. The area was annexed to New York City in 1874. 

Per their website: https://www.thewoodlawncemetery.org/history/

Established in 1863, Woodlawn is an active, 400-acre non-sectarian cemetery. An oasis in an urban setting, more than 310,000 individuals are interred on its grounds and it attracts over 100,000 visitors from around the world each year.

Recognized as one of America’s most historically significant properties, Woodlawn was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011, joining a rarified roster of 2500 sites nationwide. Described by the National Parks Service as “a popular final resting place for the famous and powerful,” the cemetery is distinguished by memorials that “represent the largest and finest collection of funerary art in the country.”

Woodlawn was established by a group of prominent New Yorkers who envisioned a burial ground easily accessible from Manhattan. It is designed in the landscape-lawn style popular after the Civil War, which emphasizes the relationship between landscape and classical architecture. Its curvilinear road system provides views of large, singular monuments on family plots and circular lots. Propelled by location, clientele, and unprecedented wealth, Woodlawn rapidly grew to become the outdoor showplace of distinctive masterworks you see today.

Noted cemetery website: In 1882, Jay Gould, the infamous financier, purchased the largest lot in the cemetery and proceeded to build what was considered the finest mausoleum of the day. Gould’s project was publicized in a variety of publications, inspiring many entrepreneurs to construct family tombs at Woodlawn. Huntington, Dodge, Bostwick, Webb, and Warner are among the hundreds of self made millionaires who commissioned mausolea that reflected their tastes and travel, incorporated work by celebrated sculptors, and artisans and celebrated their role in New York society. Greek temples, Egyptian pyramids and French chapels were built by the late 19th celebrities who became famous for grand mansions in Manhattan, extravagant Newport “cottages,” and waterfront estates on Long Island’s Gold Coast.

Circus Showman. Along with Phineas T. Barnum, he helped found Barnum and Bailey Circus, which became known as “The Greatest Show On Earth”. In 1872, he partner with Philadelphian James E, Cooper to form “Cooper and Bailey’s Circus”, and toured the United States, Java, New Zealand and South America. In 1873 Cooper died and James Bailey soon joined up with Barnum. They toured for several years until Barnum died in 1891. Bailey took over the circus the same year and it made several triumphant trips around the world under his leadership. In 1906 he died and the circus company soon became part of the Ringling Brothers Company. It is known to this day as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.